27 Amendments

First Amendment

• Freedom of Speech

• Freedom of Religion

• Freedom of Press

• Freedom of Petition

• Freedom of Assembly

Second Amendment

• Right to keep a well-regulated militia

• Right to bear arms

Third Amendment

No quartering

Fourth Amendment

• Protection from unreasonable search and seizure

• Warrants must be specific and issued based on probable cause

Fifth Amendment

• Guaranteed indictment before a grand jury before being held to answer for capital crime

• Protection against double jeopardy

• Guarantees due process (federal government)

• Eminent domain (government can take private property if they compensate the owner appropriately)

• Protection against self incrimination

Sixth Amendment

• Speedy trial

• Public trial

• Right to face accuser

• Right to counsel

Seventh Amendment

Civil trials exceeding $20 guaranteed a jury

Eighth Amendment

• Protection against excessive bail and fines

• Protection from cruel and unusual punishment

Ninth Amendment

The rights of the people are not limited to this list

Tenth Amendment

• Powers not given to the federal government or denied to the states belong to the states

• aka Reserved powers

Eleventh Amendment

• aka Sovereign Immunity

• States are immune from suits by out-of-state citizens and foreigners not living within the state

Twelth Amendment

• Adjusts the way Presidents and Vice Presidents are elected due to the development of political powers

• The election of the vice president is now a vote separate from the president

Thirteenth Amendment

abolished slavery

Fourteenth Amendment

• Defines citizenship

• Guarantees due process (State governments)

• Equal protection clause

Fifteenth Amendment

Prohibits the denial of suffrage based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude

Sixteenth Amendment

Federal income tax

Seventeenth Amendment

Direct election of Senators

Eighteenth Amendment

established prohibition

Nineteenth Amendment

Prohibits the denial of suffrage based on gender

Twentieth Amendment

• Presidential inauguration date changed from March 4 to January 20

• The start of congressional term changed from the first Monday in December to January 3

Twenty-First Amendment

Repealed the Eighteenth Amendment

Twenty-Second Amendment

Limits presidential terms to two

Twenty-Third Amendment

Gives DC three Electoral Votes in the Electoral College

Twenty-Fourth Amendment

Bans poll taxes

Twenty-Fifth Amendment

Addresses succession of the President

Twenty-Sixth Amendment

Prohibits the denial of suffrage to U.S. citizens 18 years and older because of their age

Twenty-Seventh Amendment

• When proposing the Bill of Rights, James Madison proposed twelve amendments:

◦ Having to do with representation

◦ Any congressional pay raises do no take effect until after the next election

◦ Twenty-seventh Amendment proposed by Congress in 1789

• State ratification took longer:

◦ By 1792, only 7 states ratified

◦ By 1873, a total of 8 states ratified

◦ By 1991, 27 more states ratified (total 35 states)

◦ In 1992, 3 more states ratified (total 38)