The Constitution And The Bill Of Rights

“Bassackwards” by Jay Nordlinger, published by National Review Digital on January 29, 2007, is a short article arguing why immigrants should learn to speak English instead of supervisors learning the broken version of their language. Although Nordlinger wants immigrants from all around the world to learn English, he mainly focuses his writing on immigrants of Latin descent who speak Spanish. He talks about all the variations of Spanish that are taught to supervisors and business owners to help them communicate with their workers. There are classes such as “Restaurant Spanish,” “Fireman Spanish,” and “Health Care Spanish.” He then gives us an example of “Construction Spanish” which is the most popular, by

The constitution, what does the constitution mean to me, well for me the constitution gives me the voice to speak up, to be heard and a list of other rights of a citizen I am entitled too. The United Sates Constitution and Bill of Rights was written to protect the rights of people under government authority. Even though there is a literal list of rights that we as people are given under the constitution that each person be treated the same, sadly that’s not that case. I believe that rights are not protected, take the murder of Philando Castile for example for what seemed like a routine traffic stop turned into someone losing their life. What does this have to do with rights being protected? I feel like if Philando had been white male or in

“No Habla English”. “21 million people living in the United States cannot speak English. Citizens are not just speaking Spanish, but Chinese and Russian are rising fast.” (U.S. Bureau of Census, 2009) To force a citizen to speak a new language is discrimination. Non-English speaking citizens and immigrants that are without good English skills will fall academically, in the judicial system and when receiving proper medical care.

Although the founding fathers decided to leave the idea of establishing a national language out of the Constitution, there have been several movements to establish English as the national language since then. Even though none of these movements could garnish enough support to make this into a reality, they have been influential in that English is the official language in 31 states. In recent years, five additional states have considered legislation that would mandate English as well (Schwarz 2014). Since many individual states have sided on the issue, it poses the question of if the national government should follow the trend as well. A strong argument can be made that the United States should make English as the official language because it would promote unity and patriotism among Americans, be economically beneficial for the nation while rightfully placing the responsibility to learn English on the non-English speaking immigrants.

“Language is power. If you cannot understand or be understood you have no power. You are at the mercy of everyone.” – (Rudat, 1994, Stow, Dodd 356) Should Americans be required to learn Spanish as a second language? The construction of our nation stands on documents written in English, however English is not our official language nor has it ever been. America is a “melting pot” in which English is the most prominent language, followed closely by Spanish. Requiring Americans to learn Spanish is a great controversy; I strongly believe that it should be a requirement, because it improves academic achievements, career success, and cultural and social understanding. The controversy has great counter arguments such as the double standard Americans are held to, and further division of the country. Regarding the counterarguments, I still firmly believe that it should be a requirement because the integration of a second language in our schools is more beneficial to our country’s success as a whole.

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.

In any government, there are the governing principles which help in governing the nation. These principles are used as a basis for governance in the nation. The principles are clearly defined in the nation’s constitution and the bill of rights. The important principles give people a sense of national identity of belonging to a certain nation, hold the people together and allow the government to function competently. In American government, there are fundamental principles which have been established and are used in the governing of the people. The principles include rule of law, democracy, representative government, limited government and consent of the governed. These principles are protected by the constitution of the United States.

Created September 25,1978 and ratified December 15, 179, the Bill of Rights was imputed into society as a tool to establish law,order, and morality. James Madison, a political theorist, was known as the father of the Bill of Rights. One of the most important amendments in the Bill of Rights is the right to freedom of speech, expression and media. In the Bill of Rights, 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.” The First Amendment guarantees the citizens of America that they have the right to freely express themselves about anything, including political arguments and views. This amendment also guarantees the press/media the right to overtly publish their ideas on any topic in the newspaper. The purpose of this amendment is to assure America’s people that they shouldn’t worry about being censored or punished for the expression of their feelings because they are human just as everyone else.

Immigration, legal or not, has been a problem for the United States for a long time. In the U.S., promoters of bilingualism have supported the use of other languages for public services, including government documents, hospitals services, voting ballots, and bilingual education. In their essays “A Nation Divided by One Language” and “Viva Bilingualism”, James Crawford and James Fallows claim that it is not necessary to declare English the official language of the U.S. On the other hand, in their essays “English Should Be the Only Language” and “Why the U.S. Needs an Official Language”, S. I. Hayakawa and Mauro E. Mujica argue that English should be made the official language. They contend that

The United States Bilinguals are not distributed throughout all the states. The majority of bilinguals

The government implementing English as the official legal language of America is imperative because a conformity of communication within our borders is needed to unify the vast diversity. Our mighty country was founded on providing all citizens with equality including inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The United States is a progressive nation that welcomes people from far and wide to come and savor the God-given freedoms enjoyed by all. With all of the diversity from the countless immigrants coming in to our port cities, looking for a more prosperous future, a necessary tie is needed to bring the people of the nation together. Interaction with others

There are many Amendments in The Bill of Rights and all of the rights are to the constitution to the United States. The purpose of the The Bill of Rights is to protect individuals liberties. The Bill of Rights was written in 1789 and was ratified in December 15, 1791, James Madison wrote The Bill of Rights and he was the one to guide it through the New Constitution.

Anyone wanting to make a profit in these communities is forced to acknowledge the fact that the language of that community must be accepted. It is just like the rules of supply and demand. There’s a tremendous market in many U.S. areas that speaks mainly Spanish, Korean, etc. Particularly, in the southwest, the main foreign language is Spanish. The single largest foreign-language population in the U.S. is Latin Americans, both native born and not. (Sassen p16) It was not until December of 1996 that the Supreme Court agreed to hear Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona. This was on the issue of whether or not government services must be in English.(Clark p56) Now, considering how long the debate has been at hand, wasn’t 1996 a little late in the game?

From the time the Pilgrims landed in this great nation at Plymouth Rock, immigrants have been culturally diverse and have spoken many languages. When the Pilgrims arrived in the New World, they did not know how to communicate with the natives. Through intense study the natives learned the Pilgrims’ language. Even with the common language they were still a melting pot of different culture. Some would say that America has gotten over the language/ cultural barriers and now almost everyone speaks the common language of English, but there are still many immigrants who do not know English. Bilingual education is put into public schools for this reason, so that immigrant children can be assimilated to English gradually. The national language

The simple fact that over 300 languages are spoken at homes in the United States today reflects just how diverse this nation has become. With that in mind, we are in dire need of a common sense language policy. An attempt was made with the passing of House Resolution 123 to declare English as the official language of the government of the United States in 1996, but sadly, died on the floor of the Senate. America has been an overwhelmingly English speaking nation and its constitution and foundational documents are written in English. Of the United Nation’s members, 85 percent have adopted official languages; 53 of those have adopted English as their official language. Immigrants to this country would benefit greatly if they were informed of the requirement to learn English upon their arrival. Instead, the government wastes time and money for