CJ 112 Project One Template
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School
Southern New Hampshire University *
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Course
CJ-112-T33
Subject
Political Science
Date
Feb 20, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
7
Uploaded by BaronDanger12377
How the Criminal Justice System Works in the United States
The U.S. Constitution
The Bill of Rights
The supreme law of the land, the United States Constitution “is the world’s longest surviving written charter of government” (U.S. Senate: Constitution Day, 2023). This document was written in 1787, ratified in 1788, and has continuously been in operation
since 1789. The Constitution contains a preamble, seven original articles, and twenty-seven amendments. With the first three words being, “We are the People”, it ensures that the government of the United States has a purpose of serving its citizens.
The Bill of Rights is composed of the first ten amendment from the U.S. Constitution. The amendments were written by James Madison “as a solution to limit government power and protect individual liberties through the Constitution” (
Bill of Rights: The 1
st
Ten Amendments – Bill of Rights Institute, n.d.).
The
Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791 as a collection of guarantees for individual rights and liberties such as: freedom of speech, press, and religion (The Bill of Rights: What Does It Say?, 2023).
The purpose of the Bill of Rights was originally to protect the rights of citizens from the federal government. The guarantees that the Bill of Rights provided were considered “essential rights The main purpose of the Constitution was to
define the fundamental laws of the United
States Federal Government. The Constitution was designed to ensure there was a balance of power within the federal governments branches and to protect the rights of the states and
citizens.
The Constitution delineates the powers of our three branches of government: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. These three branches help ensure that “no individual or group will have too much power”
(
Branches of the U.S.
Government | USAGov
, n.d.).
In 1866, the Senate passed the Fourteenth Amendment that shifted the Constitution. This formed an agreement between the Federal and liberties omitted in the crafting of the original Constitution (Peak and Herold, 2023).
Government and the State Governments that granted citizenship to all persons. “Born or naturalised in the United States” (
U.S. Senate: Landmark Legislation: The Fourteenth Amendment
, 2023), this includes former slaves and provided “equal protection under the laws” for all citizens (
U.S. Senate: Landmark Legislation: The Fourteenth Amendment
, 2023).
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