The United States Constitution was recognized to Americans as a vague statement in clarifying the privileges and the rights of individuals and centralizing the power within the government itself. With the passing of the Bill of Rights and the first ten amendments, it grants the people to what is said to be their “natural rights” following additional rights that have significantly changed our society.
The Bill of Rights became a very important document in the United States Constitution in order to ensure United States citizens equal protection of their rights and liberties. The main objective of the Bill of rights was to place limits on the national government creating an understanding and dividing the powers between the states and the national government. Not all the powers were granted to the national government however not all the powers were prohibited to the states. As stated by Ginsberg, Lowi, Weir & Tolbert (2015) the bill of rights consists of 10 amendments incorporated in the U.S constitution. It is important to note that each amendment contains a legal court case in which the supreme court as well as the government have ruled and have ignored or have protected the rights of the individuals involved.
When the first ten amendments were added to the Constitution, they were planned to shield the public from the national government and not the states. States had their individual constitutions, and their laws only had to comply with their constitution. The founders of our country were very concerned about creating too powerful of a centralized government that might overstep on the given civil liberties of the public. As a protection of individual liberties, the Bill of Rights was formed. The Bill of Rights contains the first ten amendments of the Constitution and protect and preserve inalienable rights against abuse by the federal government.
The bill of rights, written by James Madison, is the original 10 amendments. These amendments protect our personal freedoms and outlines the responsibility of out government. The people are the “protectors” or enforcers of these amendments. The first amendment is the most important amendment while the 3rd amendment is no longer relevant.
The constitution is the foundation of America. It has the country’s beliefs and rights within it. In 1791, the Bill of Rights was added to the constitution because the Anti Federalists refused to ratify the constitution till the Bill was added. The Bill of Rights not only guarantees citizens rights but also it ensures a limited government. The 14th amendment was later created in 1868 which guaranteed due process of law and equal protection under the law. The Bill of Rights and 14th amendment was made in hope that the government would learn their limitations and wouldn’t interfere with a person’s rights. It was basically the rules set for the government to follow. However as time goes by, the effectiveness of the Bill of Rights has lessened.
In his book titled The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction, Akhil Amar tries to offer the interpretation of the Bill Rights by evoking the world of framers of the constitution and that of the people who amended the constitution. According to Amar, there are numerous differences about the original bill of rights as they were originally framed and those that are contained in the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868. Amar tries to construct a theory of Bill of Rights that is comprehensive by focusing on the implications that are drawn from constitutional text as well as its structure. Amar points out, “The main goal of the Federalists was to forge set of the federally enforceable rights which were against the abusive state governments and this resulted to Fourteenth Amendment” (4). The book tries to explain the first 10 amendments by interpreting them and offering the new insights. This essay focuses on discussing the differences between the Founding Fathers Bill of Rights and the Reconstruction Amendments as it argued by Amar.
In 1791, the Bill of Rights was drafted by congress after arguments ensued over whether the Constitution would uphold the rights of the American people. James Madison proposed twelve Amendments so to limit the power of government, allowing for a more stately and locally controlled system but, only ten were ratified. The ten amendments to be ratified were created to give American citizens freedoms they did not have under British rule. However, in current society the freedoms protected in the Bill of Rights are conflicted by the federal government and the confliction are justified as being beneficial for the general public. The altered interpretations of the Bill of Rights have forsaken freedom of speech, allowed unjustified search and seizure,
In 1791, a vital document for the United States of America was written. The Bill of Rights. James Madison fulfilled the Anti-Federalists wishes by adding a list of rights to the constitution in order for the document to be ratified. The Bill of Rights addresses rights and freedoms which were violated under British rule. Although all 10 amendments are important, I have analyzed each one and ranked their importance. In 1791, some amendments would seem more important than others due to the recent events from the Revolution. Each amendment is relevant in its own way but some are exercised more than others by individuals in the United States. The first amendment of the Bill of Rights is the most important amendment.
The Bill of Rights is considered a cornerstone for freedom in America. It purpose to the country is to protect the rights of the citizens in the United States. The Bill of Rights was put in place in order to ensure that the people will be granted a number of personal rights as an American citizen, and that the government will not become as powerful as to pose a threat to the citizens of the United States.
The first ten amendments added to the U.S. Constitution, now known as the Bill of Rights, have played a fundamental role in the Constitution. Still in effect today, the Bill of Rights has become a necessity in order to protect the individual rights of American citizens. In order to prevent an oppressive centralized government, James Madison, America’s fourth president, decided to lay the foundation of civil liberties in ten amendments.
The Bill of Rights are a list of ten amendments that were added to the constitution as the government's guarantee to protect the citizen’s individual rights. Moreover, Federalists such as Hamilton argued that, “if the Constitution were prefaced with a list of things government could not do to individuals, government would assume it had the power to do anything that wasn’t expressly forbidden” (Barbour and Wright 67). Despite the insistence of Hamilton and other Federalists, the addition of the Bill of Rights allowed the constitution to be ratified by the skeptical Anti-Federalists who were worried of an all powerful national
In 1787 amidst much turmoil in the new American colonies, delegates of the Continental Congress drafted a brand new document. Our Constitution was written with the intent of providing a strong centralized government which had not existed previously under the Articles of Confederation. One thing lacking in the Constitution was statement of citizens rights. Under British rule, enforcement of rules such as the Stamp Act were often without reasonable suspicion and left colonists feeling as though the British could do whatever they wished. It took a few years for this to finally be changed and when completed, the Bill of Rights was a protection of citizen 's “unalienable” and “natural” rights.
The Bill of Rights was created to give power to the states and the people. The first ten amendments were really what changed this country. Many of these amendments were created to protect the people, of all race and ethnicity. During the civil rights movement, there were a couple of amendments that were created to protect people of a different race, mainly blacks.