The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,[a] against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.In 1604, there was a famous case in English law: the Semayne Case. Sir Edward Coke, the legal counsel for the defendant, made a statement that has come down through the ages: "The house of every one is to him as his castle and fortress, as well for his defence against injury and violence as for his repose." Unfortunately, in the process of setting up the rules for the 13 colonies, the British Parliament decided to specifically disallow this particular right to the colonists. The very carefully designed British laws governing the colonies allowed for a General Warrant which, basically, allowed "officers of the Crown" to pretty much search anything or anyone any time they felt like it. As you can imagine, that particular authority was easily and often misused.
Once again, we see the Founding Fathers writing into the Constitution guarantees of rights that they had once had as Englishmen but had been deprived of as colonists. Having only recently been freed from the oppressive British rule, is it any wonder that they would have strong memories of having been deprived of certain rights and, therefore, a strong desire to ensure that the new government they were creating would be bound by the very Constitution creating it to protect those rights? As with the other first 10 amendments, this one is designed to guarantee the rights of the citizens would not be trampled on by the new Federal government; It was not so much that they didn't trust the new government but more that they wanted to guarantee that nobody would have any qualms new government overstepping its bounds.
In light of recent developments in our nation, perhaps the origins of the Bill of Rights may be more understandable. Our Founding Fathers, in spite of their brilliance and foresight that they showed in crafting the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, knew that there is always a possibility for any government to overstep its bounds, so they wanted to make absolutely certain that the rights of the citizens would be guaranteed.
