Your rights, Shepherd Flagstaff

The documents

What you will find inside.

Three documents that built a country. Each one is searchable and in plain reading order.

7 articles

The Constitution

The rules for how the country works. Who makes the laws, who enforces them, who interprets them, and how any of it can be changed.

Article I, Legislative / Article II, Executive / Article III, Judicial / Articles IV-VII, States and amendments

First 10 amendments

The Bill of Rights

The first ten changes to the Constitution, added because people asked for them. They protect your speech, your home, your right to a fair trial, and more.

Amendment 1, Speech and religion / Amendment 2, Arms / Amendment 4, Search and seizure / Amendment 5, Due process / Amendment 6, Fair trial

1776

The Declaration of Independence

The letter that started it. A list of reasons for breaking away, and one sentence that changed the world: all people are created equal.

Amendments 11-27

The later amendments

The changes that came after. Ending slavery. Giving women the vote. Lowering the voting age to 18. The Constitution was built to grow.

13th, Abolition / 14th, Equal protection / 15th, Right to vote / 19th, Women's suffrage / 26th, Age 18 to vote

Rights that matter today

Things worth knowing by heart.

You carry these rights with you every day. Here are a few that come up most.

You can say what you think.

The First Amendment protects your right to speak, write, worship, gather, and ask the government to listen. It does not protect you from consequences at work or online, but it protects you from the government punishing you for your words.

Amendment 1: "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble."

Your home is yours.

The government cannot search your home, your car, your phone, or your belongings without a warrant. A warrant has to describe exactly what they are looking for and why.

Amendment 4: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."

You can stay silent.

If you are questioned or arrested, you have the right to say nothing. You have the right to ask for a lawyer before answering. These rights exist so that silence is not held against you.

Amendment 5: "No person... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself."

You deserve a fair trial.

If you are charged with a crime, you have the right to a speedy and public trial, with a jury. You have the right to see the evidence against you and to bring your own witnesses.

Amendment 6: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury."

You can vote.

If you are 18 or older and a citizen, your right to vote is protected by five separate amendments. It cannot be taken away because of your race, your sex, or your age.

Amendments 15, 19, 24, and 26 protect the right to vote regardless of race, sex, ability to pay, or age (18+).

Everyone gets equal protection.

The Fourteenth Amendment says the government must treat everyone under its laws the same way. This one sentence has shaped more court cases than almost any other.

Amendment 14: "No State shall... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

These belong to you.