This page was created by Adrian Adams,
a Web-based Master's Degree student in the Department
of Criminal
Justice,
New
Mexico State University. This web page was
submitted in August 2003 as partial fullfillment of
the requirements
of CJ 532, Civil Liberties
in Criminal
Justice.
Introduction
"A
bill of rights is what the people are entitled to
against every government on earth, general
or particular, and what no just government should
refuse."
Thomas Jefferson, 1787
The Bill of Rights was drafted in 1787
in Philadelphia, by a 13-member group to give the citizens
of this nation guild lines to what their rights were. The
Bill of Rights was inspired by Thomas Jefferson, and was
adopted in 1791 by the United States. To let the government know how far they
are able to go without violating individuals rights in
this country. The Bill is set-up with checks and balances
that run throughout the government. There are three branches of government that are key in keeping
the country running smoothly (Executive, Representative
Legislature, and Federal Judiciary). The
American people wanted a government that was nothing like
the English monarchy they lived under in pre revolutionary
war.
Some might ask why would we need to have
a Bill of Rights when we already have a Constitution. When
you look at the Constitution you notice that it has nothing
to do with making sure peopleÕs individual rights are protected. The Constitution main purpose was to
let the government know what they could do in regards to
its citizens, but said nothing of what it could not do. The
people wanted something that would guarantee their rights
and protect them from the government they had created. Every government has it flaws and if that government goes
unchecked, that government will work to gain as much power
as it can from the people.
Most historians think a pivotal point
in history that lead to the mistrust of the government
by Americans was the Stamp Act. The English Parliament passed the Stamp
Act in 1765 to tax every legal and business document. The Americans resented an English government that they felt
did not represent them, and to add to the hatred was the
way the law was enforced by the English government. Government
officials looking for whatever contraband they could find
intruded into peopleÕs homes without permission from homeowners. People within the community began to
rally against the intrusion by the government. So to protect the people, the nation founders worked on a
document that would be used to protect the people against
unwarranted government intrusions.
By dealing with the English government,
protection of people from the government gaining unlimited
less power, the founding fathers wanted the U.S. government
to work to protect it's citizens individual rights. Protecting the people from its own government
was not the only responsibility of the U.S. government,
the government was also to protect against foreign and
domestic threats. The government was not to tell people
how to live their lives, or what type of god to believe
in. Still today, this country runs into issues
dealing with the separation of church and state.
The Bill of Rights was written in a way
that everyone was protected by these rights. In
all actuality not everyone was consider a citizen who was
in need for the protection. Women
were thought to be second-class citizens who were property
of their husbands, and this was not amended until 1920
with the 19th Amendement. Native Americans also ran into similar
issue in that they were not even thought of as citizens,
but aliens. The Bill of Rights had been in place
in the American system for nearly 135 years before Native
Americans were able to receive the benefits. Race
has played a part in those getting equal treatment under
the law. African-American who received the unfair
treatment of slavery were not even protected in any since
of the law, they were governed by a "slave code". This
code worked to keep African-Americans from access to courts,
contracts, and owning property. Not
until the civil war were African-Americans granted citizenship
with the 14th Amendment, and the 13th Amendment
abolished slavery.
Amendments
What are the major aspects of the first
amendment and other amendments, what does the first amendment
aim to cover? The first amendment covers such rights
as ones separation of church and state, the freedom to
associate, and the freedom of speech. The
amendment covers a broad range of topics that these web
sites will give valuable information to who ever will use
the site.
The web site gives the reader an overview
of what the first amendment covers.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/first_amendment.html
This web site is set-up in an outline
form so the reader can find the amendment within the first
amendment they are looking up.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/
The web site is a sort of library for
viewers looking for information on the first amendment.
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/
This web site provides information about
what the second amendment to the Bill of Rights covers.
http://www.guncite.com/journals/hardhist.html
A site
to provide students with information about their first
amendment rights, mostly relates to those students that
are majoring in media and educations.
http://www.splc.org/
Information is provided about what the
14th Amendment covers and how it protects individuals.
http://www.saf.org/LawReviews/Amar1.html
A brief description of amendments one
through fourteen for the reader who is interested in finding
out facts about the Bill of Rights.
http://www.constitutionfacts.com/amendments.shtml
Well-known Bill of Rights Cases In this section we take a
look into some of the better-known cases that have made
the Bill of Rights what it is today. These
are the cases that we have all had too at some point in
time had to read about as being college students. These
cases aimed toward making sure individual were granted
their God given rights of freedom from the government.
This site looks into the facts surrounding
the case of Plessy v. Ferguson.
http://www.splc.org/
This site is more of an outline type of form for the
cases of Plessy v. Ferguson, and Brown v. The Board of
Education.
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/pubs/A5/wolff.html
This article looks in to the history of
American action towards the abortion law, and the facts
surrounding the Roe v. Wade case.
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761595572
A site that you can find information about
the freedom of speech amendment of Gitlow v. New York.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=268&invol=652
Threats to the Bill of Rights Some might think that since we have the
documentation of the Bill of Rights we as citizens do not
have anything to fear about our freedom being diminished. As
we all know since the happenings of September 11, we have
seen a number of changes made in the name of fighting terrorism. The
main threat coming from a newly introduced bill by the
name of the Patriot Act with gives your government enormous
power. We as citizens have to be conscious to
the goings on with our elected representative.
This web page gives the viewer information
on the Patriot Act bill that is said to be an anti-terrorism
bill.
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0146/hentoff.php
An
article that confronts Presidential hopeful Joseph Lieberman
on
his stance that, "the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/sep2000/lieb-s01.shtml
A web
site with strong opinions about the use of the Patriot
Act bill to fight terrorism, and the possible lost of your
civil liberties.
http://www.refuseandresist.org/normalcy/051102chang.html
A look
into revising the Bill of Rights to keep up with the current
changes America is going through in this day and age.
http://www.actionamerica.org/constitution/y2kbor.html
History Behind the Bill of Rights
A historical look into who is said to be the drafter of
the Bill of Rights James Mason.
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/B/gmason/gmasxx.htm
A look into the historical background
of how the citizens of this country created the Bill of
Rights.
http://www.guncite.com/journals/hardhist.html
A Biographical
look into the life of the man who was the inspiration behind
the Bill of Rights.
http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/ea/bios/03pjeff.html
References
http://archive.aclu.org/library/pbp9.html
Randall,
Richard S. (2003). American Constitutional Development: The Rights of Persons.
Vol 2. New
York: Longman.
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