We have an impostor in the White House. Barack Obama is not legally the President as his Birth certificate is clearly FORGED, and HIS SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER IS CLEARLY FRAUDULENT! He is a fake and not that this makes a difference, but he is not Christian as he claims, he is Muslim.

Obama, Bush and Cheney are criminals who need to be locked up. Let them go through the torture they allowed on others. I am sick of hearing Americans torturing others.That’s Satanic.This is totally Un-American! Oh that’s right, Obama is not American! All those countries we’re overthrowing, we are inserting Muslim leaders in their place. Go check and see. America is going down the tubes and it seems very few people care.

As a nation we need to take back our country and lock these crooks and there banker overlords away.We need to shut down the Federal Reserve and forget the interest they say we owe them as they have stolen in the Quadrillions from The United States already! Not Billions or Trillions but Quadrillions!

Fall of the Republic HQ full length version

ChangeDaChannel

 A One Global Government = Private Hostile Corporate Take Over and Domination of the Poor! MAKE NO MISTAKES, IF YOU ARE NOT ONE OF THEM, YOU ARE THE POOR.If your money is in one of their banks, soon it will be taken from you.You think ’08 was bad, just watch what happens real soon.The United States is now working with China, Japan and Russia among others on a “New World Currency”. Those Nations were going to dump Trillions of US Dollars on the market and switch on their own because they know the dollar is useless. It is not even worth the paper it is written on. But these other Nations figure if they can recoup some of their investment, they’ll go along with it for now!

A One World Bank = Global Architects pulling the strings. These Israeli’s have no intentions of letting loose of their banking control. The only thing is, when they take over, who are they going to rip off next? Their buddies. Of Course! When the world is divided in ten parts, that will be ten sides fighting against each other. These criminals have been doing this for a long time and it isn’t going to stop just because America crumbled like a little mouse!

A One World Religion = Christian, Islam and Judaism are all one in the same!?? I can’t even comment on how sick this sounds!

So today the Computer = Weapons of Mass Destruction! The Newest link in their armor is CyberCom!  Cyber Com = Watch our every move. This isn’t to get terrorist, as they are the terrorist! No this is to make sure you keep your mouth shut and do like you are told! This is just more Government takeover. The New Pre-Crime Law with Prolonged Detention While never having committed a crime IS LAW!  For all the mice who call themselves Americans, you’ll be fine slaves. For any real American, this is sickening! Most of our Politicians and Main Stream media are Pathetic criminals. In case you haven’t heard, Obama during the last G20 Summit, While the bankers were busy CARVING UP THE WORLD, Our illegal President was sitting in his NEW POST. He is CHAIR OF THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL– ONLY THE MOST POWERFUL POSITION IN THE WORLD GOVERNMENT. This is also totally illegal. When he swore into office, Article 1 Section 9 states ; No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States. and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall without the consent of congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince or foreign state. In other words, Obama sold us out and he has swore his allegiance to the United Nations in place of America. That MAKES HIM A TRAITOR! That is HIGH TREASON!

They are already setting up citizen armies and reporting agencies.The Boy Scouts, The Girl Scouts, Cable repairmen, Firemen Emergency medical rescue when they come to your house and even your children are being taught to spy on

you for the Government. Does this sound familiar to anyone? IT SHOULD, IT DEFINITELY SHOULD!

The FEMA Concentration camps are there for Americans to fill. Those Millions of plastic coffins which hold several (8) bodies in each, are for Americans. There will be forced National Service for those 16 – 64 years of age. That’s coming soon also!

If You Don’t Wake up soon and Fight The Forces of Darkness almost all of us will be dead, and those remaining will be slaves!

Here is A brief overlook of The Bill Of Rights:

The Bill of Rights

September 25, 1789

Amendments of the Constitution

1  .Freedom of Speech, Press, Assembly, Right to petition and Religion.

2  .Militia, and right to bare and keep arms.

3.  Protection from Quartering troops.

4.  Unreasonable Search and Seizure. No warrants without probable cause.

5.  Due Process,Double Jeopardy,Self-incrimination,Eminent Domain.

6.  Trial by Jury,Speedy Trial,Right to Counsel.

7.  Civil Trial by Jury.

8.  Excessive bail, Cruel and Unusual Punishment.

9.  Protection of Rights no enumerated in the Constitution.

10.Powers of States and People.

My New Video

What follows is a more thorough rendering of the Bill of Rights

I Copied from Wikipedia.

The amendments which have occurred to me, proper to be recommended by congress to the state legislatures are these:

First. That there be prefixed to the constitution a declaration That all power is originally vested in, and consequently derived from the people.

That government is instituted, and ought to be exercised for the benefit of the people; which consists in the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the right of acquiring and using property, and generally of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

That the people have an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform or change their government, whenever it be found adverse or inadequate to the purposes of its institution.

Secondly. That in article 2nd. section 2, clause 3, these words be struck out, to wit, “The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one representative, and until such enumeration shall be made.” And that in place thereof be inserted these words, to wit, “After the first actual enumeration, there shall be one representative for every thirty thousand, until the number amount to after which the proportion shall be so regulated by congress, that the number shall never be less than nor more than but each state shall after the first enumeration, have at least two representatives; and prior thereto.”

Thirdly. That in article 2nd, section 6, clause 1, there be added to the end of the first sentence, these words, to wit, “But no law varying the compensation last ascertained shall operate before the next ensuing election of representatives.”

Fourthly. That in article 2nd, section 9, between clauses 3 and 4, be inserted these clauses, to wit,The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience by in any manner, or on any pretext infringed

The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.

The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good, nor from applying to the legislature by petitions, or remonstrances for redress of their grievances.

The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed, and well regulated militia being the best security of a free country: but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms, shall be compelled to render military service in person.

No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor at any time, but in a manner warranted by law.

No person shall be subject, except in cases of impeachment, to more than one punishment, or one trial for the same office; nor shall be compelled to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor be obliged to relinquish his property, where it may be necessary for public use, without a just compensation.

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

The rights of the people to be secured in their persons, their houses, their papers, and their other property from all unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated by warrants issued without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, or not particularly describing the places to be searched, or the persons or things to be seized.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the cause and nature of the accusation, to be confronted with his accusers, and the witnesses against him; to have a compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

The exceptions here or elsewhere in the constitution, made in favor of particular rights, shall not be so construed as to diminish the just importance of other rights retained by the people; or as to enlarge the powers delegated by the constitution; but either as actual limitations of such powers, or as inserted merely for greater caution.

Fifthly. That in article 2nd, section 10, between clauses 1 and 2, be inserted this clause, to wit: No state shall violate the equal rights of conscience, or the freedom of the press, or the trial by jury in criminal cases.

Sixthly. That article 3rd, section 2, be annexed to the end of clause 2nd, these words to wit: but no appeal to such court shall be allowed where the value in controversy shall not amount to————dollars: nor shall any fact triable by jury, according to the course of common law, be otherwise re—examinable than may consist with the principles of common law.

Seventhly. That in article 3rd, section 2, the third clause be struck out, and in its place be inserted the classes following, to wit:

The trial of all crimes (except in cases of impeachments, and cases arising in the land or naval forces, or the militia when on actual service in time of war or public danger) shall be by an impartial jury of freeholders of the vicinage, with the requisite of unanimity for conviction, of the right of challenge, and other accustomed requisites; and in all crimes punishable with loss of life or member, presentment or indictment by a grand jury shall be an essential preliminary, provided that in cases of crimes committed within any county which may be in possession of an enemy, or in which a general insurrection may prevail, the trial may by law be authorized in some other county of the same state, as near as may be to the seat of the offence.

In cases of crimes committed not within any county, the trial may by law be in such county as the laws shall have prescribed. In suits at common law, between man and man, the trial by jury, as one of the best securities to the rights of the people, ought to remain inviolate.

Eighthly. That immediately after article 6th, be inserted, as article 7th, the clauses following, to wit:

The powers delegated by this constitution, are appropriated to the departments to which they are respectively distributed: so that the legislative department shall never exercise the powers vested in the executive or judicial; nor the executive exercise the powers vested in the legislative or judicial; nor the judicial exercise the powers vested in the legislative or executive departments.

The powers not delegated by this constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the States respectively.

Ninthly. That article 7th, be numbered as article 8th.

Madison’s proposal was reworked and adopted as 17 Amendments by the House of Representatives on August 21, 1789, and forwarded to the Senate on August 24. The House version rejected Madison’s idea to incorporate the amendments into the body of the Constitution and instead submitted its 17 Articles to be attached separately “in addition to, and amendment of, the Constitution.”[27]

The Senate edited the House’s proposed 17 Amendments and adopted a version with 12 Amendments. The two versions went to the Joint Committee and the Senate’s version became the one adopted by joint resolution of Congress on September 25, 1789, to be forwarded to the states on September 28.[1][2][28]

Early sentiments favoring expanding the Bill of Rights

A portrait of Alexander Hamilton shortly after the American Revolution

The idea of adding a bill of rights to the Constitution was originally controversial. Alexander Hamilton, in Federalist No. 84, argued against a “Bill of Rights,” asserting that ratification of the Constitution did not mean the American people were surrendering their rights, and, therefore, that protections were unnecessary: “Here, in strictness, the people surrender nothing, and as they retain everything, they have no need of particular reservations.” Critics pointed out that earlier political documents had protected specific rights, but Hamilton argued that the Constitution was inherently different:

Bills of rights are in their origin, stipulations between kings and their subjects, abridgments of prerogative in favor of privilege, reservations of rights not surrendered to the prince. Such was “Magna Charta”, obtained by the Barons, swords in hand, from King John.[29]

Finally, Hamilton expressed the fear that protecting specific rights might imply that any unmentioned rights would not be protected:

I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and in the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed constitution, but would even be dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to powers which are not granted; and on this very account, would afford a colorable pretext to claim more than were granted. For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?[29]

Essentially, Hamilton and other Federalists believed in the British system of common law which did not define or quantify natural rights. They believed that adding a Bill of Rights to the Constitution would limit their rights to those listed in the Constitution. This is the primary reason the Ninth Amendment was included.

Thomas Jefferson was a supporter of the Bill of Rights.[30] George Mason “wished the plan [the Constitution] had been prefaced with a Bill of Rights.” Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts “concurred in the idea & moved for a Committee to prepare a Bill of Rights.” Roger Sherman argued against a Bill of Rights stating that the “State Declarations of Rights are not repealed by this Constitution.” Mason then stated “The Laws of the U.S. are to be paramount to State Bills of Rights.” Gerry’s motion was defeated with 10-Nays, 1-Absent, and No-Yeas.[31]

Ratification and the Massachusetts Compromise

Ratification of the Constitution

Date State Votes

Yes No

1 December 7, 1787 Delaware 30 0

2 December 12, 1787 Pennsylvania 46 23

3 December 18, 1787 New Jersey 38 0

4 January 2, 1788 Georgia 26 0

5 January 9, 1788 Connecticut 128 40

6 February 6, 1788 Massachusetts 187 168

7 April 28, 1788 Maryland 63 11

8 May 23, 1788 South Carolina 149 73

9 June 21, 1788 New Hampshire 57 47

10 June 25, 1788 Virginia 89 79

11 July 26, 1788 New York 30 27

12 November 21, 1789 North Carolina 194 77

13 May 29, 1790 Rhode Island 34 32

Individualism was the strongest element of opposition; the necessity, or at least the desirability, of a bill of rights was almost universally felt, and the Anti-Federalists were able to play on these feelings in the ratification convention in Massachusetts. By this stage, five of the states had ratified the Constitution with relative ease; however, the Massachusetts convention was bitter and contentious:

In Massachusetts, the Constitution ran into serious, organized opposition. Only after two leading Anti-federalists, Adams and Hancock, negotiated a far-reaching compromise did the convention vote for ratification on February 6, 1788 (187–168). Anti-federalists had demanded that the Constitution be amended before they would consider it or that amendments be a condition of ratification; Federalists had retorted that it had to be accepted or rejected as it was. Under the Massachusetts compromise, the delegates recommended amendments to be considered by the new Congress, should the Constitution go into force. The Massachusetts compromise determined the fate of the Constitution, as it permitted delegates with doubts to vote for it in the hope that it would be amended.[32]

On September 17, 1787, the Constitution was completed, followed by a speech given by Benjamin Franklin, who urged unanimity, although the Convention decided that only nine states were needed to ratify. The Convention submitted the Constitution to the Congress of the Confederation[33]

Massachusetts’ Rufus King assessed the Convention as a creature of the states, independent of the Articles Congress, submitting its proposal to Congress only to satisfy forms. Though amendments were debated, they were all defeated, and on September 28, 1787, the Articles Congress resolved “unanimously” to transmit the Constitution to state legislatures for submitting to a ratification convention according to the Constitutional procedure.[34] Several states enlarged the numbers qualified just for electing ratification delegates. In this they went beyond the Constitution’s provision for the most voters for the state legislature to make a new social contract among, more nearly than ever before, “We, the people”.[35]

Following Massachusetts’ lead, the Federalist minorities in both Virginia and New York were able to obtain ratification in convention by linking ratification to recommended amendments.[36] A minority of the Constitution’s critics continued to oppose the Constitution. Maryland’s Luther Martin argued that the federal convention had exceeded its authority; he still called for amending the Articles.[37] Article 13 of the Articles of Confederation stated that the union created under the Articles was “perpetual” and that any alteration must be “agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State”.[38]

However, the unanimous requirement under the Articles made all attempts at reform impossible. Martin’s allies such as New York’s John Lansing, Jr., dropped moves to obstruct the Convention’s process. They began to take exception to the Constitution “as it was”, seeking amendments. Several conventions saw supporters for “amendments before” shift to a position of “amendments after” for the sake of staying in the Union. New York Anti’s “circular letter” was sent to each state legislature proposing a second constitutional convention for “amendments before”. It failed in the state legislatures. Ultimately, only North Carolina and Rhode Island would wait for amendments from Congress before ratifying.[36]

Article VII of the proposed constitution stipulated that only nine of the thirteen states would have to ratify for the new government to go into effect (for the participating states). After a year had passed in state-by-state ratification battles, on September 13, 1788, the Articles Congress certified that the new Constitution had been ratified. The new government would be inaugurated with eleven of the thirteen. The Articles Congress directed the new government to begin in New York City on the first Wednesday in March,[39] and on March 4, 1789, the government duly began operations.

George Washington had earlier been reluctant to go the Convention for fear the states “with their darling sovereignty’s” could not be overcome.[40] But he was elected the Constitution’s President unanimously, including the vote of Virginia’s presidential elector, the Anti-federalist Patrick Henry.[41] The new Congress would be a triumph for the Federalists. The Senate of eleven states would be 20 Federalists to two Virginia (Henry) Anti-federalists. The House would seat 48 Federalists to 11 Antis from only four states: Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and South Carolina.[42]

Antis’ fears of personal oppression by Congress would be allayed by Amendments passed under the floor leadership of James Madison in the first session of the first Congress. These first ten Amendments ratified by the states were to become known as the Bill of Rights.[43] Objections to a potentially remote federal judiciary would be reconciled with 13 federal courts (11 states, Maine and Kentucky), and three Federal riding circuits out of the Supreme Court: Eastern, Middle and South.[44] Suspicion of a powerful federal executive was answered by Washington’s cabinet appointments of once-Anti-Federalists Edmund Jennings Randolph as Attorney General and Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State.[45][46]

What Constitutional historian Pauline Maier calls a national “dialogue between power and liberty” had begun anew.[47]

George Washington’s 1788 letter to the Marquis De Lafayette observed, “the Convention of Massachusetts adopted the Constitution in Toto; but recommended a number of specific alterations and quieting explanations.” Source: Library of Congress

Four of the next five states to ratify, including New Hampshire, Virginia, and New York, included similar language in their ratification instruments. They all sent recommendations for amendments with their ratification documents to the new Congress. Since many of these recommendations pertained to safeguarding personal rights, this pressured Congress to add a Bill of Rights after Constitutional ratification. Additionally, North Carolina refused to ratify the Constitution until progress was made on the issue of the Bill of Rights. Thus, while the Anti-Federalists were unsuccessful in their quest to prevent the adoption of the Constitution, their efforts were not totally in vain.

After the Constitution was ratified in 1789, the 1st United States Congress met in Federal Hall in New York City. Most of the delegates agreed that a “bill of rights” was needed and most of them agreed on the rights they believed should be enumerated.

James Madison, “Father of the Constitution” and first author of the Bill of Rights

Madison, at the head of the Virginia delegation of the 1st Congress, had originally opposed a Bill of Rights but hoped to pre-empt a second Constitutional Convention that might have undone the difficult compromises of 1787: a second convention would open the entire Constitution to reconsideration and could undermine the work he and so many others had done in establishing the structure of the U.S. Government. Writing to Jefferson, he stated, “The friends of the Constitution…wish the revisal to be carried no farther than to supply additional guards for liberty…and are fixed in opposition to the risk of another Convention….It is equally certain that there are others who urge a second Convention with the insidious hope of throwing all things into Confusion, and of subverting the fabric just established, if not the Union itself.”[48]

Madison based much of the Bill of Rights on George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776),[49] which itself had been written with Madison’s input. He carefully considered the state amendment recommendations as well. He looked for recommendations shared by many states to avoid controversy and reduce opposition to the ratification of the future amendments.[50] Additionally, Madison’s work on the Bill of Rights reflected centuries of English law and philosophy, further modified by the principles of the American Revolution.

Ratification process

On November 20, 1789, New Jersey became the first state to ratify these amendments. On December 15, 1791, ten of these proposals became the First through Tenth Amendments — and U.S. law — when they were ratified by the Virginia legislature.

Ratification timeline:

September 17, 1787 – Final draft of the Constitution is signed and convention adjourns.

September 28, 1787 – Continental Congress approves sending proposed Constitution to states for their consideration.

December 7, 1787 – Delaware is 1st state to ratify the Constitution.

December 12, 1787 – Pennsylvania is 2nd state to ratify the Constitution.

December 18, 1787 – New Jersey is 3rd state to ratify the Constitution.

January 2, 1788 – Georgia is 4th state to ratify the Constitution.

January 9, 1788 – Connecticut is 5th state to ratify the Constitution.

February 6, 1788 – Massachusetts is 6th state to ratify the Constitution.

March 24, 1788 – Rhode Island REFUSES to call ratifying convention.

April 28, 1788 – Maryland is 7th state to ratify the Constitution.

May 23, 1788 – South Carolina is 8th state to ratify the Constitution.

June 21, 1788 – New Hampshire is 9th state to ratify the Constitution.

June 25, 1788 – Virginia is 10th state to ratify the Constitution.

July 26, 1788 – New York is 11th state to ratify the Constitution.

March 4, 1789 – The Constitution goes into effect.

September 25, 1789 – Congress proposes Bill of Rights.

November 20, 1789 – New Jersey is 1st state to ratify the Bill of Rights; rejected article II[51]

November 21, 1789 – North Carolina is 12th state to ratify the Constitution.

December 19, 1789 – Maryland is 2nd state to ratify the Bill of Rights, approved all

December 22, 1789 – North Carolina is 3rd state to ratify the Bill of Rights, approved all

January 19, 1790 – South Carolina is 4th state to ratify the Bill of Rights, approved all

January 25, 1790 – New Hampshire is 5th state to ratify the Bill of Rights, rejected article II.

January 28, 1790 – Delaware is 6th state to ratify the Bill of Rights, rejected article I

February 24, 1790 – New York is 7th state to ratify the Bill of Rights, rejected article II

March 10, 1790 – Pennsylvania is 8th state to ratify the Bill of Rights, rejected article II

May 29, 1790 – Rhode Island is 13th state to ratify the Constitution.

June 7, 1790 – Rhode Island is 9th state to ratify the Bill of Rights, rejected article II

October 17, 1790 – Treaty between New York and Vermont paves way for Vermont’s admission to the union.

January 10, 1791 – Vermont becomes 14th state to ratify the Constitution — except that it’s not a state until March 4, 1791.

November 3, 1791 – Vermont is 10th state to ratify the Bill of Rights, approved all

December 15, 1791 – Virginia is 11th state to ratify the Bill of Rights, approved all and the Bill of Rights goes into effect.

March 2, 1939 – Massachusetts ratified the Bill of Rights as part of the Bill of Rights sesquicentennial celebrations.[52]

March 24, 1939 – Georgia ratified the Bill of Rights as part of the Bill of Rights sesquicentennial celebrations.[52]

April 19, 1939 – Connecticut ratified the Bill of Rights as part of the Bill of Rights sesquicentennial celebrations.[52]

Articles III to XII were ratified by 11/14 states (> 75%). Article I, rejected by Delaware, was ratified only by 10/14 States (< 75%), and despite later ratification by Kentucky (11/15 states < 75%), the article has never since received the approval of enough states for it to become part of the Constitution. Article II was ratified by 6/14, later 7/15 states, but did not receive the 3/4 majority of States needed for ratification until 1992 when it became the 27th Amendment.

Later consideration

Lawmakers in Kentucky, which became the 15th state to join the Union in June 1792, ratified the entire set of twelve proposals during that commonwealth’s initial month of statehood, perhaps unaware that Virginia’s approval six months earlier had already made ten of the package of twelve part of the Constitution.

Although ratification made the Bill of Rights effective in 1791, three of the original thirteen states — Connecticut, Georgia, and Massachusetts — did not ratify the first ten amendments until 1939, when they were urged to do so in a celebration of the 150th anniversary of their passage by Congress.[53]

Text of the Bill of Rights

Wiki source has original text related to this article:

United States Bill of Rights

Preamble

Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.

ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.[54]

Amendments

Further information: List of amendments to the United States Constitution

First Amendment – Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause; freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly; right to petition

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.

Second Amendment – Militia (United States), Sovereign state, Right to keep and bear arms.

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.[55]

Third Amendment – Protection from quartering of troops.

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.

Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

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.

Fifth Amendment – due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, eminent domain.

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 offence 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.

Sixth Amendment – Trial by jury and rights of the accused; Confrontation Clause, speedy trial, public trial, right to counsel

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 defence.

Seventh Amendment – Civil trial by jury.

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 re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Eighth Amendment – Prohibition of excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment.

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

Ninth Amendment – Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Constitution.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Tenth Amendment – Powers of States and people.

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.

Proposed amendments not passed with Bill of Rights

Article I – Apportionment.

After the enumeration required by the first article of the Constitution, there shall be one representative for every thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to one hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall be not less than one hundred representatives, nor less than one representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number of representatives shall amount to two hundred; after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall be not less than two hundred representatives, nor more than one representative for every fifty thousand persons.

Article II (ratified in 1992 as Twenty-seventh Amendment) – Congressional pay raises.

No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

Status of the original 14 copies

George Washington had fourteen handwritten copies of the Bill of Rights made, one for Congress and one for each of the original thirteen states:[56] Connecticut,[57] Delaware,[58] Georgia,[57] Maryland,[59] Massachusetts,[57] New Hampshire,[57] New Jersey,[60] New York,[61][62] North Carolina,[56][63] Pennsylvania,[57] Rhode Island,[57] South Carolina,[57] Virginia.[64]

The copies for Georgia, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania went missing. The New York copy is thought to have been destroyed in a fire,[62] whereas the Pennsylvania copy reportedly disappeared in the later 18th century.[citation needed] Two unidentified copies of the missing four (thought to be the Georgia and Maryland copies) survive; one is in the National Archives[65][66] and the other is in the New York Public Library.[63]

North Carolina’s copy was stolen by a Union soldier in April 1865 and returned to North Carolina in 2005, 140 years later by FBI Special Agent Robert King Whitman.[56][63]

Virginia’s copy was used for the Bill of Rights Tour, to mark the bicentennial of the Bill of Rights, in 1991.

Excluded from The Bill of Rights

Main article: Incorporation of the Bill of Rights

Originally, the Bill of Rights restrictions applied only to the federal government and not to the state governments. Parts of the amendments originally proposed by Madison that would have limited state governments (“No state shall violate the equal rights of conscience, or the freedom of the press, or the trial by jury in criminal cases.”) were not approved by Congress, and therefore the Bill of Rights did not apply to the powers of state governments.[67]

States had established state churches up until the 1820s, and Southern states, beginning in the 1830s, could ban abolitionist literature. In the 1833 case Barron v. Baltimore, the Supreme Court specifically ruled that the Bill of Rights provided “security against the apprehended encroachments of the general government—not against those of local governments.” In the Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652, (1925) case, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment, which had been adopted in 1868, could make certain applications of the Bill of Rights applicable to the states. However, the Gitlow case stated (p. 666): “For present purposes we may and do presume that freedom of speech and of the press — which are protected by the First Amendment from abridgment by Congress — are among the fundamental personal rights and ‘liberties’ protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment from impairment by the States.” However at p. 668, the Court held: “It does not protect publications prompting the overthrow of government by force”, which Gitlow and associates advocated in their publications. The Supreme Court has cited Gitlow v. New York as precedent for a series of decisions that made most, but not all, of the provisions of the Bill of Rights restrictions applicable to the states under the doctrine of selective incorporation.

In its 1857 ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford, the Supreme Court held that free blacks were not citizens, and that they further possessed no Constitutional rights; this decision was one of the precipitating causes of the Civil War.[68] In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Talton v. Mayes that the Bill of Rights did not apply to tribal governments.[69]

Display and honoring of the Bill of Rights

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared December 15 to be Bill of Rights Day, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights is on display at the National Archives and Records Administration,[70] in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom.

The Rotunda itself was constructed in the 1950s and dedicated in 1952 by President Harry S. Truman, who said, “Only as these documents are reflected in the thoughts and acts of Americans, can they remain symbols of power that can move the world. That power is our faith in human liberty ….”[71]

After fifty years, signs of deterioration in the casing were noted, while the documents themselves appeared to be well preserved: “But if the ink of 1787 was holding its own, the encasement’s of 1951 were not … minute crystals and micro droplets of liquid were found on surfaces of the two glass sheets over each document…. The CMS scans confirmed evidence of progressive glass deterioration, which was a major impetus in deciding to re-encase the Charters of Freedom.”[72]

Accordingly, the casing was updated and the Rotunda rededicated on September 17, 2003. In his dedicatory remarks, two hundred and sixteen years after the close of the Constitutional Convention, President George W. Bush stated, “The true [American] revolution was not to defy one earthly power, but to declare principles that stand above every earthly power—the equality of each person before God, and the responsibility of government to secure the rights of all.”[73]

In 1991, the Bill of Rights toured the country in honor of its bicentennial, visiting the capitals of all fifty states.

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