Bill of Rights

Amendment VI:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

• First Amendment - Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause; freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly; right to petition

• Second Amendment - Militia (United States), Sovereign state, Right to keep and bear arms.

• Third Amendment - Protection from quartering of troops.

• Fourth Amendment - Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

• Fifth Amendment - due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, eminent domain.

• Sixth Amendment - Trial by jury and rights of the accused; Confrontation Clause, speedy trial, public trial, right to counsel

• Seventh Amendment - Civil trial by jury.

• Eighth Amendment - Prohibition of excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment.

• Ninth Amendment - Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Constitution.

• Tenth Amendment - Powers of States and people.

The fourth amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures.

(unnecessary searches and seizures of property of belongings)

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.

One of the acknowledged weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, the foundation of the first US government, was its lack of federal court system to settle issues arising under acts of the Continental Congress and involving the national government as a whole.

When the Framers (the Founding Fathers responsible for writing the Constitution) created the US Constitution, they realize this problem needed to be corrected, so they set up a tripartite (three part, or three-branch) government that included a Judicial Branch to manage a federal court system. The Framers recognized the courts would devolve into a British common law system (in 18th-century England, the understanding and application of law varied from one town or area to the next) which would lack consistency unless the Judicial Branch had one court with ultimate authority over legal interpretation.

The Framers also recognized the new federal government would be called upon to mediate disputes between the states, and that also required a court with supreme authority over constitutional interpretation and the ability to settle those disputes on behalf of the federal government.

This is addressed in Article III, Sections 1 and 2, of the US Constitution:

Article III

Section 1. The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

Section 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority;--to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls;--to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;--to controversies to which the United States shall be a party;--to controversies between two or more states;--between a state and citizens of another state;--between citizens of different states;--between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects.

In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.

The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.

no cruel or unusual punishment :

"

The Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights which prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishments. The phrases employed originate in the English Bill of Rights of 1689. In Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber 329 U.S. 459 (1947), the Supreme Court assumed that the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause applied to the states. In Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660 (1962), the Court ruled that clause did apply to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court has not ruled on whether the Excessive Bail or Excessive Fines Clauses apply to the states."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution