The Ten Amendments

The Constitution and the Amendments are two very important documents that are needed in order to keep the people of America in order. The purpose of the Constitution is to, “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” (Constitution Preamble). The purpose of the Bill of Rights and the 17 Amendments, bringing the total to 27, are to protect the rights of the people of America and to prevent the government from having full control over the people.

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 Bill of Rights contains 10 amendments that were designed to protect the people and prevent an over powerful government. There are 3 amendments that are absolutely needed in order for the government to protect the people. That being said the 3 amendments that the people absolutely need are the 1st, 10th, and 2nd amendments. We need the 1st amendment because without freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion, and petition, there is no personal liberty, and without it, we wouldn’t be allowed to disagree with the government. The 10th amendment prohibits the government from becoming too large and taking over the states, and that’s important because without that, the government could easily take over the United States, and not be punished.

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 constitution of the United States of America is the founding document on which the government of America is built. It currently has twenty-seven amendments. It lines out the specific government practices as well as the system of check and balances. It was first drafted July, 1787 after the first form of government, the articles of confederation, had proven very inefficient to a point where it became almost redundant to have them in place. After a large amount of debate the acting continental congress decide to completely revise the current system. The constitution was efficient and fair and it kept the parts of government in place while not giving too much power to one or more branches.

On September 17, 1787, the United States Constitution was signed by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, who were directed by George Washington. The 1787 convention was called to draft a new legal system for the United States now that the states were free and colonized. This new Constitution was made to increase federal authority while still protecting the rights of citizens. It established America’s National Government. In 1971, the Bill of Rights were added to Constitution containing the 10 amendments guaranteeing protection for citizens. The first commandment consisting of freedom of speech and religion. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads:

On the cold night of March 5th, 1770, a mob of American colonists were protesting outside the Customs House in Boston. One colonist threw a snowball hitting Private Hugh Montgomery. Montgomery replied with a shot into the crowd. This led the rest of the British Army soldiers to shoot into the crowd killing five people in an event that would later be known as the Boston Massacre (Foner and Garraty). After this protest, more and more taxes were levied against the colonies, particularly regarding tea. To add, trade with nations besides Great Britain was prohibited. These affronts were met with the tarring and feathering of British tax collectors and the infamous Boston Tea Party. As a result of this, Massachussetts was essentially ruled by martial law. This finally culminated with a declaration of independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776. The United States of America was formed.

The Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments from the United States Constitution. The Bill of Rights was written by James Madison on December 15, 1791. The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to address the rights of the individuals that the Constitution did not specified correctly and it also was written to protect the rights of the individuals liberties even if the majority wanted to take them away.

The Bill of Rights were made up of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. It explained the rights of the Americans as it pertains to their government. The people had the freedom of speech, religion, press and even the right to bear arms. These were just a few of the important roles contained in the Bill of Rights to protect the liberty of the citizens.

The Bill of Rights was added to gain much of the anti-federalists support and confidence after the downfall of the Articles of Confederation. In order to avoid this problem in the future the Framers included the Necessary and Proper Clause in Article One of the Constitution. This gave Congress the power “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying

When the Constitution was written, the people had fresh Britain tyranny in mind and consequently took to establishing the tenth amendment which worked to limit the role of the federal government in state relations stating that all power not given to the federal government by the constitution would automatically go to the states. However decades later, when The Great Depression seemingly devastated Americans nationwide, the tenth amendment was pushed aside to allow for the federal government to play an overseeing role in efforts to extirpate exorbitantly hard times. The federal government now micromanages many functions which were formerly overseen by individual states some of which include education, healthcare, commerce and national resource

The Ten Amendments built the foundation for our country, but the one the amendment that makes us who we are as Americans in my opinion is the First Amendment. As Americans, we all like to boast how we have the Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, and our Freedom to Assemble. So, how could any of this be possible without the First Amendment?

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.

As I have said previously, the Bill of Rights was a means of protecting citizens rights which they were entitled to anyway. Among these protections were the freedom of religion, speech and of the press. Additionally, citizens were guaranteed due process of law and protection against unlawful intrusions into their privacy. Specifically, what protects us against unlawful intrusion today is the Fourth Amendment to the Bill of Rights.

The United States Constitution was signed on the seventeenth of September in the year 1787. It is composed of the body and the Bill of Rights. Before it was ratified in the year 1787 the U.S. Government only worked off the seven Articles of Confederation. To strengthen the Government without taking away the rights and freedoms of the people the Bill of Rights was added in what is now called the Great Compromise. The Bill of Rights consists of the first ten Amendments to the Constitution. However, nowadays these Amendments are in some ways out of date. This is why the Founding Fathers wrote it in the Constitution that new Amendments could be made or old ones could be changed, to fit the times. As of today there are twenty-seven Amendments to