What is the purpose of the ninth amendment to the United States constitution?

Answer 1

The ninth amendment is intended to protect all of your Natural Rights, which pre-exist any government, even if they are not explicitly protected by the previous eight amendments.

When the US Constitution was first presented to the public, many of the Founding Fathers considered it inadequate and dangerous, because it increased the powers of the overall federation's government. Remember that "state" in the US means the same thing as "country" in Europe, with Virginia and Massechussetts being equal to Spain and France in the European Union.

In order to protect the Natural Rights of the people of the US, therefore, they required that the constitution be amended to include a Bill of Rights that were protected from violation.

The first eight identify specific natural rights that need to be singled out and protected, or they'll be violated almost immediately and constantly. But, having named them, some Founders on both sides (Federalists and Antl-Federalists) were concerned that corrupt politicians and bureaucrats would pretend this meant all other natural rights were not protected at all.

Therefore, the 9th and 10th amendments were added to point out what was otherwise taken for granted in that day: that every OTHER right, though they felt it was not necessary to mention it by name, was also protected.

The 9th amendment says this specifically:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

The 10th amendment goes on to be more explicit, pointing out that the Federal government has NO powers, except those identified specifically in the Constitution. If you can't point out the exact power being identified in the Constitution, any law Congress tries to pass is not constitutional, regardless of whether they, or the Judiciary or Executive branch, says otherwise.

The concern of the anti-Federalists, individualists like Jefferson and Paine, was that the Constitution did not protect the rights of the individuals or states who comprised the American federation. They demanded a "bill of rights", like the ones added to several state constitutions. These were lists of natural rights specially protected from violation by the government.

The Federalists like Hamilton and Madison, who wanted more authority for the government, objected that a bill of rights would give the false impression that anything notlisted was OK to violate.

The response of the anti-Federalists, therefore, was to include in their bill of rights two extra amendments, which became the ninth and tenth.

The ninth directly attacked the idea that other rights were not protected. If there is a right not listed, for example, the right to freedom of movement, the 9th establishes that this doesn't mean it's OK to violate it.

The 10th amendment goes farther, specifically saying that the Federal government has NO powers, except those given it in the Constitution.

This coordinates with the 9th amendment, so that the Federal government has no power to violate your freedom of movement, because there is no such power listed in the Constitution.

It is important to note that ALL of the amendments protect rights that the Founders recognized as pre-existing the Constitution. It does not create or give "freedom of speech", and the 9th amendment does not invent unlisted rights. These natural rights are the ones you are "endowed with by the Creator", which to the Deist founding fathers used to mean Nature, that they equated with God.

Answer 2

Prevents government from claiming the only rights we have are in the Bill of Rights. This amendment is giving us more freedom.

Answer 3

its the right of people so people can speak what they think

Answer 4

because if there wasnt a nine there wouldn't be a 10th or 11th or ect.