Civil Liberties Journal American Govt

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School

Lenoir-Rhyne University *

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120

Subject

Political Science

Date

Oct 30, 2023

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docx

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Uploaded by DoctorIce2111

I think that Civil Liberties is a very important subject. I think the controversy that is typically broughten up is how we all differently interpret the constitution. When we read the constitution we should keep in our minds that the creators of the Constitution thought that civil liberties had to be protected from state governments, not really the national government. Also, when it was ratified the constitution demanded the right to a writ of habeas corpus. Something I find very interesting in the case of Barron v. Baltimore (1833), the Bill of Rights only protected citizens’ liberties only from intrusion by the national government, was ruled by the supreme court. Mr. John Barron was a resident of Baltimore. He said that the government’s use of eminent domain was a violation of the 5th Amendment. The 5th amendment states that the government must respect, maintain and uphold the legal rights of all American citizens and that the government must retain a person’s liberties and human rights.Mr. Barron thought that is was unfair and illegal for the government to mess with his personal property. He thought that he should be repaid for the damages caused to his boats. The city however said they were in their rights to restrict water supply. They thought that ultimately it helped out the community. I agree with Mr. Barron because the city new water flow law was becoming an issue. It was cutting off the water to his property, which caused the boats not to properly dock and become damaged. Personally I believe that the city of Baltimore should be responsible for the damage they caused to the boats because it was their law that had that effect. I looked up this case online to clarify some points. The verdict of this case was that the 5th Amendment to the United States Constitution was limited and only should be followed by the Federal government. The 5th Amendment does not state that it must be followed by all state and city governments. Because of the ruling in Barron V. Baltimore, the United States Supreme Court established that an individual citizen’s property was not susceptible to the regulation of the 5th Amendment. I think this is really unfair how only the federal government must abide by the constitution, it’s crazy. Another hot topic is religion. The Supreme Court’s current understanding of the First Amendment is that American citizens are free to believe any religious doctrine they choose. But are not allowed to use hallucinogenic drugs in controlled religious ceremonies or practice polygamy if their religion endorses it. Also, employers are not allowed to require employees to work on those employees’ holy days. I think that they way we interpret the constitution is our own choice we all will have different thought or opinions in the long run. We will just have to take in consideration of what the founding fathers truly wanted to prevent and establish with the forming of the constitution and the bills of rights.

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