A Brief history of the Bill of Rights

1791, the first ten amendments to the Constitution - religious liberty, free speech, personal privacy, private property, procedural fairness against the power of the democratic majority.

After Civil War (1861 ~ 1865), a second Bill of Rights (the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments) - outlawing slavery, guaranteeing equal protection of the laws, assuring the right to vote to members of racial minorities.

1919, the Nineteenth Amemdment - women's right to vote

1970, the Twenty-fifth Amendment - right to vote for youths 18 and over


cf. For constitutional law, this site, Justice Learning, is so good!