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Amendment I

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.
BRI Resources What is the Significance of the Free Exercise Clause? How has Speech Been Both Limited and Expanded, and How Does it Apply to You and Your School?
Amendment II

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.
BRI Resources What are the Origins and Interpretations of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms?
Amendment III

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.

Amendment IV

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.
BRI Resources Liberty and Security in Modern Times
Amendment V

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.
BRI Resources How Does the Fifth Amendment Protect Property?
Amendment VI

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.
BRI Resources Gideon v. Wainwright
Amendment VII

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.
BRI Resources Due Process of Law
Amendment VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
BRI Resources How Do Due Process Protections for the Accused Protect Us All?
Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
BRI Resources What is the Scope of the Bill of Rights?
Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
BRI Resources State and Local Governments
Primary Source by James Madison, George Mason (1791)

The first 10 amendments to the Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. James Madison wrote the amendments, which list specific prohibitions on governmental power, in response to calls from several states for greater constitutional protection for individual liberties. For example, the Founders saw the ability to speak and worship freely as a natural right protected by the First Amendment. Congress is prohibited from making laws establishing religion or abridging freedom of speech. The Fourth Amendment safeguards citizens' right to be free from unreasonable government intrusion in their homes through the requirement of a warrant.

The Bill of Rights was strongly influenced by the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason. Other precursors include English documents such as the Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, the English Bill of Rights, and the Massachusetts Body of Liberties.

One of the many points of contention between Federalists, who advocated a strong national government, and Anti-Federalists, who wanted power to remain with state and local governments, was the Constitution's lack of a bill of rights that would place specific limits on government power. Federalists argued that the Constitution did not need a bill of rights, because the people and the states kept any powers not given to the federal government. Anti-Federalists held that a bill of rights was necessary to safeguard individual liberty.

Madison, then a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, altered the Constitution's text where he thought appropriate. However, several representatives, led by Roger Sherman, objected, saying that Congress had no authority to change the wording of the Constitution. Therefore, Madison's changes were presented as a list of amendments that would follow Article VII.

The House approved 17 amendments. Of these, the Senate approved 12, which were sent to the states for approval in August 1789. Ten amendments were approved (or ratified). Virginia's legislature was the final state legislature to ratify the amendments, approving them on December 15, 1791.

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Bill of Rights (1791) - Bill of Rights Institute

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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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Facts, information and articles about States Rights, one of the causes of the civil war

States' Rights summary: States' rights is a term used to describe the ongoing struggle over political power in the United States between the federal government and individual states as broadly outlined in the Tenth Amendment and whether the USA is a single entity or an amalgamation of independent nations. In modern times the term States Rights has also come to symbolize the opposition of some states to federal mandated laws against racial segregation and discrimination.

States' Rights in the Colonies

When the original 13 independent colonies announced their independence from Great Britain in 1776 they regarded themselves as sovereign (independent) states. The demands of the Revolutionary War forced the states to recognize a need for a central government. The Continental Congress established Articles of Confederation, an agreement that created a weak central government. In the years following the Revolutionary War, individual states created their own laws, attempted to make foreign treaties on their own, etc. Europe saw the young United States as weak. The polyglot of laws, danger from Europe and the national government's ineffectual response to Shay's Rebellion in Massachusetts convinced many Americans that a "more perfect union" was needed. The United States Constitution, which the country has operated under since 1789, strengthened the central government in many ways, including taxation, the ability to call up state militias for national service, etc. It also established certain individual rights throughout the nation, including freedoms of speech, assembly, religion, etc. The Ninth Amendment stated, "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people," and the Tenth Amendment says, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." These two amendments assured the states of continued autonomy in handling most of their internal affairs.

Slavery and Tariffs

Disputes arose at times. During the War of 1812 New England states met to discuss seceding from the Union because the war was interfering with their trade with Britain. In 1832 national tariffs that benefited Northern manufacturers while hurting the economy of Southern states led to the Nullification Crisis, in which South Carolina declared the tariffs null and void. The state threatened to leave the Union, but a compromise was reached that temporarily defused the crisis.

What brought the question of states' rights to the fore was changing attitudes toward slavery. Northern abolitionists began vehemently assailing the institution and the states that continued to practice it, nearly all of them below the Mason-Dixon Line. Some Northerners aided the escape of runaway slaves (a violation of the Constitution's provisiions that made a fugitive from one state a fugitive in every state) and mobs sometimes assaulted slave owners and slave hunters seeking runaways. (Slavery originally existed in all states, and the writers of the Constitution avoided addressing the matter of perpetuating or ending slavery in order to obtain ratification from all states.) When victory in the Mexican War (1846-48) resulted in the US expanding its territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean, the question of whether or not to permit slavery in the new territories. The debate over slavery intensified, creating a widening gap between slaveholding and nonslaveholding states. When a "purely regional party," the new Republican Party swept the 1859 elections in the North and the party's candidate Abraham Lincoln, an avowed foe of the expansion of slavery, Southern states seceded from the Union. See Causes of the Civil War on HistoryNet.

After the Civil War

It has been said that before the Civil War the country was referred to as "The United States are ... " but after the war the description became "The United States is ... " Yet questions of federal vs. state power continued to crop up. Virginia sued to reclaim certain of its western counties that had become part of the breakaway state of West Virginia during the war but was rebuffed by the Supreme Court, and Reconstruction raised many federal vs. states questions.

In the 1925 Gitlow vs. New York decision, the Court held that the Bill of Rights applies to the states as well as to the federal government, in keeping with the 14th Amendment. In 1948, a group of Southern delegates walked out of the Democratic National Convention and formed the States Rights Party (nicknamed the Dixiecrats). The reason for the party split was that the traditionally conservative Democratic Party was becoming more liberal and had embraced a platform for the coming election that called for federal anti-lynching legislation, abolishing poll taxes in federal elections (which had been used to keep African Americans from voting), desegregation of America's military services, and creation of a permanent Fair Employment Practices Committee to prevent racial discrimination. The States Rights Party, with South Carolina's senator Strom Thurmond as its presidential candidate and Mississippi governor Fielding L. Wright as his vice-president. They received 1.2 million votes and 39 electoral delegates, nowhere near enough to carry the election, but "States' Rights" became the rallying cry for opposition to federally mandated desegregation and anti-discrimination policies in the following decades. The landmark Supreme Court decision in 1952's Brown vs. Board of Education that found racially "separate but equal" policies unconstitutionally denied black children the same educational opportunities as white children, leading to widespread anti-desegregation States' Rights demonstrations in conservative states.

In recent years States' Rights philosophies have been adopted by many who oppose the growth of the federal government and its recognition of social changes such as legalized abortion. The Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare, has generated intense debates over the ability of the federal government to force states to adopt a nationwide healthcare law.

Articles About States' Rights Civil War From History Net Magazines

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Facts, information and articles about States Rights, one of the causes of the civil war States' Rights summary: States' rights is a term used to describe the ongoing struggle over political power in the United States between the federal government and individual states as broadly outlined in the Tenth Amendment and whether the USA is [...]

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Following the Court's validation of "separate but equal" laws, the remaining Southern state passed laws mandating segregation on railroads. Racial segregation spread to all aspects of life, including education in primary, secondary schools and colleges, employment, housing, the military, public transportation, and public places. African Americans were severely disenfranchised and prohibited from marrying interracially.

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Use Thornwood Library databases to learn even more.

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Use Thornwood Library databases to learn even more.

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Share what you've learned about Martin Luther King Jr.

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Share what you've learned about Martin Luther King Jr.

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Bet You Didn't Know: March on Washington | History

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The Seattle Times project on MLK Jr. with timeline, speech recordings, photo galleries, history and more.

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The Seattle Times | Martin Luther King Jr.

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This Web site, first created by The Seattle Times in 1996, contains the story of a remarkable man, images of a tumultuous time, and perspectives of politicians, academics, students and the many, ordinary citizens whose lives he touched. We invite you to explore it.

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MLK Jr. Day of Service

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An official website of the United States government

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Martin Luther King Jr. inspires Day of Service

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Curriculum-focused service lessons for grades 3-5 and 6-8. Teach your students about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and inspire them to "lead in deed." Lessons for Grades 3-5 Lessons for Grades 6-8

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The Story of Martin Luther King Jr. by Kid President

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Martin's Big Words: The Life of Martin Luther King Jr. READ ALOUD!