Bill of Rights
TEN GUARANTEES.
235 YEARS.
Madison drafted 12. Congress sent 10. Ten were ratified on December 15, 1791. They are the reason criticizing this page is constitutionally protected.
Original Bill of Rights parchment, National Archives, Washington DC
Why It Was Needed
The original Constitution was ratified without a bill of rights, a deliberate omission. Hamilton argued in Federalist No. 84 that a bill of rights would be unnecessary and even dangerous: if you enumerate rights, you might imply the government has power to restrict unenumerated ones.
The Anti-Federalists won the argument. States like Virginia and New York ratified with the understood condition that rights amendments would follow. Madison, initially skeptical, drafted what became the Bill of Rights in the first Congress. The Ninth Amendment directly answered Hamilton's concern.
All Ten
Click any amendment to see its original text, what it means today, and how it compares globally.
The Incorporation Bridge
In 1791, the Bill of Rights bound ONLY the federal government (Barron v. Baltimore, 1833). States could censor press, ban arms, or deny lawyers. The 14th Amendment (1868) built the constitutional bridge that carried these protections across, case by case, to bind every state.
1868
Amendment Ratified
1925
Gitlow (First Step)
95%+
Rights Incorporated
⚖️The Great Constitutional Shift
Supreme Court held that the Bill of Rights restricts ONLY federal power. States were free to restrict civil liberties without federal judicial remedy.
"Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Fundamental rights cross the bridge to bind all 50 states.
Visual Simulator: Rights Crossing the Bridge
Click any landmark case below to watch that right cross the 1868 constitutional bridge.
Gitlow v. New York
Right Carried Across the Bridge: Freedom of Speech
Court Vote
7–2
Opinion Author
Justice Edward Terry Sanford
Historical Significance & Impact
First major breakthrough. States could no longer arbitrarily ban political speech. The Supreme Court assumed for the first time that the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause extends First Amendment speech protections to state governments.
Quote From Majority Opinion
“For present purposes, we may and do assume that freedom of speech and of the press are among the fundamental personal rights and liberties protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment from impairment by the States.”
Little-Known Facts
Madison drafted 12 amendments, Congress sent 10 to the states
Two were not ratified in 1791. One of them, on congressional pay raises, was finally ratified in 1992 as the 27th Amendment, 203 years after Madison proposed it.
Source: National Archives / Constitutional Amendments
Virginia's ratification on December 15, 1791 made the Bill of Rights law
Virginia was the 11th of 14 states to ratify, the 3/4 threshold. The date is now celebrated as Bill of Rights Day. Virginia was also the state that had most insisted on a bill of rights as a condition of ratification.
Source: National Archives
Originally only applied to the federal government, states added later
For most of US history, states could restrict rights the federal government could not. The 14th Amendment (1868) and a series of 20th-century Supreme Court decisions 'incorporated' the Bill of Rights against state governments one amendment at a time.
Source: McDonald v. Chicago (2010) / Gitlow v. New York (1925)
The 27th Amendment was proposed in 1789 and ratified in 1992, 203 years later
No congressional pay raise can take effect until after an intervening election. A University of Texas undergraduate student rediscovered the unratified amendment in 1982, began a campaign to ratify it, and succeeded in 1992 after Michigan became the 38th state to ratify.
Source: Congressional Research Service
""The Bill of Rights does not come from the grace of the governors. It comes from the souls of the people who refuse to be governed without consent.""
The Visual Record
The Visual Record
The documents, people, and places behind the Bill of Rights.
The Original Bill of Rights at the National Archives1791
The handwritten first ten amendments, ratified in 1791, enshrined the liberties at the core of the American experiment.
Portrait of George Masonc. 1780s
Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights was the model for the federal Bill of Rights.
The Magna Carta / Runnymede Memorial1215
Magna Carta's limits on royal power are an ancestor of the American constitutional tradition.
The Title Page of The Federalist Papers1788
Hamilton, Madison, and Jay's essays argued for the Constitution and remain its definitive exposition.
Justice Clarence Thomas Holding the ConstitutionContemporary
Thomas, a leading originalist, often carries a pocket Constitution as a touchstone for his jurisprudence.
The Charters of Freedom in the National Archives RotundaModern Display
The Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are enshrined together in the Archives Rotunda.