Amendments

• The First Amendment: Protects freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition.

• The Second Amendment: Grants the right to keep and bear arms.

• The Third Amendment: Prohibits the quartering of soldiers in private homes during peacetime.

• The Fourth Amendment: Protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

• The Fifth Amendment: Provides the right to due process, prohibits self-incrimination (“I plead the fifth” - right to remain silent), and protects against double jeopardy.

• The Sixth Amendment: Guarantees the right to a fair and speedy trial, the right to counsel, and the right to confront witnesses.

• The Seventh Amendment: Ensures the right to a jury trial in civil cases involving more than twenty dollars.

• The Eighth Amendment: Prohibits excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishment.

• The Ninth Amendment: Rights in the Constitution are NOT the only rights citizens have. The people have more rights than are listed in the Constitution.

• The Tenth Amendment: Affirms that powers not delegated to the federal government nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or the people.

Amendments are created when two-thirds of both chambers of Congress vote to amend the constitution, AND three-quarters of the state legislatures vote to amend as well.