Ninth Amendment

Passed by Congress: 25 September 1789
Ratified: 15 December 1791


The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Many of the Constitution's Framers originally opposed the inclusion of the Bill of Rights, worrying that by listing out certain rights, they would implicitly be saying that other rights did not exist at all. The Ninth Amendment seeks to ease those fears, stating explicitly that just because a certain right isn't listed in the Bill of Rights, that doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't exist.

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