The Creation of The Bill of Rights and United States Constitution - Research Paper Example

The formulation of the United States Constitution was a unique at within the course of world history. Inevitably, in discussing the rationale and reasoning behind the Constitution coming to be and being written in the way that it was, the individual is forced to discuss the fact that the ultimate impetus behind this was with regards to addressing and redressing many of the flaws and frustrations that the colonial Americans felt towards the British. As such, seeking to craft and define the rights that mankind should inherently have and those which would determine a future existence for the nascent country was an issue of primary importance1.

Oftentimes, in seeking to understand the formulation of the Constitution and the core components that it engendered, the individual is encouraged to engage in a level of historical mysticism. What is meant by this is the fact that the founding fathers are, rightfully so, so revered that individuals within the current era attribute almost superhuman intelligence and respect; such that the process of the formulation of the Constitution and the underlying rationale behind it is oftentimes diminished in light of the fact that these great intellect were so far and above that which the current individual could grasp that understanding such impetus is effectually useless2.

However, even though it is true that the individuals behind crafting and developing the thoughts and understanding that would eventually be incorporated within the Constitution were unbelievably intelligent, it should not be understood that the rationale and impetus behind such a document is somehow without possible comprehension. Ultimately, as a result of the frustration and inefficacy of the way in which the British Empire was administered, and by extension the way in which the colonials were treated, stakeholders within American society came to understand that a fundamentally different approach to governance and the rights of man must be delineated.

Accordingly, this was the fundamental impetus that provided the rationale behind delineating these rights and promoting a new level of integration between society and government. Secondarily, the individuals who crafted the Constitution were aware of the fact that the relationship between the subject and the citizen, as defined by the British and by previous experience, was no longer workable and must have an alternative definition if the United States were to break free and pursue a degree of self determinism.

By much the same token, even though the Constitution is able to provide a rubric for the way in which these rights of man should be defined, the actual metrics for how such a system would be engaged and a clear delineation of these rights were most effectively represented within the Bill of Rights; the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. As such, the following section will provide a brief discussion with regards to why these amendments came to be represented and how an underlying appreciation for these rights was incorporated into the United States society.

The most cited of these ten amendments is naturally the first. As a