Not the News: How Many Amendments Do You Know?

I was reading something yesterday that mentioned the Seventh Amendment and I had to admit: I don't know what the Seventh Amendment is. This made me wonder: How many amendments do I know off the top of my head? Me, a leading pundit, someone who's supposed to know this stuff. Well, let's see. I promise you that I'm doing this without looking.

First: Easy. Speech and assembly.

Second: Easy. Guns.

Third: Proscribes the right to quarter private troops. I admit that I know this one only because a friend and I used to joke, whenever we saw some hack journalist described as an indefatigable and tireless defender of the First Amendment, that we wanted to be remembered as indefatigable and tireless defenders of the Third Amendment.

Fourth: Search and seizure, yes?

Fifth: Self-incrimination.

Sixth: Don't know.

Seventh: Don't know.

Eighth: Uh....on the tip of my tongue...

Ninth: Hmmm...I swear I know it...This one is sort of well-known, isn't it?

Tenth: Easy. The reactionary one. All other rights redound to the states. I bet they'd take a mulligan on this one if only they knew what a bunch of racist cranks would do with it over the decades.

So there you are. I'm not very good on this. Maybe we'll start to recall the old Guardian days with a quiz soon, on the Constitution, what it says and where. Seems a good time for it. Meanwhile, let's hear how many amendments you knew.

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Michael TomaskySpecial Correspondent

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