Social Sciences and History / Unit 7 SSH 0616 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Bill of Rights, 1791
Captions available
The idea
The first ten amendments were formally added in seventeen ninety-one, most designed to protect fundamental rights and liberties, as the Federalists had promised to allay fear of the new federal government. Originally they bound only the national government.
In practice
State constitutions protected their own, differing, sets of rights.
Where people slip
Video 0628 covers how the Fourteenth changed that.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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