The Amendment And The Congressional Apportionment Amendment

In 1787 the United States’ constitution was written, two years later the Bill of Rights was added. The Bill of Rights consists of ten amendments which were designed based on the American ideals to ensure that the federal government is not too powerful, and that it would protect the rights of the people or of the state. One of the most important amendments in the Bill of Rights is the sixth amendment, which gives the people the right to enjoy a speedy trial when accused, and it allows the accused person to know the cause of the accusation and who his accuser is. It clearly represents some of the American ideals such as: democracy, opportunity, and equality.

When the Second Constitutional Convention wrote the Constitution in 1787, there was a controversy between the federalists and the anti-federalists surrounding whether or not to have a Bill of Rights. The anti-federalists claimed that a bill of rights was needed that listed the guaranteed rights that the government could never take away from a person i.e. “inalienable rights.” A Bill of Rights was eventually deemed necessary, and has worked for over 210 years. There are many reasons why the ten amendments are still valid to this day, and the best examples are the First Amendment, concerning the freedom of religion, the Fifth Amendment, and the Sixth Amendment.

After the failure of the Articles of Confederation, the founders believed it was necessary to hold a National Convention to revise it in order for it to become the Constitution. After the signing of the Constitution, two groups were created. The Anti-federalists who composed a series of essays one known as An Old Whig V (1787) suggests that an inclusion of a Bill of Rights would be more effective in clarifying the limits of the government, while others, the Federalists, opposed to it. To understand the effects of ratifying a Bill of Rights in the Constitution, both sides must be analyzed. This paper examines An Old Whig V’s arguments against the Federalist, mainly letters from Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, to propose that the inclusion of a Bill of Rights allows citizens to verbalize their right of protection in regards to the occasion of being shown in the Constitution.

There are ten Amendments in the Constitution, they are called the Bill of Rights. Each one of the Amendments protects a different right that people liveing the United States have. The Constitution was created in 1791. It took many drafts, but after 116 days on September 17, 1787 the members of Congress finally signed the Constitution (Constitutional FAQ Answer #87, usconstitution.net). James Madison wrote the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights (U.S Founding Fathers, constitution facts.com). Each Amendment, of the Bill of Rights, is important for a different reason. The first Amendment states,” Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (1st Amendment, cornell.edu). The first Amendment is very important because it protects the U.S. citizen's freedom of religion, freedom of press, and freedom of speech.

After outlining that, the document begins to outline the basic civil liberties and rights that the average citizen receives. These are called the amendments. They are the foundation on what the freedom of America is built with. The amendments spell out the freedoms that Americans had, everything from the right of religious freedoms to the right to bear arms both of which are regularly debated subjects today. They made America what America was, the freest country in the world

The Bill of Rights accounts for amendments one through ten. Each of the additional 17 amendments has come about because of clarification needed for the original mechanics of the first three articles or to ensure civil rights. Amendments 11,16, and 24 are for clarifications of Article III. Amendments 12, 17, 20, 22, 25, 26, and 27are for further clarification of Articles I and II. Amendment 23 is further clarification of Article I. Only six amendments are to provide or clarify civil rights, those are13, 14, 15, 18, 19, and 21. Amendment 18 is the only one ever repealed. As we take a deeper look at amendments 13,14, and 15 they were also known as the Reconstruction

The First Amendment is one of the most recognized rights in the Bill of Rights. It is a basic right that seems to help define each person as an individual yet as part of an association. The amendment states that

The Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments of the Constitution, an amendment is the two stage process by which the Constitution can be amended. The framers made it extremely difficult to amend the Constitution for good reason. For an amendment to be ratified it requires extraordinary majorities, two-thirds and three-fourths. The framers intended for only the most

In 1787, one of the most debated issues was the size of the House of Representatives. During the Constitutional Convention, the delegates proposed that 40,000 citizens should be represented by one congressional district. However, George Washington intervened and argued that 40,000 was too high, and reasoned that 30,000 was more reasonable and allow people to be represented adequately Washington’s proposal was incorporated in Article One, Section Two of the Constitution which states “representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State.” While the number of representatives did increase throughout the history of the United States, the number has been set at 435 members since 1929. Congress in 1929 passed the Permanent Apportionment Act that set the number of representatives at 435, which was set after a 1910 census. Currently each representative represents 700,000 citizens and congressional seats are redistricted around the nation based on population changes. But the currently number of representatives does not adequately represent the present population and a single district cannot represent a huge number of people. Therefore, the current number of representatives must be increased.

The truth to the statement that “Texas has a love affair with the 2nd amendment more than any of the other amendments” is circumstantial depending on the interpretation of the 2nd amendment. The second amendment is the most challenged amendment because it is so vaguely worded and not straight forward. It reads “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” This somewhat incoherent statement leaves policy makers wondering whether the founding fathers were trying to protect gun ownership rights only for purposes of military duty and collective security or wanted to make guns accessible to all so that they could protect themselves. In order to asses if Texas’ love affair with the second amendment, we must look at the second amendment from both sides of the interpretation.

The founders recognized the importance of these laws in the making of a free and just society and preventing the tyranny of government. The founders purposely amended these protections into the Bill of Rights and stripping these rights away from American citizens is not only unjust, it is unconstitutional. As a detriment to all American citizens, Lindh’s rights, fought so hard for by the framers of the Constitution, were assaulted in many ways.

The Congress wanted to prevent misinterpretation and misuse of the Constitution by the government, and the people to trust the government. In other words, they wanted to make the laws clearer to understand so the people would understand and trust the government. To do so, they proposed additional declaratory and restrictive clauses to be added to the Constitution. With the people* in mind, the first ten clauses or amendments were ratified. Collectively, these first ten amendments are the Bills of Rights.

From other countries and in the eyes of foreigners and refugees, America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. With rights that are given to us, we are free to say anything we please; to not be searched or have things seized from us unreasonably; and the most important right, the one that defends all of the others, the right to keep and bear arms. Understanding the rights given by the 2nd amendment of our constitution has been a major issue in America, since the day it was written. This right lets us own our own weapons, and it should not be controlled by the government how many and what guns we can own. With modern technology, guns have become so much cheaper and accessible that some regulations must be put into place, and

To summarize the amendments were made to protect the people’s rights and were added to the constitution in 1791. James Madison helped write the first draft, but it was Thomas Jefferson’s idea to have a Bill of Rights. Many more people agreed to have the Constitution when the Bill of Rights was added. There are still more amendments being added to the Constitution from this day, but the ten first amendments will always be the basic rights of the people and be known as the Bill of Rights.They will always be applied to our form of government.

In the constitution there are 27 amendments/changes. The purpose of the 27 amendments is to change the law to solve new issues that were not around when the Constitution was written. Of the 27 amendments, the first ten, are known as the Bill of Rights which went into effect December 15, 1791. The Bill of Rights guarantees the individual rights of citizens. The constitution; written in 1787 exists to serve the states, protect people, and restrain the government. The constitution replaced the articles of confederation.