people always site the bill of rights as the greatest document in american history. it's pretty great. you get a lot of rights when you're in trouble. the freedom of speech allows you to say nearly anything you want in public, and on the off chance you are lenny bruced and sent to jail, your bail can't be set too high, you get a fair and speedy trial, and you have the option to just keep quiet ...which would be odd for someone who went to jail for talking. the third amendment keeps the government from storing troops in your house against your will. that was the third most pressing concern when they wrote the bill of rights. "i'm sick of soldiers living with me!" "don't worry. we'll handle it." that doesn't concern us too much now, but it would suck. "this is PFC dutrow. he's going to be living with you for a while." "what?! as you can see - this is a studio apartment. what about my cats?" "thanks for serving your country." part of the first amendment allows freedom of the press, which if they would have had the foresight to see how that turned out, they may have revised a bit. when it's just someone dipping a feather into some ink and scribbling onto parchment, they might be more concerned with writing only the facts. without TV, there weren't a lot of celebrities, so they probably didn't have to worry about people camping outside their houses or writing that they were gay just for the hell of it. no one was popping out of trash cans with cameras "gotcha, george washington!" "damnit! i'm wearing my fake teeth and this stupid wig, and they still found me!" ...yep.