The Constitution Of The United States

The originally Bill of Rights protected the rights of citizens from infringement by the federal government, but made no mention of the states. The Fourteen Amendment, adopted shortly after the Civil War, protected citizenship and individual rights from infringement by state governments. Under the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause, the United States Supreme Court began to apply the most important rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights against the states. This process began in the early 1900s and is known as the doctrine of selective incorporation. Duncan versus Louisiana was the landmark case in which the court incorporated the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial against the states.

On a date that will be remembered forever as a step forward for our nation, July 28, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment gave a new sense of hope and inspiration to a once oppressed people. It was conceived to be the foundation for restoring America to its great status and prosperity. The Amendment allowed “equal protection under the law”, no matter what race, religion, sex, sexual preference or social status. It was designed to protect the newly freed slaves. However, it only helped the white race.

The Bill of Rights was first proposed on September 25, 1789, and they were than adopted by the states on December 15, 1791. The three most important amendments that are guaranteed under the Bill of Rights are the First Amendment, Basic Liberties, the Fourth amendment, Protection from unreasonable searches and seizures, and lastly the Fifth amendment, Rights of the Accused, Due Process of the Law, and Eminent Domain. Our constitution is what makes America a country where people of all ethnicities want to come here to live because of our rights and freedoms that is guaranteed by our constitution.The first amendment is the not just the first amendment on the list of all of the amendments, its first because it's the most important amendment in the Bill of Rights.

To further strengthen the rights of the people, The Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791. With only the first ten amendments, it is no accident that two amendments, 9 and 10, specifically define the Constitutions purpose to protect rights, given to the government from the people; and the powers of the government are “only those delegated to it by the Constitution on behalf of the people” (Spalding, Page 145).

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.

The success and the approval by the necessary three-quarters of U.S states, the 14th Amendment guaranteed to the newly freed slaves protection and citizenship along with all its privileges. This amendment resolved any pre-Civil War concerns of the African American community’s citizenship by stating that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States and of the state in which they reside” (Primary Documents of American History, 2011). This amendment also reinsured that they had the equal rights and privileges of the rest of the citizens, and granted all these citizens the “equal protection of the laws” (Primary Documents of American History, 2011).

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 Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is perhaps the most sweeping and has likely impacted the general jurisprudence of the Supreme Court the most of any other amendment. This is because, where all other right-protecting amendments protect something specific, the fourteenth amendment was designed to ensure that states guaranteed due process rights, applied the law equally, and protected the “privileges [and] immunities of citizens of the United States.”

1. The concept of selective incorporation according to We the People, was a “progression by which different securities in the Bill of Rights were incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1937 the “courts were still unwilling to defend civil freedoms beyond the First Amendment. The first case that established selective incorporation was Palko v. Connecticut. The courts determined that “the provisions of the Bill of Rights should be selectively combined and useful as a constraint on the states by the Fourteenth Amendment “(Ginsberg et al. 117). Gideon v. Wainwright “established the right to counsel during criminal courts”. The Miranda v. Arizona likewise established the right to counsel and remain silent” The incorporation that gained a lot of nationwide attention is McDonald v. Chicago where the “right to bear arms was granted” (Ginsberg et al. 118). This incorporation has paved the way for several national cities to pass gun laws.

A quote from Thomas Jefferson said that "a bill of rights is what a people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse or rest on inference (Schweikart)." One would think that Jefferson was a wise man for saying this. His words were powerful. Many people felt this way and the American people did not want a corrupt government that was only for the rich. During the writing of the bill of right there were the Federalist and the anti-federalist the two were in disagreement of whether the ten amendments should be added. The Federalist felt as if the constitution was already completed and nothing should be added, although the anti federalist felt that the people’s rights should be set in stone, and some things needed to be added to the constitution to reassure the people. The anti Federalist wanted to change the wording of the United States Constitution. The Federalist disagreed and said that no one had the right to change the United States constitution and that the bills should be reviewed and added on to the constitution. “The House voted to accept the Bill of Rights on September 24, 1789, with the Senate concurring the following day. (Bingham)" The bill of rights was there to ensure that the people followed the rules and that the government could not invade their rights. “Apparently, the first 10 amendments officially became part of the Constitution with their ratification by Virginia in late

The Fourteenth Amendment was not included with the ten amendments of the Bill of Rights, but the Fourteenth Amendment is the amendment that applied in this case. This amendment states that no U.S. citizen should be denied equal protection of laws, nor should any person be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process.

It was not until after the Civil War that the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments were enacted and began protecting individuals against the states. The Fourteenth Amendment has been the principal means by which this protection has been accomplished. It reads, in part, “No State shall...deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” The Supreme Court had interpreted this guarantee of liberty to embrace the fundamental liberties in the Bill of Rights, meaning that the state governments must observe and protect them to the same extent as the federal government this is also known called incorporation. The amendments in the Bill of Rights are said to be incorporated against the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. There has been an ongoing debate on the Supreme Court about the extent of incorporation, and whether the entire Bill of Rights, or only some of it’s guarantees, should be incorporated against the states.

Declared in the U.S. Constitution every American or should it be person, is guaranteed civil rights. Civil rights did not just consist of “freedom of speech and assembly,” but as well as “the right to vote, the right to equal protection under the law, and procedural guarantees in criminal and civil rights,” (Dawood). It was not until 1791, that the Bill of Rights was appended to the constitution, which helped clarify these rights to citizens. “Rights were eventually applied against actions of the state governments in a series of cases decide by the Supreme Court,” Dawood stated. In previous years (1790-1803), the Supreme Court had little say in decisions being made by government. As time went on the Supreme Court took on more

In the 1700s when the United States had detached itself from British rule it was then seen as a plutocracy. The U.S established as a democracy; a government of the people and by the people. However, this establishment was in favor of the rich, educated, and powerful and anyone who was categorized or known as elites and it has remained in favor of these people ever since. Yes we can say we have witnessed variations and seen a semi-democratic rise in the past two centuries, but we have remained a plutocracy hidden behind the word that people use to cover its true identity, democracy. Those like the framers, the public opinion role, interest groups, and money all portray our hidden plutocracy.

The fourteenth amendment is made up of five sections. Today only two of them hold any relevance: the first and the fifth. The second, third, and fourth sections all deal with managing the southern states that had left the union before the civil war. The first section contains perhaps the two most important phrases in American constitutional law, due process and equal protection. Equal protection has come to be interpreted as all people being treated equally under the law. It reads,” no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States.” It provides that the state must use fair procedures when it acts to limit a person’s life, liberty, or property.