Now more than ever it’s important to know a little history, so we’ve taken some of the work out of that with this list of the most important amendments in the Bill of Rights.
Even if you hate politics and you avoid getting political at all costs, you can’t deny the importance of the US Constitution and how it’s framed the way our government works (or doesn’t work). We all learned the basic principles of the Constitution in at least high school, and some of us even before that, so it’s pretty much assumed you’re aware of the various amendments. The Constitution as a standalone document didn’t really do much to outline the basic rights that the people have; therefore, it was called upon to add a series of changes that further explain what is and isn’t allowed. If you just read the Constitution itself, after the preamble it’s just a lot of vague terminology, so it’s no wonder it wasn’t ratified until the Bill of Rights was added.
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The US Constitution right now has 27 amendments. To amend the Constitution, an amendment has to be proposed by either house of Congress and voted in by a two-thirds majority in both houses or by a constitutional convention that’s called by two-thirds of the state legislatures. Many of the 27 amendments likely coincide with some of the most important historical events that changed the world forever. Because of the way the US government functions, it’s critical that when something major happens, like a Supreme Court case, for example, there is some type of law that backs up the ruling. That’s why a few amendments exist. On this list, however, we’re going to primarily focus on the most important amendments in the Bill of Rights, which is the first ten that were proposed and came alongside the Constitution when it was ratified in 1789.
In order to compile this list, we took a look at two websites: Quora and Scholastic. While each amendment is important in its own way, we tried to take the seven most important and qualify it. These are the ones that are most believed to be the most impactful on a day-to-day basis or as a general and important right that US citizens have (or are supposed to have).
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the most important amendments in the Bill of Rights.
