Ten amendments make up the United States Bill of Rights, a foundational document linked to America's 250th anniversary.
The Bill of Rights consists of the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. James Madison introduced a larger set of proposed amendments in Congress in 1789, responding in part to concerns raised during the debate over constitutional ratification. Congress approved twelve proposed articles on September 25, 1789.
The states ratified Articles Three through Twelve of that proposal on December 15, 1791. Those articles became Amendments One through Ten. The original proposed Article Two was eventually ratified in 1992 as the Twenty-seventh Amendment, while the original Article One remains unratified.
The ten amendments protect or address rights including freedom of religion and speech, assembly, protections against unreasonable searches, criminal-procedure safeguards, and limits on federal power. The Bill of Rights is therefore not the entire Constitution; it is the name commonly given to its first ten amendments.