Describe some of the principles outlined in the Constitution that help ensure individual rights and a balanced representative government?

The Constitution is chock-full of guarantees of individual rights and rules about what the government can and can’t do. Some provisions affect people’s lives more than others, but they are all important in their own right. Here are just some of the important, often-discussed provisions and where you can find them in the Constitution:

Freedom of speech, press, and religion: First Amendment

Right to bear arms: Second Amendment

Right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures: Fourth Amendment

Right against self-incrimination and double jeopardy: Fifth Amendment

Due process: Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments

Right against taking without just compensation: Fifth Amendment

Right to a speedy and public trial: Sixth Amendment

Right to counsel: Sixth Amendment (also read into the Fifth-Amendment right against self-incrimination)

Prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment: Eighth Amendment

Slavery abolishment: Thirteenth Amendment

Equal protection: Fourteenth Amendment

Women’s right to vote: Nineteenth Amendment

Commerce clause: Article I, Section 8

“Necessary and proper” clause: Article I, Section 8

Contracts clause: Article I, Section 10

Full faith and credit: Article IV, Section 1