Rights under the Constitution

The constitutional guarantees for Americans' most fundamental rights—freedom of speech, the free exercise of religion, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, and the like—did not appear in the original Constitution. This chapter analyses the dramatic changes in the protection of rights under the Constitution. It considers why the original Constitution did not contain a bill of rights and how those guarantees became part of the Constitution. The chapter examines the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment and its effects on the division of responsibility between federal and state governments for the protection of rights. It traces the United States Supreme Court's changing perspectives on extending constitutional protection against state violations of rights. The chapter shows how war and other emergencies affect the scope of rights. It also analyses the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which protects the right to bear arms.