What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?

The first ten amendments to the Constitution are collectively known as the Bill of Rights. This term refers to the essential amendments that guarantee fundamental rights and civil liberties to individuals, such as the freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, and the right to a fair trial, among others.

These amendments were introduced to ensure that individual rights were explicitly protected from government infringement, reflecting the concerns of the Anti-Federalists during the ratification debates of the Constitution. The Bill of Rights plays a crucial role in American law and underscores the foundational principles of democracy and protection of personal freedoms.

The Declaration of Independence, while a significant historical document, does not contain amendments to the Constitution; rather, it declared the colonies' independence from British rule. The Federalist Papers are a series of essays advocating for the ratification of the Constitution but are not amendments themselves. The Articles of Confederation were the first governing document of the United States before the current Constitution, which also does not pertain to the Bill of Rights.