Bill of Rights

The United States Bill of Rights consists of the first ten amendments to the Constitution, designed to protect individual freedoms and limit government power. Drafted in response to concerns raised during the Constitution's ratification, it draws from earlier documents like the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the English Bill of Rights. James Madison spearheaded the effort, proposing twelve amendments in 1789, with ten ratified in 1791. Initially, these amendments only applied to the federal government, but after the Fourteenth Amendment, they began to apply to state governments through a process called incorporation.