Disagree with a new law in your town? You can speak up about it. Worship differently than your friends do? You have the right to follow any faith you choose or none at all. Want the latest scoop? Read as many news sources as you like—or start your own.
We may take these rights for granted, but our nation’s founders did not. Even as they signed the U.S. Constitution in 1787, some of them worried it wouldn’t do enough to protect Americans’ individual freedoms.
So James Madison, the Constitution’s main author, drafted the Bill of Rights to ensure the government didn’t overstep its bounds. Ratified in 1791, the 10 amendments that make up the Bill of Rights protect key individual liberties, such as freedom from unreasonable searches and the right to public trials.