what is the bill of rights?
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The Bill of Rights are the original 10 amendments to the Constitution. The Founding Fathers felt uneasy as they thought their Constitution did not do enough to protect the basic Civil Liberties of the American people so they created the Bill of Rights (hence the name.) The Bill of Rights covers things like freedom of the press, right to trial, equal protection under the law, and the right to own a bear arms. The Federalist Papers are explanations written by the Founding Fathers in hope to clear up some of the incredibly vague language used.
2116
The amendments are the alterations that are made to the constitution. This ability to change was written into the original constitution, and is considered one of the primary reasons that the constitution is such a great document.\n\nThe Bill of Rights refers to the document of 12 amendments (though two were not accepted leaving only ten that have any force of law) to the constitution that had to be made before the constitution was accepted. Primarily they are points that were left out of the original constitution that the delegates felt should be included. So the 10 Amendments of the Bill of Rights were enacted before the constitution was ratified.
65986
Of course our rights stem from the Bill of Rights which amended the Constitution.  However, and more importantly, our rights are preserved by the "Rule of Law" and that depends on our Court system being independent of Congress or the Whitehouse.  Many countries had constitutions, lawyers and elections but lost their freedom when they lost the rule of law.  Nazi Germany is a good example.  I know of investors who shy away from investments in Russia today because they doubt that the rule of law there will protect their rights.  perhaps things will change for the better.
161301
Freedom: The ability to do anything that you want (good or bad)\n\nIn fact and in the intent of laws: The most relative definition is that our freedom stops where the freedom of another individual begins.
975281
We've been told that it's to protect us in case the government tries to get a little too tyrannical. I guess the Bill of Rights also protects us from ourselves and some extremely intolerant and conservative people out there. The original writers of the Constitution didn't care for a Bill of Rights, but they had to add it to please some states so the states would join the union.
40522
Just to be accurate, the "Bill of Rights" are the first ten amendments to the US constitution. To pick the most important one is a tough question. Your environment and background would play an important role in that choice. Guess I'll go out on a limb and say the first:\n\nFreedom of speech, press, religion, peaceable assembly, and to petition the government. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. \n\nI mean, if it wasnt for that "right", we might not be able to have this forum.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Bill_of_Rights#The_Amendments
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Through the bill of rights; the first amendment protects our right to freedom of speech. This amendment cannot be changed unless repealed by a vote for another amendment to change this right.
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To date, there have been 27 amendments.\n\nThe first 10 amendments are known as the Bill of Rights.
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there are 27 amendments to the constitution.  These amendments made to the constitution are changes made to the main body.  These include basic rights for citizens ie. the Bill of Rights, which is made up of the first ten amendments.  The others have come along due to changes in government as society changes over time.
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The Bill of Rights is the first X Amendments to the constituition.\n\n(If that's alll you wanted to know, stop here. :o)\n\n They were added because the Antifederalists in Virginia and New York would not ratify the constitution. It was important that they did because Virginia was the largest  state at the time, and if New York didn't ratify, the U.S. would be geographically split. Thus, in order to gain the ratification of those two states, they added the Bill of Rights to the Constitution.
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It is Britain\n\nThere is no written constitution or comprehensive Bill of Rights; Britain's constitution is to be found partly in conventions and customs and partly in statute. The Act known as the Bill of Rights 1689 deals with the exercise of the royal prerogative and succession to the Crown.\nThe British legal system provides some remedies to deal with human rights abuses. For instance, the remedy of 'habeas corpus' secures the individual's right to freedom from any unlawful or arbitrary detention.\nParliament, however, has power to enact any law and change any previous law.\nThere is no fundamental distinction between 'public law' and 'private law'. Any person can take proceedings against the Government or a local government authority to protect his or her legal rights and to obtain a remedy for any injury suffered.\nBritain has not generally codified its law and courts adopt a relatively strict and literal approach to the interpretation of statutes. The ratification of a treaty or international convention does not make it automatically part of the domestic law. Where necessary, the Government amends domestic law to bring it in line with the convention. Because of Britain's membership of the European Community, Community law is part of British law and takes precedence in the event of conflict between the two.
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The Bill of Rights\npeople” and “authority\nJohn Locke\nKing John\nLegislative, Executive, and Judicial\nWomen were now allowed to vote\nTwo years\nBy a special appointment by the state’s governor\nOnly when there is a tie vote in the Senate\ni guessed at some.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Charter_of_Rights_and_Freedoms\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Bill_of_Rights\n\nThe Canadian Bill of Rights is a federal statute and bill of rights enacted by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's government on August 10, 1960. It provides Canadians with certain quasi-constitutional[1] rights in relation to other federal statutes. It was the earliest express human rights law at the federal level in Canada, though an Implied Bill of Rights had already been recognized[1]. The Canadian Bill of Rights remains in effect, but its widely acknowledged ineffectiveness was the main reason that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was adopted in 1982.\n\nThe Canadian Bill of Rights protects numerous rights, most of which were later included in the Charter. Examples include:\n\nFreedom of speech and freedom of religion (now in Section 2 of the Charter) \nLimited equality rights (more complete rights are contained in Section 15 of the Charter) \nThe right to life, liberty and security of the person, and in another section, rights to fundamental justice (the Charter combines those rights in Section 7) \nThe right to enjoyment of property, which is not enshrined in the Charter \nThe right to counsel (now in Section 10 of the Charter). \nSection 2 of the Bill of Rights begins as follows:\n\n2 Every law of Canada shall, unless it is expressly declared by an Act of the Parliament of Canada that it shall operate notwithstanding the Canadian Bill of Rights, be so construed and applied as not to abrogate, abridge or infringe or to authorize the abrogation, abridgment or infringement of any of the rights or freedoms herein recognized and declared... \nThe notwithstanding wording of Section 2 is a precursor to the notwithstanding clause of the Charter.\n\nWhile the Bill of Rights is only considered quasi-constitutional because of its nature as a statute (as opposed to superstatute), it contains a unique provision that is often forgotten by many who dismiss the importance of the document. This section reads as follows:\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Bill_of_Rights\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Act%2C_1867
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I assume you are asking because it relates to some homework you are working on, so I'm only going to give a brief overview. You can look up the details.\n\nThe due process clause of the fourteenth amendment along with equal protection clause serves to incorporate most of the federal notions and application of the bill of rights to the states. These notions are incorporated because they are considered fundamental to the American system of justice. \n\nNot all of the bill of rights are incorporated to the states. For example, the grand jury requirement is not enforced upon the states nor the bail requirement of the eighth amendment. There are others. You can find them by searching the capsule summaries of constitutional law at lexisnexis.com. Or by searching for "incorporation" and the "fourteenth amendment" in your search engine of choice. \n\nThe federal definition of the right, when incorporated to the states, is only the floor level the state must guarantee its citizens. If it chooses the state my extend greater protection then afforded by the federal definition, so long as it doesn't violate any other right.\n\nAs a side note there is a due process clause in the language of the 5th amendment as well. The two due process clauses function is slightly different ways and are a large part of any first year law school course on criminal procedure/bill of rights.\n\nFor specific case examples see the above sources.
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The U.S. Constitution was drafted on September 17, 1787.\n\nIt was officially ratified and became effective March 4, 1789.\n\nThe first ten amendments (the "Bill of Rights") were ratified December 15, 1791.
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Your rights are not dependant on the Constitution but predate it in Common Law.  The Constitution is specifically about creating a general government for the States.  \n\nThe Bill of rights is not a list of personal rights (refer to Article IX of the Amendments).  The first eight articles are statements excluding the federal (general) government from doing specific things.  The last two are declaratory statements of basic truths in part underscoring the fact that individual rights are to numerous too list.\n\nRead Thomas Jefferson’s Kentucky Resolution, preferably his first draft. \n\nBy the way the Constitution of the United States is not long, it is only seven Articles of which the longest only has 10 Sections.  It is written in clear, easy to understand English.
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The constitution is considered "the highest law in the land."  It contains the Preamble, which is basically a statement of what the US is all about; the Articles, which give the basic structure of the government and the powers that each branch of government has, and the rules for amending the constitution; and the Amendments, which cover all kinds of issues regarding citizenship, rights of citizens, and more stuff about the structure of the government and how it gets paid.