The first ten amendments of the US Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights. They were added to the document due to protests from some states that the Constitution gave too much power to the country and did not retain enough power for the citizens. The first amendment, for example, ensures that the government cannot establish a specific religion or prohibit the people from free speech.

The ninth amendment confirms that the rights of the people are not constricted to only to those outlined by the Constitution and seeks to ensure that other rights will not be denied simply because they are not listed in the document. The tenth amendment states that any rights not mentioned specifically in the Constitution are left up to the states to confer and legislate.

The Founding Fathers faced a problem in ratifying the Constitution.  They needed to form a federal government in order to defend the nation and pay debts, but they did not want to create the same system of governance which led to the war with Britain.  Two sides formed during the formation of the Constitution—Federalists and Anti-federalists.  The Federalists were in favor of a strong national government with minimal power going to the states.  The Anti-federalists wanted to create a weak central government with the states retaining more power.  The Anti-federalists wanted only slight modifications to the Articles of Confederation.  The Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution are meant to protect the rights of the people against the federal government.  The Ninth Amendment acknowledges that the people may have some rights which are not explicitly stated in the Constitution, and those rights are not to be violated.  The Tenth Amendment states that any governmental duty not listed in the Constitution as belonging to the national government should fall under state jurisdiction.  This allows the states to maintain control and give the people who live in those states control over internal affairs.