2nd amendment - the right to bare arms- US Constitution - Research Paper Example

The 10 amendments were ratified only four years after the signing of the US Constitution. In contrast, slavery took some time or some 78 years from the signing of the Constitution or on 6 December 1865 to be abolished through Amendment 13. As of 1992, there have been 27 amendments to the original US Constitution. The Bill of Rights Institute explained that the American bill of rights has its origins in the British Charters of Liberty (4). Further, in England in 1688, the Glorious Revolution that placed Prince William of Orange and his wife Mary on the throne, required that as condition for the couple’s rule, the couple would have to accept the Declaration of Rights and the Toleration Act of 1869 (Bill of Rights Institute 4).

According to the Bill of Rights Institute, the Toleration Act gave Englishmen the right to religion while the Declaration of Rights gave Englishmen the right to keep arms, among other rights (4). The American founding fathers were influenced by the notions of rights enshrined in the Declarations of Rights and the Toleration Act such that when the British ignored the common laws, they asserted that the said laws be followed or that “their mindset as Englishmen allowed them to assert their rights as Americans” (Bill of Rights Institute 4).

According to the Bill of Rights Institute, even long before the American Revolution, the American colonialists who fled the religious turmoil in England had a notion that their rights as Englishmen were part of colonial law (7). After the Revolution of 1776, first American states united under the Articles of Confederation (Bill of Rights Institute 7). However, the founding fathers considered that the Articles of confederation were insufficient for governance (Bill of Rights 7). Thus, the American Constitution was born.

Opponents, however, had opposed a strong government represented by the American Constitution but settled for a compromise arrangement wherein delegates