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The decision to include the Bill of Rights in the Constitution was not a foregone conclusion when the Framers met at Philadelphia in 1787. Indeed, it was a major concession on the part of the Federalists to agree to its addition to the Constitution after it was ratified. Nonetheless, most state constitutions already included bills of rights, and the principles ultimately outlined in the Bill of Rights in the national Constitution were strongly supported by the people. Most of the colonists had come to America, at least in part, in search of religious, political, and economic liberty. They had fought a war to defend those liberties, and they were not about to give them up to their new national government. Today, it is almost unimaginable that the Constitution would not include a Bill of Rights.

1. Summarize the historical origins and political importance of the Bill of Rights.
2. List and explain the rights and liberties outlined in the body of the United States Constitution and in the Bill of Rights.
3. Explain how the Bill of Rights promotes civil rights and protects diversity.
4. Identify the significance of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
5. Explain how the Bill of Rights promotes a just legal system.
6. Summarize the differences between strict and loose interpretations of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
7. Identify and summarize landmark cases and their impact on civil rights and individual liberties.

For more information, look up the following Web site(s):

• The Bill of Rights
• Lemon v. Kurtzman
• Buckley v. Valeo
• Dred Scott v. Sanford
• Plessy v. Ferguson
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Brown II
• Gideon v. Wainwright
• Miranda v. Arizona
• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
• "The Emancipation Proclamation"