Right to Privacy Guaranteed by US Constitution

The right to privacy was not enshrined as one of the fundamental rights in the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution; many of the founders, like John Adams, believed that outlining rights and guarantees in the Constitution would downplay and possibly even impugn anything that wasn't guaranteed in writing. But suppose that the founders anticipated situations in which the government (or some other entitiy) sought to pry into the private lives of individuals, and guaranteed privacy in the Constitution (subject to exclusions for public safety, such as court orders).

What happens next? How does such a provision in the Constitution affect future American political, social, and economic growth?
 
I consider, tho perhaps wrongly, that the right to privacy doesn't make much sense until one actually identifies it as something that can be taken away - the means of which don't exist in the 18th or, to any great degree, in the 19th century. Undoubtedly it is a problem currently since means of gathering information has become so sophisticated and omnipresent.

Unless the US has developed into a police state with constant surveilliance, I doubt there would be any impact of such an 'amendment' until the advent of the telegraph.
 
Privacy rights are mentioned in the Constitution. The 4th Amendment protects the privacy of a person's physical self, home, papers, etc. from unreasonable search and siezure, and the 5th again protects our property from seizure for public use w/o just compensation. The 1st Amendment protects individuals' religion/faith from the intrusion of government. What additional privacy rights/protections would you have in there?
 
It's already in there.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, 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.


Frankly, anything in law that becomes inconvenient to those in power, will cease to be law. Or will just be ignored.
 
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