What does the Bill of Rights protect?

The Bill of Rights is a crucial component of the United States Constitution and specifically focuses on safeguarding civil liberties and the rights of individuals. It comprises the first ten amendments, which were added to ensure that specific liberties are explicitly protected from government infringement. These rights include freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the right to bear arms, protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, the right to a fair trial, and protection from cruel and unusual punishment, among others.

These amendments were implemented to address the concerns of Anti-Federalists, who feared that the new Constitution would give the central government too much power, potentially leading to the oppression of individual rights. Therefore, the Bill of Rights serves as a foundational legal framework that confirms the importance of personal freedoms in the American legal system, highlighting the priority placed on protecting individual civil liberties against governmental overreach.

The other options do not align with the purpose of the Bill of Rights. For instance, economic policies pertain to the regulation and management of economic systems, government powers refer to the structure and scope of governmental authority, and international relations deal with how nations interact with each other, none of which are directly addressed by the Bill of Rights.