Note: The following text is a transcription of the first ten amendments to the Constitution in their original form. These amendments were ratified December 15, 1791, and form what is known as the ...

The first ten Amendments to the Constitution protect all of the basic freedoms of Americans and are known as the Bill of Rights. The most famous are perhaps the first, second and fifth Amendments.

Madison synthesized several of the state ratifying conventions’ proposals into a list of proposed amendments that provided an important template for the first ten amendments to the Constitution.