The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution were ratified as the Bill of Rights in 1791.
Congress proposed 12 amendments in 1789, following concerns that the new Constitution did not sufficiently protect individual liberties. The states ratified 10 of those proposals on December 15, 1791.
The Bill of Rights protects freedoms including religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. It also addresses due process, searches, criminal trials, weapons, and powers not delegated to the federal government.
Two of the 12 amendments proposed in 1789 were not initially ratified. One later became the Twenty-Seventh Amendment in 1992, while the other concerned congressional apportionment and has never been ratified. The Bill of Rights therefore refers specifically to the first 10 amendments, not all 12 original proposals.