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Annenberg Classroom

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Timeline

Sixth Amendment – Right to Trial by Impartial Jury

The Sixth Amendment provides many protections and rights to a person accused of a crime. One right is to have his or her case heard by an impartial jury—independent people from the surrounding community who are willing to decide the case based only on the evidence.

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Third Amendment

The Third Amendment is intended to protect citizens’ rights to the ownership and use of their property without intrusion by the government.

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Fifth Amendment – Right to Due Process

The right of due process has grown in two directions: It affords individuals a right to a fair process (known as procedural due process) and a right to enjoy certain fundamental liberties without governmental interference (known as substantive due process). The Fifth Amendment’s due process clause applies to the federal government’s conduct. In 1868 the adoption of the 14th Amendment expanded the right of due process to include limits on the actions of state governments.

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Second Amendment

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

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Sixth Amendment – Right to Be Informed of Criminal Charges

The Sixth Amendment right to “be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation” is another protection meant to ensure that the accused receives a fair trail. A speedy, public trial that is heard by an impartial jury is meaningless if a defendant is left in the dark about exactly the crime with which he or she is charged.

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Sixth Amendment – Right to Assistance of Counsel

The Sixth Amendment guarantees a criminal defendant the right to have an attorney defend him or her at trial. That right is not dependent on the defendant’s ability to pay an attorney; if a defendant cannot afford a lawyer, the government is required to provide one. The right to counsel is more than just the right to have an attorney physically present at criminal proceedings. The assistance provided by the attorney must be effective.

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Sixth Amendment – Right to Speedy Trial

Without this right, criminal defendants could be held indefinitely under a cloud of unproven criminal accusations. The right to a speedy trial also is crucial to ensuring that a criminal defendant receives a fair trial. If too much time elapses between the alleged crime and the trial, witnesses may die or leave the area, their memories may fade, and physical evidence may be lost.

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Fourth Amendment

The Fourth Amendment protects people against unreasonable searches and seizures by government officials. A search can mean everything from a frisking by a police officer to a blood test to a search of an individual’s home or car. A seizure occurs when the government takes control of an individual or something in his or her possession.

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Fifth Amendment – Right Against Self-Incrimination

This provision of the Fifth Amendment protects a person from being forced to reveal to the police, prosecutor, judge, or jury any information that might subject him or her to criminal prosecution.

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Eighth Amendment

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

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18th Amendment

The 18th Amendment makes illegal the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors.”

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22nd Amendment

The 22nd Amendment limits an elected president to two terms in office, a total of eight years.

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25th Amendment

The 25th Amendment was passed in order to clarify what happens upon the death, removal, or resignation of the president or vice president and how the presidency is temporarily filled if the president becomes disabled and cannot fulfill his responsibilities.

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17th Amendment

The 17th Amendment provides for the popular election of U.S. senators. This timeline shows the related major legislation and Supreme Court cases.

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Legal Rights

This timeline provides milestones as legal rights of the accused have evolved through U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

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Article I – Impeachment

Article I, Section 3, of the Constitution says that the House of Representatives brings charges of impeachment to remove a president, vice president or other civil officer, such as a judge. The Senate conducts the trial and decides whether person is to be removed from office.

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Immigration

This timeline addresses milestones in immigration and government policies.

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Health Care

This timeline provides milestones regarding health care and government policies through American history.

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First Amendment – Freedom of the Press

The First Amendment protects the free press, including television, radio and the Internet. The media are free to distribute a wide range of news, facts, opinions and pictures.

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First Amendment – Freedom of Speech

The First Amendment allows citizens to express and to be exposed to a wide range of opinions and views. It was intended to ensure a free exchange of ideas even if the ideas are unpopular. Freedom of speech encompasses not only the spoken and written word, but also all kinds of expression (including non-verbal communications, such as sit-ins, art, photographs, films and advertisements).

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First Amendment – Freedom of Religion

The First Amendment’s free exercise clause allows a person to hold whatever religious beliefs he or she wants, and to exercise that belief by attending religious services, praying in public or in private, proselytizing or wearing religious clothing, such as yarmulkes or headscarves. Also included in the free exercise clause is the right not to believe in any religion, and the right not to participate in religious activities. Second, the establishment clause prevents the government from creating a church, endorsing religion in general, or favoring one set of religious beliefs over another.

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13th Amendment

The 13th Amendment, one of the Reconstruction era amendments, abolished slavery.

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Freedom from Discrimination

This timeline addresses milestones in the civil rights movement, women’s rights movement, and immigration and citizenship.

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First Amendment

This timeline addresses freedom of speech and the press, freedom of assembly and the right to petition the government, and freedom of religion.