The Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment - Essay Example

Section/# The Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment Whereas the US Constitution maps out the general direction in which governance should commence, the role and rights of the individual to the state are laid out in even more clarity within the first ten amendments to the Constitution; oftentimes collectively referred to as the Bill of Rights. These amendments have become a key detriment in the formation of law and the ways in which the government and its three branches interact with the citizens over which they preside. As a means of further understanding each of these first ten amendments, this brief analysis will consider their meaning in a greater degree of depth and through such an analysis help to paint a picture for the reader or researcher with regards to the ways in which the growth, definition, and expansion or contraction of the meanings associated with these amendments have helped to shape the legal process that is enjoyed with the United States. Further, the 14th amendment will also be considered and discussed as a means of providing a greater degree of equality, citizenship, and fairness under the Constitution and the law. The most cited of these ten amendments is naturally the first. As a fundamental right of the citizen, the first amendment gives the right to freedom of speech, press, religion, and petition. From a societal perspective, this is the amendment that, perhaps more than any other, allows for the continual growth and development of the American society based upon the premise of the enumerated freedoms. As freedom of religion, press, speech, and petition are guaranteed as a fundamental right which cannot and should not be infringed, the ability of the citizen to express a degree of self determination that would otherwise not be possible under a different code of ethics or laws is actionable (Kayman 324). Naturally, as with all the Bill of Rights and further amendments to the Constitution, each of these is given by means of entrusting the citizen not to break any law in the practice or implementation of these rights and privileges. The second of the ten amendments relates to the right to keep and bear arms. This hotly debated issue comes to the forefront of the political and societal discourse as acts of horrific gun violence bring out the anti-gun and pro-gun forces to a nearly seasonal battle royal in which both camps argue over the true meaning of the second amendment and how it relates to our current cultural reality (Case Law 1). With the exception of some key restraints being placed on the ownership and use of automatic weapons and a few regulations concerning what defines a handgun and what defines a rifle, the interpretation of this amendment has been historically quite liberal. In this way, American society has seen that, as with the other amendments in the Bill of Rights, the judiciary is keen on upholding the original intent, as best they see it, of the framers. Although it receives little attention, the third amendment which is included in the Bill of Rights is nonetheless important. Whereas the colonies experienced great hardship during the Revolutionary War period as well as before with relation to being required to quarter and provide sustenance to British Redcoats, the framers sought to enumerate upon the rights of the populace with regards to being required to provide material support for the military. Accordingly, this amendment secures the rights of the citizen against imposition by the military or the government in both time of peace and time of war with relation to providing quarter for soldiers and/or other military personnel. Socially, this amendment has experienced little growth and/or development due to the fact that the need of the government to require such an imposition of its citizens has been limited. The fourth amendment is infinitely more complex than the others which have heretofore been discussed. This fourth amendment states that the rights of the citizen to be free in their house, person, papers, and effects. The sociological development of this law has experienced a great deal of flux as the introduction of motor vehicles, drivers licenses, social security cards, and other government documentation has made it increasingly more complex for authorities to navigate within the constructs of the fourth amendment without violating it. Further, the tragedy of September 11th, 2001 meant that the process of air travel, inclusive of domestic air travel, was forever changed. Accordingly, key elements of the fourth amendment have been violated by various branches of government as warrantless searches are conducted each and every day within thousands of airports around the country. Of all of the amendments that are in danger of being abrogated, it is the fourth that bears the greatest risk. As law enforcement is increasingly demanding of all individuals to render proper identification, the threat of the erosion of this amendment is most grave. Amendments five, six, seven and eight relate to the criminal prosecution, the right of the accused to a speedy trial, the right of the accused to a trial by jury, and the enumeration on the prohibition of cruel or unusual punishment and/or unreasonably high bail respectively. The Fifth Amendment ties in strongly with the Miranda Rights that have come to be such a hallmark of our justice system. As the accused is not required to be a material witness against himself/herself, the accused is also able to refuse to answer any and all questions as a fundamental right afforded to him/her by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Almost without exception, these 3 amendments have remained virtually unchanged. However, the recent case of Guantanamo Bay detainees has blurred the lines between what the Amendments state and how the government interprets the differences between “enemy combatants” and US citizens. Amendment Nine refers to the fact that the rights enumerated by the amendments to the Constitution should not construed to deprive another citizen of the very rights that they define themselves. Although obvious, this amendment is one of the most important due to the fact that it helps the cohesion and logic of the prior and proceeding rights to maintain themselves within the constructs of the law. Finally Amendment Ten allocates all powers and delegated determinations that have not been expressly defined within the Constitution or the subsequent amendments to be allocated to the States. Naturally, one does not need to think long in order to realize that this Amendment concerns the rights of the states to dissolve themselves from the union as no such provisions have been elsewhere stipulated within the Constitution or the preceding Bill of Rights. However, as the War Between the States proved, no such right was within the purview or jurisdiction of the individual states. Moreover, an additional amendment was added during the presidency of Andrew Johnson which stipulated that no state, or group of states, could seek to dissolve itself/themselves from the Union. From this point forward, the sociologically interpretation of this amendment has been uni-dimensional. Finally, as noted, this paper will discuss the role of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution as a means whereby previously ignored and/or understated precepts of the Constitution were enumerated upon. The history behind such an amendment necessarily dates back to the Supreme Court Case involving Dred Scott vs Sanford of 1857. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that for purposes of the law, a slave would not be considered as a citizen of the United States but as a type of property. However, upon the conclusion of the Civil War and the North’s ultimate victory, the Fourteenth Amendment was drafted and signed into law (Miah 7). As such, it stated that anyone born in the United States or naturalized is a citizen of such; regardless of race or status. This amendment would go on to serve as the backbone for the eventual Supreme Court case of Brown v Board of Education. As has been noted, each of the amendments bears a significant meaning as to the interpretation of law and society that the United States currently experiences. Although the cliche oftentimes regards freedoms taken for granted, the truth is the almost all of the freedoms that exist within the United States, as compared to other nations, can be ultimately traced back to some provision within the Bill of Rights or the subsequent amendments to the Constitution. In this way, the founders/framers created a layer of protection that helped to limit the powers of the State/Government as it related to their citizens. Although one cannot convincingly claim that such constraints have completely and entirely worked to hedge government in, they have provided the necessary barriers that have allowed the Constitutional republic to survive for as long as it has. Works Cited Case Law. "U.S. Constitutional Amendments." RSS. N.p., 13 Apr. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. Kayman, Martin A. "The Bill Of Rights: 'Icons' Of Liberty And Law In The Early Twenty-First Century." Law & Humanities 5.2 (2011): 323-348. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. Miah, Malik. "Rolling Back Reconstruction: Attacking The 14Th & 15Th Amendments." Against The Current 27.3 (2012): 2-14. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. Read More