The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, known at the Bill of Rights, list more than twenty-five rights. Initially significant as a symbol of the nation's aspirations than for their substance, these provisions have become increasingly important as the modern Supreme Court has applied them not only to the national government but also to the states to define the meaning of individual liberty, legal and civil rights, and the extent of government authority.

Origins in State Constitutions

When the Second Continental Congress declared independence in July 1776, it encouraged states to adopt constitutions and most of them did so. Almost all incorporated declarations, or bills, of rights, like Virginia's Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason in 1776. The idea that governments should recognize such rights goes at least as far back in English history as the Magna Charta (1215), through which English...