The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, speech, and the press, and the rights of peaceful assembly and petition.
Other amendments guarantee the rights of the people to form a well-regulated militia, to keep and bear arms, the rights to private property, to fair treatment for accused criminals, to protection from unreasonable search and seizure, to freedom from self-incrimination, to a speedy and impartial jury trial, and to representation by counsel.
The Tenth Amendment guarantees the right of the states not to have their power and authority usurped by the federal government except in limited areas as defined by the U.S. Constitution.
The Bill of Rights did not come out of the blue but takes its inspiration and builds on various declaration of rights that came before:
- Magna Carta
- John Locke's thesis - Two Treatises of Government: excerpts here
- Virginia Declaration of Rights
- Declaration of Independence
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