Almost 12,000 amendments to the U.S. Constitution have been proposed since it first came into force in 1789, but only 27 have been ratified. John Yoo, Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, helps break them down in a new PragerU video.
Yoo described the first 10 as “the most famous amendments,” known as the Bill of Rights, ratified by the 1st Congress in 1791. These amendments restrain the federal government’s power and, among other things, guarantee freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, freedom from unwarranted search and seizures, and the right to a speedy and public trial.
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Another batch of major constitutional reforms would come after the Civil War: the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments would be
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