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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

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The amendment was intended and has nearly always been construed as a prohibition against active government interference.

The colonists held a variety of religious beliefs. Though nearly all were Christian and a majority were Protestant, others were heavily persecuted and incarcerated for preaching religious opinions not approved by the government. The European Wars of Religion and the role of the Church of England in the British government resulting in unbalanced power served as an example of what the colonists didn't want in their newly independent nation.

The Enlightenment gave the argument a broader, more rationalistic flavor. Thomas Jefferson and other children of the Enlightenment believed above all else in the power of reason, in the search for truth, in progress, and in the ultimate perfectibility of man. Freedom of inquiry and liberty of expression were deemed essential to the discovery and spread of truth, for only by the endless testing of debate could error be exposed, truth emerge, and men enjoy the opportunities for human progress.

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The First Amendment is important not because it falls at the beginning of a list of amendments, but because it guarantees the freedom essential to humans as rational beings. By connecting the freedom of religion with the freedom of speech, the First Amendment describes what it means to be human for it is self-evident that we are thinking beings. We use reason to form thoughts, and we think in order to make sense of, or give meaning to, our experiences in light of our basic beliefs.

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A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

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Early English settlers in America viewed the right to arms and/or the right to bear arms and/or state militias as important for one or more of these purposes

enabling the people to organize a militia system.

participating in law enforcement

deterring tyrannical government

repelling invasion

suppressing insurrection, allegedly including slave revolts

facilitating a natural right of self-defense.

British and Loyalist efforts to disarm the colonial Patriot militia armories in the early parts of the American Revolution resulted in the Patriot colonists protesting by citing the common law of self-defense. British policy in the early phases of the Revolution aimed to prevent coordinated action by the Patriot militia, who believed that the British were trying to restrict the colonists traditional common law right of self-defense.

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The Second Amendment is an important right because it keeps the government from being able to impose tyranny and gives people the right to protect themselves, without the government being able to take the right away because we can resist. The second amendment is a way to protect us from foreign and domestic attacks, if the government won’t. Thomas Jefferson said, “For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well organized and armed militia is their best security". The idea behind it its that it is important for our personal safety and the safety of the nation as a whole. Out of all of the bad things that have come out of it, there are also the good things that no one talks about.

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No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

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The amendment is a response to Quartering Acts passed by the British parliament during the buildup to the American Revolutionary War, which had allowed the British Army to lodge soldiers in private residences.

In 1765, the British parliament enacted the first of the Quartering Acts requiring the American colonies to pay the costs of British soldiers serving in the colonies, and requiring that if the local barracks provided insufficient space, that the colonists lodge the troops in alehouses, inns, and livery stables. One of the Intolerable Acts that pushed the colonies toward revolution, it authorized British troops to be housed wherever necessary, including in private homes. The quartering of troops was cited as one of the colonists' grievances in the Declaration of Independence.

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Nowadays, government has no incentive or desire to quarter troops in private residences, and so the Amendment, in a way, isn't important today as it was for early American colonists. Maybe if we had a war in America then it would be important again.

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The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

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During the Colonial era, the King of England looked at the American colonies as simply a financial investment. Britain passed numerous revenue collection bills aimed at generating as much money from the colonists as possible. The colonists resented this act by the King and began smuggling operations in order to circumvent the custom taxes imposed by the British Crown.

In response, King George began the use of the conveniently worded “writs of assistance.” These were legal search warrants that were extremely broad and general in scope. British agents could obtain a writ of assistance to search any property they believed might contain contraband goods. They could actually enter someone’s property or home with no notice and without any reason. Agents could interrogate anyone and force cooperation of any person. These types of searches and seizures became an egregious affront to the people of the colonies.

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The fourth amendment is undeniably important because without it police and other government officials could walk into your home and arrest you or take your stuff without any basis to do so. If that behavior wasn't put in its place then there would be many cases of it happening to people all over the country.

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No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

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The right was created in reaction to the excesses of the Courts of Star Chamber and High Commission—British courts of equity that operated from 1487-1641. These courts utilized the inquisitorial method of truth-seeking as opposed to the prosecutorial, meaning that prosecutors did not bear the burden of proving a case, but that sufficient "proof" came from browbeating confessions out of the accused.

These courts required the accused to answer any question put to him, without advance notice of his accusers, the charges against him, or the evidence amassed.

The colonists were subject to unfair trials and as a result sought to fix such a problem in their new nation.

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The Fifth Amendment is important today because it protects us from having our rights abused by the government. It says that we cannot have our life, liberty, or property taken except by due process of law. This means that the government can't punish people just because it wants to. It means that everyone has the right to a fair trial no matter the crime. It ensures that no matter what everyone gets treated as equally as possible when faced with a potential punishment or loss.

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In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

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This was something very important to the Founding Fathers. They were very familiar with a long list of government abuses from English history in which people were accused of things and punished unfairly. The English monarchy had punished, tortured and killed people for everything from disagreeing with the king to choosing a different religious path from the government's approved denomination.

Some specific background behind certain clauses are as follows:

Speedy Trial Clause:
If you weren't guaranteed a speedy trial, you could sit in jail for months or years without being tried, which was a frequent occurrence in English history.
Public Trial Clause:
Throughout European and English history, many people were tortured, executed or unjustly imprisoned for things they didn't do in secret trials. That's why the Founding Fathers were determined to protect people from being tried in secret.
Confrontation Clause:
Statements made by people outside of the court were often allowed as evidence. This provided the accused with a huge disadvantage because the jury could not see the person to judge their demeanor and the accused could not ask them questions to examine their truthfulness.
Compulsory Process Clause:
English and colonial laws forbade people from calling witnesses in cases of treason or felony. It was also the English and colonial practice not to allow people to testify in their own behalf. Their reasoning was that testimony from the accused person was inherently unreliable because of their personal interest in the outcome.

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The Sixth Amendment is very important in that it protects individuals against the violation of their unalienable rights by those in positions of authority. Without it, anyone charged with an offence would most definitely be found guilty whether they truly are or not.

The Gideon v. Wainwright case in 1963 where Clarence Earl Gideon was charged with breaking and entering and petty larceny. Gideon could not afford a lawyer. He showed up in a Florida court and asked the court to appoint him counsel. The court refused, stating that court-appointed lawyers were reserved for capital offenses. At his trial, Gideon was left to defend himself without the aid of a lawyer. While Gideon maintained his innocence throughout, the jury returned a guilty verdict and sentenced him to 5 years in state prison, the maximum sentence.

Gideon used this time to study the American legal system. He came to believe that the trial judge had breached his constitutional right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment.

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In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

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Before 1688, English judges were servants under the King of England. These judges were often biased towards the King, and because of this, their rulings were not always fair. During the Act of Settlement 1701, English judges won their independence from the king, but judges in the American colonies were still biased towards the king. King George III got rid of trials by juries in the Colonies, which made colonists very upset and fueled the fire that led to the American Revolution. When the Framers wrote the Bill of Rights, they understood how important it was to have a fair court system, so they made sure that the right to have a trial by jury was a fundamental law of the country.

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The Seventh Amendment is important today in having a fair trial by eliminating bias in the court system. Without it there wouldn't be enough bodies to judge the accused fairly.

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Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

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The Eighth Amendment is almost exactly the same as a part of the 1689 English Bill of Rights, which also said that excessive bails or cruel and unusual punishment were unnecessary. This was written in because of a case where a man named Titus Oates lied and harmed many innocent people because of it. His punishment resulted in being in a pillory for two days, and being whipped while tied onto a moving cart. Later on, this case was thought of one that had very cruel and excessive punishments.  Because of this, the Constitution now forbids these punishments since they are unnecessary, not approved of by the people, and are very illogical.

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The Eighth Amendment is important for preventing inhuman acts as punishment for accused or those found guilty. No matter the crime, a person is a person, and they should not be harmed in very harsh ways as a punishment. It is also important in giving people a chance for bail by making sure that the amount required isn't a ridiculously large amount of money .

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Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

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Bailey v. Alabama:
A United States Supreme Court case that overturned the peonage laws of Alabama.

Any person who, with intent to injure or defraud his employer, enters into a contract in writing for the performance of any act of service, and thereby obtains money or other personal property from such employer, and with like intent, and without just cause, and without refunding such money, or paying for such property, refuses or fails to perform such act or service, must on conviction be punished....

Alonzo Bailey was an African American from Alabama who agreed to work for The Riverside Company for one year at $12 per month. He received an advance of $15. After working for a little over a month he stopped work but did not refund any money. According to Alabama law such refusal to work and refund the money was prima facie evidence of intent to defraud. The evidence presented against Bailey at trial was testimony that he stopped working, without cause, failed to repay the $15 advanced to him and that he was a Negro. The United States Supreme Court found that holding a person criminally liable for taking money for work not performed was akin to indentured servitude, outlawed by the Thirteenth Amendment, as it required that person to work rather than be found guilty of a crime.

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The Thirteenth Amendment should be considered one of the most important amendments because it ensures that slavery in any form will not be a common practice in America ever again. It in a way completes the unalienable right of freedom for all Americans rather than just a select race.

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Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

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United States v. Reese:
A voting rights case in which the United States Supreme Court narrowly construed the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides that suffrage for citizens can not be restricted due to race, color or the individual having previously been a slave.

This was the Supreme Court's first voting rights case under the Fifteenth Amendment and the Enforcement Act of 1870. A Kentucky electoral official had refused to register an African‐American's vote in a municipal election and was indicted under two sections of the 1871 act: section 1 required that administrative preliminaries to elections be conducted without regard to race, color, or previous condition of servitude; section 2 forbade wrongful refusal to register votes where a prerequisite step “required as foresaid” had been omitted.

The Court held that the Fifteenth Amendment did not confer the right of suffrage, but it prohibited exclusion from voting on racial grounds. The justices invalidated the operative section 3 of the Enforcement Act since it did not repeat the amendment's words about race, color, and servitude. They ruled that the section exceeded the scope of the Fifteenth Amendment. This ruling was the grounds for which the K.K.K was invented, as it provided white southerners with legal reassurance.

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The Fifteenth Amendment is obviously one of the most important amendments as well, closing the equal rights gap between races even further. Every American should have the right to vote for their leaders no matter their race, and this amendment helped to finally get whites to see African Americans more as equals, something that has finally been achieved.