What foundational American document protects individual liberties?

• A. Magna Carta
• B. Bill of Rights
• C. Napoleonic Code
• D. Code of Hammurabi

Answer: (B)

The Bill of Rights protects individual liberties by enumerating fundamental freedoms and limiting government power. Ratified in 1791 as the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, it guarantees essentials like freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition; due process and fair trial rights; and protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, among others. This arrangement arose from concerns about centralized authority after independence and a commitment to safeguard individual rights within the American legal framework. The other documents are not American constitutional instruments: Magna Carta is a medieval English charter that influenced later ideas about liberty, while the Napoleonic Code and the Code of Hammurabi are French and ancient Babylonian laws, respectively.