The US Bill of Rights - Essay Example

of the of the of the Bill of Rights The US Bill of Rights is treated as the law of the land in the United States. The earlier laws of the US were based on the English laws, which protected the civil rights of the people to only a certain extent. The UK has not made much change to its legislation, but the US forged ahead due to the adoption of the Bill of Rights, which provided greater liberty and more efficient protection than that in the United Kingdom. It is not only the executive but also every institution of the Federal Government that is to be bound by the Bill of Rights. No statute enacted in the US can violate the Bill of Rights (The strange battle for the U.S. Bill of Rights). In 1787 in New York, the Bill of Rights was born. It covered the rights that had not been provided for in the Constitution. The State Bills of Rights had incorporated the rights provided by the Bill of Rights. Many state bills of rights and state constitutions were implemented by the respective state legislatures. The rights guaranteed by the state bills of rights are inherent and inalienable, and they are deemed to be natural rights. For this reason, many American still believe that the Bill of Rights had not provided any special or extra rights to them. The existing rights were present even before the adoption of the Bill of Rights; and the advent of the latter made these rights explicit and provided a guarantee for them (Conley and Kaminski). At the time of drafting the Constitution, several dissenters contended that the Constitution confined all the power to the Federal Government, which could consequently oppress the people in several ways. In support of their argument, they quoted the unfair incidents that had transpired when the British authorities had violated civil rights and deprived the people of their basic rights, which had culminated in the Revolution. They feared that a similar occurrence would take place if the power was to be centralized with the federal government. These dissenters further stated that such an eventuality could be circumvented by enacting a Bill of Rights. The latter would protect the rights of individual citizens. Moreover, several states that had ratified the Constitution had requested for a provision, whereby the Constitution could be amended if so required (Bill of Rights). The First Congress introduced these 12 proposed amendments to the US Constitution in 1789. There were a lack of unanimity between the states, and some of them rejected these amendments. The first two amendments in that proposal related to the number of constituents for a Representative, and the remuneration to be paid to Congressmen. Therefore, all the states refused to grant their accord to these first two amendments. The subsequent Articles were ratified by a majority of three-fourths of the state legislatures. Later on these Articles were known as the First 10 Amendments to the Constitution. These were also termed as the Bill of Rights (Bill of Rights). The US Bill of Rights was extended to the states after the end of the Civil War. The Black people had suggested the inclusion of two major clauses in the Bill namely the due process clause and the equal protection clause. The due process clause allows the application of basic rights to all the states equally. Under this clause, the US Supreme Court had nullified the state abortion laws. The equal protection clause disallows any discrimination against any American citizen; this clause was employed by the Supreme Court to abolish the states’ education policy (Bill of rights. In Collins Dictionary of Law). James Madison drafted the 12 Amendments to the Constitution, and the First Congress presented these amendments to the states for ratification. Subsequently, only ten of the twelve proposed Amendments were ratified by the states. The First Amendment provides freedom of religion, speech and the press. It also provides a right to petition for redress and to assemble. The 2nd Amendment provides the right to posses and bear firearms. The 3rd Amendment prohibits the positioning of soldiers in private dwellings. The 4th Amendment protects the people against unreasonable search and seizure by police (Bill of Rights. In Britannica Concise Encyclopedia). The First 10 Amendments to the US Constitution were adopted in the year 1791. These Amendments provided individual rights to the citizens and also guaranteed those rights. In addition, they also imposed several limitations on the federal and state governments. These Amendments were adopted; due to the wide spread dissatisfaction of the public. Such dissatisfaction had transpired, because the Constitution had failed to limit the powers of federal and state governments, and also provide any guarantee regarding the protection of the rights of the individuals (Bill of Rights. In Britannica Concise Encyclopedia). The 5th Amendment provides for the establishment of a grand – jury indictment process for serious offenses. It also provides for adequate protection against double jeopardy in criminal cases. Moreover, it prohibits the utilization of a testimony that is made by a person against himself. The 6th Amendment provides certain rights to the accused in cases. The accused can accordingly request for a speedy trial. They can also request an impartial jury to deal with their case. Furthermore, this Amendment guarantees the right to legal counsel, and the accused can obtain and present witnesses to support his contentions (Bill of Rights. In Britannica Concise Encyclopedia). The 7th Amendment protects the right to trial by jury in grave and serious civil suits. Moreover, it prohibits the occurrence of double jeopardy in civil cases. The 8th Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments, excessive bail arrangements and inhumane treatment. The 9th Amendment maintains that the listing of certain rights in the Constitution should not be construed as the abolishment of other rights that had already been provided by the Constitution. The 10th Amendment reserves to the states and people power that had not been apportioned to the federal government (Bill of Rights. In Britannica Concise Encyclopedia). The drafters of the Bill of Rights had attempted to determine and define the scope and role of the Federal Government. They had stated that the central government would perform certain type of acts. Furthermore, the Constitution created three institutions to maintain balance within the federal government. They were the legislative, the executive and the judiciary. At the same time, the Constitution provided each of these institutions with certain specific powers. The Constitution did not expressly provide any rights to the people. The US Constitution is by nature a fluid document. It can be amended at any point of time if such necessity arises or if the situation obtaining warrants amendment (Keefer). The drafters had foreseen the necessity of timely amendment of the Constitution. In fact, they had encouraged such amendments through express provision in the Constitution, which permits such amendments from time to time. The Bill of Rights was also prepared in this manner. However, the fundamental objective of the Bill of Rights was to provide, protect and guarantee certain basic rights to the people. Thus the Bill of Rights is an important statute in the US, in addition to the Constitution. In the absence of the former, it would not be possible to grant fundamental rights to the people (Keefer). In the absence of the Bill of Rights, certain rights would have been denied by the government. The people would not have been in a position to exercise their rights or invoke any legal action against repression. The Bill or Rights allows such legal remedy. Prior to the Bill of Rights several people had been subjected to undue hardship when they had attempted to invoke legal redress against repression. The drafters of the Bill of Rights included a variety of protective mechanisms, in order to protect the basic rights of the people (Keefer). The US Supreme Court is empowered to nullify any legislation that is in violation of the Bill of Rights or that attempts to intervene with it. This proviso applied even to legislation that had been passed by Congress, in accordance with the prescribed procedure and had also been approved of by the President of the United States. At one point of time, the tenets of the Constitution and the institutions established by it like the Judiciary, the legislature and the executive were unable to prevent the federal government from becoming more powerful than the state governments. At that crucial juncture, the Bill of Rights came into existence, so as to restore the balance of power. Due to its implementation, people can approach the court if the government breaches the civil rights bestowed upon them by the Bill of Rights (The strange battle for the U.S. Bill of Rights). The Constitution had vested power with the federal government. However, the drafters of the Bill of Rights had anticipated that the federal government would exceed its powers and violate the basic rights of the people. The Bill of Rights prevents such excesses by the government. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are of great significance and act as the main pillars of the US. The Bill of Rights guarantees the basic rights of the people; and after its adoption there was a sizeable increase in the number of cases relating to the infringement of rights in the US Supreme Court (Keefer). Works Cited Bill of Rights. 2 December 2008 . Bill of Rights. In Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. 2006. 2 December 2008 . Bill of rights. In Collins Dictionary of Law. 2006. 2 December 2008 . Conley, Patrick T and John P Kaminski. The Bill of Rights and the States. Rowman & Littlefield, 1992. P. 18. Keefer, Sean. The Significance of the Bill of Rights . 16 March 2006. 2 December 2008 . The strange battle for the U.S. Bill of Rights. 2 December 2008 . Read More