Ten amendments make up the United States Bill of Rights, one of the founding documents highlighted by America250.
The Bill of Rights consists of the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. Congress proposed twelve amendments in 1789, but the states initially ratified only ten of them. Those ten became part of the Constitution on December 15, 1791.
The amendments protect important liberties and legal safeguards, including religious freedom, freedom of speech, press and assembly, protection against unreasonable searches, and rights for people accused of crimes. The two amendments proposed in 1789 that were not immediately ratified were not simply ignored forever: one eventually became the Twenty-seventh Amendment in 1992, while the other still has not been ratified.