Everyone should have a copy of this in their home, office or on them. These are your rights as an American citizen. I have refrained from editorializing but you can see based on current events that there has been considerable conflict of what those rights are and how the government applies or bends them. Credit to the ACLU for providing the simplified language.
Amendment 1 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.
Freedom to practice your religion and not favor one over the other. Gives you the right to say what you want even criticizing the president. Freedom of the press. The right of people to peaceably demonstrate or protest to ask the government to change something.
Amendment 2 A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.
The right to own guns.
Amendment 3 No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Before there were military bases and the British ruled, they could demand you house a soldier.
Amendment 4 The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.
Nobody can search your body, or your house, or your papers and things, unless they can get a warrant from a judge that they have a good reason for the search.
Amendment 5 No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.
You can't be tried for a serious crime without a grand jury deciding if there is enough evidence. If you are found innocent the government can't try you again.
You cannot be forced to admit you are guilty of a crime and if you choose not to, you don't have to say anything at your trial at all. Also, You can't be killed, or put in jail, or fined, unless you were convicted of a crime by a jury and all of the proper legal steps during your arrest and trial were followed; and the government can't take your house or your farm or anything that is yours, unless the government pays for it at a fair price.
Amendment 6 In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
You have a right to a speedy trial by jury of regular folks. You have the right to know what you are accused of doing wrong, and cross examine people who are witnesses against you. You have a right to a lawyer if you can't afford one, the government will pay.
Amendment 7 In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States than according to the rules of the common law.
You also have the right to a jury when it is a civil case (a law case between two people rather than between you and the government).
Amendment 8 Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
The government can't make you pay more than is reasonable in bail or in fines, and the government can't inflict cruel or unusual punishments even if you are convicted of a crime.
Amendment 9 The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
These rights are listed in the Constitution but doesn't mean that you don't have other rights too.
Amendment 10 The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Anything that the Constitution doesn't say that Congress can do, is left up to the states and to the people.
Bill of Rights, civics
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