For America250, what name is given to the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution?

For America250, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution are called the Bill of Rights.

The amendments were proposed by Congress in 1789 and ratified by the states in 1791. They protect liberties such as freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition, while also addressing criminal procedure, arms, searches, trials, and other limits on government power.

James Madison introduced the amendments in the House of Representatives after responding to concerns raised during the Constitution’s ratification debates. Twelve amendments were proposed in 1789, but only ten were ratified at that time. One of the other proposed amendments later became the Twenty-Seventh Amendment.

The Bill of Rights is not a separate constitution or a founding document that predates the Constitution. It is part of the Constitution, added through the amendment process. Its protections originally constrained the federal government; many were later applied to the states through Supreme Court interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment.