The Bill Of Rights : Amendments In The Bill Of Rights

The United States Bill of Rights came into being as a result of a promise made by the Fathers of Confederation to the states during the struggle for ratification of the Constitution in 1787-88. A great number of the states made as a condition for their ratification, the addition of amendments, which would guarantee citizens protection of their rights against the central government. Thus, we have a rather interesting situation in which the entrenchment of a bill of rights in the American Constitution was done by the virtual demand of the states, they themselves fearing a central government which was not legally constrained and restricted as far as its powers were concerned.

The Anti-federalists opposed the Constitution because they believed it did not secure their rights and gave the government too much power. (2) Patrick Henry, an Anti-federalist from Virginia said that the constitution took away the states rights to be individual and to make separate decisions as well. (4) The Federalists saw the Anti-federalists complaint and realized that in order for the Constitution to be passed, they would need a Bill of Rights. (6) This Bill of Rights would give rights to the people and the states. 12 amendments were submitted for ratification by congress, but the states only ratified 10 of them. They became know as the Bill of Rights which made most

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.

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.

The Constitution of the United States was made through compromises that not everyone agreed on but they came to an agreement on what they thought it should be. Before all of the fifty states were founded there was not a Bill of Rights, it was not until the new government was up and running before the Bill of Rights was added. The reason for this was that the framers of the constitution did not realize that the Bill of Rights was necessary to have at the time. A certainly important choice that was made was how our government was to be

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 Anti-Federalists believed that a strong central government would decrease the rights of the common people, and would not protect the rights of citizens. In Document 1, a Massachusetts farmer explains that the new constitution would decrease involvement of the common people in government, leaving it to be run by wealthy and highly educated men. The Anti-Federalists wanted all people to be involved in government, rather than a selected elite few. The Anti-Federalists also rallied against the establishment of a standing military. As said in Document 2, a military could easily exercise force to quiet those with concerns involving the government, and that the ideas of being free and peaceful do not involve a standing army. Perhaps one of the biggest concerns of the Anti-Federalists, was that there was nothing in the constitution that protected the rights of the people. Thomas Jefferson supported parts of the new constitution, but disliked that there was no Bill of Rights in the document. Jefferson wrote in a letter to James Madison saying “...Let me add that a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to….” (Doc 6). Jefferson believe that the people should have this Bill of Rights in the constitution to protect their personal freedoms and beliefs. With that he fully supported the ratification of the new

The Constitution did not include the Bill of Rights, the Anti- Federalists believed that this was yet another example of there being no limit on the centralized government’s power, and there was no protection for the

Those who opposed the centralization of government were the Anti-Federalists, they knew that the system would eventually pose a threat to the rights of the people. There were several issues that were cause for concern to the Anti-Federalists when the Constitution was proposed. These issues were the sole power of taxation, the lack of protection of freedoms, the lack of representation, the dissolving of the state’s powers, and above

Anti-Federalists believed that a bill of rights was crucial to keep individual liberties. Congress received the proposed Constitution on September 20. It then voted to send the document to the state legislatures for the ratification process.

The Constitution alone was not enough for the anti-federalists; they believed that there had to be a Bill of rights in order to protect citizens. The Bill would simply state the clear rules and regulations that allowed the citizens to know what the government is and is not allowed to do. The federalists argued that the constitution already established rights for the citizens and a Bill was not necessary, however the Anti federalists would only agree to ratify the Constitution if there was a bill of rights. Yates argues a major point in the Anti –Federalists papers against the necessary and proper clause of the Constitution, he states, “The Congress shall judge of what is necessary and proper in all these cases and in all other cases;-in short in all cases whatsoever. Where then is the restraint?” (Essay II) There had to be a law preventing the government from being unfair or abusing power to the citizens. The Bill of rights was then created as a result of lots of compromise. It then allowed the people to know there rights if they needed to protect themselves in any way. This bill gave the citizens back the power that the antifederalists thought the citizens would not have under a federal

Anti-Federalists, thought that the Constitution sided for power more than liberty and they opposed its ratification. Most support for Anti-Federalism was found in rural areas that were populated by poor farmers who sought economic alleviation in the 1780's. These people anticipated that the new government would be dominated by merchants and others hostile to the concerns of average Americans. They thought that

The Federalists believed that the nation could only survive if the central government had the power to tax, regulate trade, operate a militia and if necessary over rule state governments. The Anti-Federalists believed that tax would impose un-fairly if the central government regulates it. Anti- Federalists where afraid that factions would manipulate and ultimately control the government. Federalists argued that the United States would be too large and diverse for factions to dominate them. Anti- Federalists also feared that oppression would occur amongst those with and without power in the new constitution. The biggest debate among the Federalists and Anti-Federalists was a need for a Federal Bill of Rights. The Anti- Federalists argued that it was necessary, but the Federalists argued that it was unnecessary since those rights were already protected within the individual state governments. Both organizations settled their differences by creating a constitution with a Bill of Rights at the

While the Federalists did not believe it was necessary to include the Bill or Rights in the Constitution, the Anti-Federalists felt otherwise. The Anti-Federalist believed the Constitution would cause the federal government to have too much power. They did not want to have the possibility of losing

An important provision of the Bill of Rights is the protection of freedom to publish, as provided by the First Amendment. This protection applies to all kinds of publications, even those that print unpopular opinions. In most censorship cases, every attempt is made to suppress the written word after publication, not before. Minnesota passed a law in 1925 that sought to prevent newspapers, magazines, and other publications from printing obscene, malicious, scandalous and defamatory material. This law was called the Minnesota Gag Law . This law allowed private citizens and/or public prosecutors to request a court injunction to shut down any publication that was known as a public nuisance. Publishers of newspapers had to show that they had good motives for anything they were going to print before they printed it.