Bill of Rights

Creation (1789) ; ratification (1791)

1. Article: Freedom of

• speech

• press

• religion

• Assembly (peacefully)

• Petition

2) Right to keep and bear arms

Original intention: protect Americans from British soldiers

3) “Quartering” amendment

No soldier can quarter a house, no citizen shall be forced to quarder soldiers at their home

4) Right to search and seizure

The police cannot come into your house without a search warrant

• prohibits unreasoanable arrests and searches

5) Right for people accused of a crime

• “I plead the fifth”

• No person shall be held to answer for a crime unless before a jury

• Protection against self-incrimination

6 and 7) Legal system

6. Right to a lawyer and to call a witness

7. Right to speedy, public and impartial jury trial - IMPARTIAL process

8) Protection against cruel and unsual punishment

• Sets limits to bails and penalties

• Prohibits excessive bails and fines

• Controversy: What about death penalty in some states?

9 and 10) Non-right amendments

• States must decide in regard to other rights.

Key documents:

• Declaration of Independence (1776)

• Articles of Confederation (1781)

• United States Constitution (1789)

Key events:

Stamp Act (1765)

Who? Parliament of Great Britain

What? Tax on colonies

Boston Tea Party (1773)

• Cause: Tea Act

• Response: Throwing the tea into the Boston Harbor

• Result: Intolerable Acts

No taxation without representation!

Intolerable Acts (1774)

• Punitive measures passed by the British Parliament after the B.T.P

• Example: Boston Port Act

American Revolutionary War (1775-1783)

Declaration of Independence (4th July 1776)

Treaty of Paris (1783)

• Ended the American Revolution

• Formally recognized the U.S as an independent nation

Founding Fathers

American Revolutionary Leaders, who:

• United the 13 colonies

• Oversaw the war for the indepence of Great Britain

• Established the U.S

• Created a framework of government for the new nation

Revolutionary Era (1765-1791)

• George Washington

• Benjamin Franklin

• Thomas Jefferson

• Alexander Hamilton

• John Adams

• John Jay

• James Madinson

The Federalist Papers

to? ratify the Constitution

where and when? Philadelphia, 1787

what? 85 essays

who?

• Alexander Hamilton (majority of them)

• James Madison

• John Jay

Goal: Serve as defence of the federal system

U.S Constitution

ratified (1787)

• supreme law of the U.S

• doctrine of the separation of powers

• rights and responsabilities of states

• first 10 Amendments: Bill of Rights

^^We the people of the U.S… ^^

Article 1: Legislative

Congress

• Senate

• House of Representatives

Article 2: Executive Branch

Duties of the president and vice-president

• P: Head

• Commander in Chief of the U.S Armed Forces

Article 3: Judicial Branch

• Supreme Court