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US Constitution study guide: Difference between revisions
→Bill of Rights [Amendments 1-10]
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* = the first ten amendments that were adopted as a group | * = the first ten amendments that were adopted as a group | ||
* known collectively as the "Bill of Rights" (BOR) | * known collectively as the "Bill of Rights" (BOR) | ||
* | * BOR protects certain individual rights from "infringement" by the federal government | ||
* or prohibiting laws, as in "Congress shall make no law respecting..." certain rights | |||
* i.e., the BOR does not create those rights, it protects rights that already exist or that exist "naturally" (called "natural law") | * i.e., the BOR does not create those rights, it protects rights that already exist or that exist "naturally" (called "natural law") | ||
* their principal author, James Madison, did not consider the amendments essential, but he understood the political need for them, as the anti-Federalists had made strong arguments for the need to protect the rights of the people and of the states from the central government | * their principal author, James Madison, did not consider the amendments essential, but he understood the political need for them, as the anti-Federalists had made strong arguments for the need to protect the rights of the people and of the states from the central government | ||