1. What are your rights? How many can you name?
OBJECTIVE
DO-FIRST
You will be able to summarize your rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.
Why did Anti- federalists insist on having a Bill of Rights added to the Constitution?
What are your rights? How many can you name?

3. NOTES: The Bill of Rights
Remember, the only reason Anti-Federalists agreed to the Constitution was because the Federalists promised to amend it (add to it) a Bill of Rights. This Bill of Rights would list out the individual, unalienable rights of every citizen—rights that the government could not take away.
The Bill of Rights is what we call the first 10 amendments of the Constitution. Many more amendments were added to the Constitution in the last 200 years, but this first set of 10 amendments was immediately added to the Constitution after ratification. As we discuss each amendment, fill in your notes!

4. Check your Understanding
Why did the framers add a Bill of Rights to the Constitution?

5. First Amendment Rights:
When writing the first amendment, James Madison combined five basic rights that all have to do with ways that we express ourselves. According to the first amendment, we all have:

6. Freedom of Religion
this means that we are free to practice any religion we want. This also means that we don’t have to practice any religion at all, if we choose.

7. Freedom of Speech
this means that we are free to express ourselves verbally, or non-verbally, however we want. Even if we speak out against our own government, they can’t stop us!

8. Freedom of the Press
the “press” is the term we use to describe any organization that provides us with news. This right states that any newspaper, magazine, or TV show can talk freely about the news, without interference from the government.

9. Freedom of Assembly
this is the right to gather with a group of people.

10. Right to Petition the Government
this is the right to express our anger or disagreement with our government by telling the people we have elected how we feel.

11. Act it Out!
First Amendment: make the talking motion and praying motion with your hand to represent freedom of SPEECH and freedom of RELIGION

12. Citizen Protections: 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Amendments
These amendments were created to protect citizens from different kinds of government abuse.
Many of these rights were rights that the British did not give the American colonists. By writing down these amendments, the colonists wanted to avoid what happened under British rule.

13. 2nd Amendment
This amendment states that all citizens have the right to bear arms (guns). This amendment also says that states are allowed to create their own militia (small army) to keep in case the national government becomes too powerful.

14. Act it Out!
Second Amendment: make a firearm with your hands!

15. 3rd Amendment
This amendment states that Americans do not have to quarter (keep in their house) soldiers from the army. This amendment was created to prevent what happened in the colonies with the Quartering Act.

16. 4th Amendment
this amendment states that people and their belongings are protected from “unreasonable search and seizure”—this means that no one can search you and take your personal belongings without good reason.

17. What do Jay Z and the 4th Amendment have in common?

18. Check your Understanding
What happened under British rule that caused the framers of the Constitution to create these amendments?

19. Legal Rights and Protections:
These four amendments protect any citizen who is accused of a crime:

20. 5th Amendment
This amendment states that all people accused of a crime have the right to a jury (a group of people who decide if you are innocent or guilty).
It also states that you cannot be sent to trial for the same crime twice.
It also says that police cannot force you to say anything that might incriminate you (make you look guilty of the crime).
This amendment also guarantees that if you are accused of a crime, you have the right to have a trial.

21. 6th Amendment
This amendment says that all people accused of a crime have the right to a “speedy and public trial by an impartial jury”—this means that if you are accused of a crime, your trial will happen soon, it will be public, and the jury will be neutral (they will not pick people who know you or have strong feelings against you personally). This process is called the “due process of law.”

22. 7th Amendment
This amendment says that civil cases (non-criminal cases that have to do with money, divorce, or property) will also have a trial by jury.

23. 8th Amendment:
this amendment states that if you are accused of a crime and you are waiting in jail to go to trial, the judge cannot demand excessive bail (bail is the amount of money you pay to the court until you show up for your trial).
If a person cannot pay the bail, they wait in jail until their trial. This amendment also protects people against “cruel and unusual punishment”—whippings, beatings, and torture are considered cruel punishments today and are no longer used to punish criminals.

24. Check your Understanding
Why do you think the framers of the Constitution created so many amendments to protect the rights of people accused of a crime? What past experiences might have influenced them?

25. Other Rights and Powers: the 9th and 10th Amendments
These last 2 amendments help keep a balance of power between the national government, the state governments, and the people.
The 9th Amendment: this amendment states that not all of our rights are listed in the Bill of Rights, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have those rights.
EXAMPLE: ___________________________________
The 10th Amendment: This amendment states that powers not given to the national government are “reserved to the states or to the people.” This helps to prevent a national government from becoming too powerful.