Question

The rights enumerated in many states' bills of rights, drafted prior to the federal constitution, included.

a) Right to free speech.
b) Right to bear arms.
c) Right to a fair trial.
d) Right to universal suffrage.

Answer 1

State bills of rights included early versions of liberties that would be adopted into the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights, such as the right to free speech and the right to bear arms, providing assurance that individual freedoms would be protected.

Step-by-step explanation:

Many states drafted their own bills of rights before the U.S. Constitution was adopted, and these documents included a variety of individual liberties that would later be encompassed in the federal Bill of Rights. Some of these liberties included the right to free speech, right to keep and bear arms, right to a writ of habeas corpus, and protections against cruel and unusual punishment. When the federal Constitution was initially drafted, it lacked explicit protections for these rights, which caused significant concern among Anti-Federalists and led to the call for a more comprehensive bill of rights. Consequently, the first 10 amendments, collectively known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified to reassure the public that the federal government would respect these fundamental freedoms.