LibGuides: Know Your Rights!: U.S. Constitution

U.S. Constitution

National Archives: U.S. Constitution
The following text is a transcription of the Constitution as it was inscribed by Jacob Shallus on parchment (the document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum.) The spelling and punctuation reflect the original.
National Archives: The Constitution: Amendments 11-27
Constitutional Amendments 1-10 make up what is known as The Bill of Rights. Amendments 11-27 are included in this source.
Bill of Rights Institute: The United States Constitution
Established in September 1999, the Bill of Rights Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization that works to engage, educate, and empower individuals with a passion for the freedom and opportunity that exist in a free society.
Know Your Rights: A Guide to the United States Constitution
While the U.S. Constitution itself outlines the basic structure of the federal government, its twenty-seven amendments address many subjects but primarily focus on the rights of individual American citizens. This booklet outlines those rights, offering historical context and other information that is both interesting and informative.

Bill of Rights

National Archives: Bill of Rights
The text is a transcription of the enrolled original of the Joint Resolution of Congress proposing the Bill of Rights, which is on permanent display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum. The spelling and punctuation reflects the original.
Bill of Rights Institute: The Bill of Rights
Established in September 1999, the Bill of Rights Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization that works to engage, educate, and empower individuals with a passion for the freedom and opportunity that exist in a free society.

Bill of Rights Downloadable Infographic

Organizations that Can Help

American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU
The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union — beyond one person, party, or side. Our mission is to realize this promise of the United States Constitution for all and expand the reach of its guarantees.
Center for Constitutional Rights, CCR
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
Electronic Privacy Information Center, EPIC
EPIC is a public interest research center in Washington, DC. EPIC was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging privacy and civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, freedom of expression, and democratic values in the information age.
First Amendment Coalition, FAC
The mission of the First Amendment Coalition is to protect and promote freedom of expression and the people’s right to know. The Coalition is a non-profit, nonpartisan educational and advocacy organization serving the public, public servants, and the media in all its forms.
National Lawyer's Guild
Our mission is to use law for the people, uniting lawyers, law students, legal workers, and jailhouse lawyers to function as an effective force in the service of the people by valuing human rights and the rights of ecosystems over property interests.
ProPublica
ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism. ProPublica's mission: To expose abuses of power and betrayals of the public trust by government, business, and other institutions, using the moral force of investigative journalism to spur reform through the sustained spotlighting of wrongdoing.

Defending Your Rights

Complaint for Violation of Civil Rights
A Civil Rights complaint may be filed if you believe that you have been discriminated against because of your race, color, national origin, disability, age, sex, or religion.

EBooks

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The Bill of Rights by John J. Patrick
Call Number: EBook
ISBN: 9780195103540
Publication Date: 2003-01-23
The Bill of Rights is an extraordinary collection of original documents, carefully introduced and put into context by historian John Patrick, that traces the origins of the Bill of Rights back to Englands Magna Carta and its legal traditions through to present day controversies over freedoms of speech, religion, bearing arms, assembling, and more.
Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda; Jeremy McCarter (Read by)
Call Number: EBook
ISBN: 9781478913641
Publication Date: 2016-05-10
A backstage pass to the groundbreaking, hit musical Hamilton, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Eleven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, including the award-winning libretto, behind-the-scenes photos and interviews, and exclusive footnotes from composer-lyricist-star Lin-Manuel Miranda. Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking musical Hamilton is as revolutionary as its subject, the poor kid from the Caribbean who fought the British, defended the Constitution, and helped to found the United States.
The Soul of the First Amendment by Floyd Abrams
Call Number: EBook
ISBN: 9780300190885
Publication Date: 2017-04-25
A lively and controversial overview by the nation's most celebrated First Amendment lawyer of the unique protections for freedom of speech in America. The right of Americans to voice their beliefs without government approval or oversight is protected under what may well be the most honored and least understood addendum to the US Constitution—the First Amendment.
The U.S. Constitution and Constitutional Law by Brian Duignan
Call Number: EBook
ISBN: 9781615306886
Publication Date: 2012-07-15
Although one of the shortest written constitutions in the world, the U.S. Constitution, designed to embody the rights, laws, and guiding principles of a diverse and ever-changing populace, remains an enduring document.

Relevant Articles

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The American Bill of Rights at Two Hundred and Thirty Years: How Do We Think About the Bill of Rights in the Twenty-First Century?
A peer-reviewed article by Paul Finkelman, from the Journal Nanzan Review of American Studies, 2019.
Bill of Rights
Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia on the Bill of Rights, 2020.
From Appendix to Heart: Tracing the History of the Bill of Rights.
A peer-reviewed article by Lael Weinberger, from the Journal Constitutional Commentary, Fall 2019.
The Heart of the Constitution: How the Bill of Rights Became the Bill of Rights.
A peer-reviewed article by Justin B. Dyer, from the Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Spring 2019.

How Constitutional Amendments are Ratified

National Archives: The Amendment Process
The amendment process is very difficult and time consuming: A proposed amendment must be passed by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, then ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. [...] Another option ...
United States Senate: Amending the Constitution
The Constitution defines the fundamental law of the U.S. federal government, setting forth the three principal branches of the federal government and outlining their jurisdictions.

Constitution Day

Library of Congress: Constitution Day, Records of the Constitutional Convention
Today, September 17, is Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. This day has been designated by Congress to recognize the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787 and to recognize all who have become citizens in the last year. I thought it would be interesting this year to talk about the history of the Constitutional Convention and the publication of its records.

Know Your Rights!: U.S. Constitution

U.S. Constitution

Bill of Rights

Organizations that Can Help

Defending Your Rights

​EBooks

Relevant Articles

How Constitutional Amendments are Ratified

Constitution Day

EBooks