The First Amendment: The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press. The press includes newspapers, television and web-based communication such as blogs and websites. The Second Amendment: The Second Amendment protects the right of the people to "keep and bear arms." In this case, arms means weapons, or "firearms."

The Third Amendment: The Third Amendment says that the government cannot force people to keep soldiers in their homes. It was written because people remembered what it was like when the British used to force colonists to house British soldiers.

The Fourth Amendment: The Fourth Amendment says that people's homes are private. Government officials cannot enter them without a search warrant.

The Fifth Amendment: The Fifth Amendment contains important rights of a person accused of a crime. These guarantees were added to the Constitution because dishonest governments in the past had accused people falsely so they could put them in jail.

The Sixth Amendment: The most important part of this amendment is its promise of a jury trial. A jury is a group of ordinary citizens who decide together whether a person accused of a crime is guilty or not guilty.

The Seventh Amendment: The Seventh Amendment applies the right to a jury trial to civil cases. Civil cases do not deal with crimes. They are disagreements between individuals. If a case involves more than $20, the parties have a right to a jury trial.

The Eighth Amendment: Bail is money that the court requires before a person accused of a crime can be released from jail. The Eighth Amendment states that the amount of bail can't be too high. It also says that punishment for crime cannot be "cruel" or "unusual."

The Ninth Amendment: Some men in Congress worried about including a list of rights in the Constitution. Could the government later use this list to say that people had only those rights listed? To solve this problem, James Madison wrote the Ninth Amendment.

The Tenth Amendment: The Tenth Amendment says that the federal government can only use those powers given to it in the Constitution. All other powers belong to the states. This amendment satisfied the Anti-Federalists, who thought the federal government could get so powerful that it would destroy the states.