Analysis of Three Bills of Rights in the US Constitution
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This article analyzes the advantages, disadvantages, and possible amendments of three bills of rights in the US Constitution: freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, and the right to equal justice.
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Surname1 Student’s Name Professors Name Course Date Introduction To protect the rights of the Americans, the founding fathers believed that the written constitution that contained a section of human rights and freedom would help in the future for safeguarding human interest and safety. When the drafted bills were sent to the states for verification and scrutinization, averagely almost half the congress members opposed the proposals in 1787 and conducted an open protest non-specificity of the bills. Whereas the other individuals from different states demanded the inclusion of a bill of rights in the operating constitution and that they will cooperate and accept the law if and only if it contained the bill of rights in it. When the next government was formed two years later, the bill of rights got a space,
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Surname2 and for the first time, ten amendments took place in the constitution. In two hundred bill proposals discussed by the Congress members, only ten got approved that and were later presented to the state for further approval (Saeed, p42). The country without much ado gave the ten proposed bills the formal consent, and then the laws became part of the U.S constitution in 1791. Examples of the bills of rights that were passed were, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of petition, the right to bear arms, the right to equal justice, the protection against cruel and unusual punishment among others. Three of them will be discussed with mentioning the drawbacks, advantages, and the possible amendments that can be done to the bills to make it sound with inclusivity and sensical to every citizen. Freedom of religion Starting with the freedom of religion, as it is stipulated in the constitution, it was the first among the ten bills to be amended, and it states that all Americans are guaranteed the right to practice any religion of their choice or choose not to practice any religion at all. The state was forbidden to make any attempt of officiating any denomination for the nation and that no faith was to be favored than the other in the country. The advantages of this freedom, religion describes the norms of society by scheming its believer to a particular judgment of the wrongs and rights in the community (Hall, p31). Spirituality provides a sense and purpose of identity since many people live their lives supported by the foundations and principles of the religion they choose to serve. Religion offers its believers with guidelines, morals, comfort which its followers follow to attain a promise in the days to come which they perceive to be useful to them. Secondly, religious institutions are tax-
Surname3 free and are not affected by the government. The citizens can choose any religion of their choice without the influence of the government. The third pro is, faith ensures the prevalence of different religious practices. The disadvantages of the freedom of religion can as well be captured in the following perspectives; there are some religions that justify some wrong-doings which are against the law. Its followers who have the staunch belief will not hesitate to commit the wrong-doing, which is supported by the religion and interns underestimate the forces of the law of the state (Babie, p91). The other con is that belief creates division among members of the country. The freedom of free choice to religion based on individuals preference brings division in society. Individuals will value their faith and regard it to be superior to the others existing beliefs, and finally, religion promotes discrimination in the sense that members will identify with people they share the same view with mostly seen in job places, politics and community services. To neutralize and make this freedom of religion sound inclusive, then it would make sense when the term worship is used instead of faith. Worship is an act of submitting to a given supernatural being that is believed to more powerful and is responsible for well being of people in a community (Lund, pp13-15). Some religions are extravagant and to some extent, disarrange the healthy coexistence of people in the society. Freedom to worship a little bit specific and people will be serving the already established religion. This can foster discipline in the sprouting of beliefs that might be against the well-being of society. The right to bear arms The second bill of right discussed is, the right to bear arms. It was the second bill of the reason that was included in the American constitution after freedom of religion. It gave the American people the right to own arms for self-protection. During those days, the American
Surname4 soldiers needed weapons to serve in the military to defend the state. These weapons protected war emergencies. This fostered a belief that without firearms, the citizens will be powerless should the government decide to employ the dictatorial governance and over-use power to rule its citizens. The benefits of the freedom to own the arms are, ownership of guns helps in reducing a variety of crime in the society (Bocking, pp151-164). A gun is simply a tool just like an ax, machetes, or sword that people own in their homes, which can be used to take away life. A gun can be used to control a situation when thieves break into premises. Primarily, guns can be used to curb homicide issues, aggravated and sexual assault by around 5%. The second advantage is, the weapons offer people opportunities for self-defense. When we have self-protection options, we can help to regulate how bad people dominate against us in society. Thirdly, the bearing of arms enforces the constitutional laws due to its caption in the bill of rights. Again, the firearms acquisition engages the average men into defending the country, and it allows for the proper regulation of militia as part of the U.S. norm to mention but a few. In the bill, the acquisition and use of the firearms have not been specified in the society. The is no any condition provided for in the constitution that describes how people should use the guns. Thus, some bad people may be tempted to use them in the wrong way, joining robbery, organizing violent crews. Secondly, it cannot be guaranteed that those owning the guns are good people as it has been noted that gun violence in the United States are rampant and this problem is caused by the Americans themselves who seemed to be good people when applying for the gun. Thirdly, gun ownership comes with a lot of risks in the family with arrogant kids or quarrelsome parents (Chemerinsky, p74). During fights and unnecessary fights, anybody can be tempted to
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Surname5 use the gun to square the conflict leading to fatal injuries or some extent, death. It has created a domestic arms race among families among other drawbacks. Considering the listed advantages and disadvantages, it clear that the expression of the bill, “the right to bear arms.” This sounds too general in the sense that there is no range of arms specified so whichever the weapon is, it can be owned so long the licensing conditions are met. In suggesting the right expression for this freedom, it would sound better if it is reframed as, the right to bear explicitly licensed arm. This will be more definite and clearer since the citizens will develop a restricted want for the weapons. The right to equal justice. When a person is accused of committing a crime in the court of law, he is not considered guilty until proven by the court of law. In the process of determining the guilt in suspect, the suspect is taken through trials which are expected to be free and fair by the juries. In the bill of rights, there are many rights and freedoms an American citizen is granted should they be accused of any crime (Tribe, p16). To offer a fair trial to the suspect, the following factors need to be taken into account; a person must be formally charged with wrongdoing by the grand jury before he being brought to court for trial, the person accused has the right to be informed of the law he is accused of breaking. Again, he has a right to a quick public trial by his citizen's jury, and the accuse should not be held up in prison for weeks or months before trial. He is entitled to bail himself out and wait to appear for hearing during the stipulated date. The accused has the right to acquire a lawyer who will represent him in court during the trial. Besides, he has a right to call in a witness whosoever person who will wish to testify on his behalf in the court. The evidence against the accused should be publicized in the court (Waldron, pp3-36). Last but not least, the accused cannot be compelled to testify or give evidence against himself and finally, should the
Surname6 accused be found guilty, he cannot be given unusual or cruel punishment and however grave the crime is, he can not be tried twice over the same crime. To begin with, the right to equal justice in the court of law provides for benefits of safety measures and directives on how to handle the accused in the court of law. In as much as the accused can be a suspect of committing a crime, they still regarded to have rights to be heard and be protected from the brutal and unfair application of the law. No person can be tried without being indicted first in the court of law (Noe, p51). This protects the ordinary citizens from harassment by the "big men" in the society as every resolution must be made in court following all the standard procedures. Secondly, it creates confidence and some hopes to the accused as they cannot be referred to as criminals even when the proceeding is ongoing until proven guilty in the court. This provides protection of the accused and controls victimization by the society, and the court arrives at a decision. The right to be bailed out is an advantage since it protects the accused from suffering, waiting for judgment to be made. Since the accused can not testify or provide evidence against himself in the court, in the event of crime without witness, the accused can win the trial even when he is guilty and many more advantages (Neubauer, p19). The disadvantages take the vice versa of the benefits. In my own words, I would term this right, the right to free and fair trial. Conclusion The power and authority that helps people to man their daily affairs are what we call the environment. It helps to serve and fulfill the citizens' purposes, and wishes to create and establishes peace, love, and harmony in the societies under it. Other activities and services that can not by a community be performed by the government he the rule of law that is established in the constitution containing the bill of rights. Since the formation the government is based on the
Surname7 consent of the constitution and people choice through an election, the powers of the federal states are distributed among different countries and in a balanced manner. Respect to the authorities in the constitution by the government and the people.
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Surname8 References Cogan, Neil H. The complete Bill of Rights: The drafts, debates, sources, and origins. Oxford University Press, 2015. Saeed, Abdullah.Freedom of religion, apostasy and Islam. Routledge, 2017. Hall, Kermit L.The Oxford Companion to the. 2018. Babie, Paul, and Vanja-Ivan Savić, eds.Law, religion and love: seeking ecumenical justice for the other. Routledge, 2017. Bocking, Brian. "Study of Religions: the New Queen of the Sciences?."Religion: Empirical Studies. Routledge, 2017. 151-164. Lund, Nelson, and Adam Winkler. "The Second Amendment."National Constitution Center, Interactive Constitution(2015): 15-23. Chemerinsky, Erwin.Constitutional law. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, 2016. Ruben, Eric, and Joseph Blocher. "From theory to doctrine: An empirical analysis of the right to keep and bear arms after Heller."Duke LJ67 (2017): 1433. Cottrol, Robert J., and George A. Mocsary. "Guns, bird feathers, and overcriminalization: why courts should take the Second Amendment seriously."Geo. JL & Pub. Pol'y14 (2016): 17. Tribe, Laurence H. "Equal dignity: speaking its name."Harv. L. Rev. F.129 (2015): 16. Gorsuch, Neil M. "Of lions and bears, judges and legislators, and the legacy of Justice Scalia."Case W. Res. L. Rev.66 (2015): 905.
Surname9 Waldron, Jeremy. "A right-based critique of constitutional rights."Bills of Rights. Routledge, 2017. 3-36. Noe, Raymond A., et al.Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 2017. Calvi, James V., and Susan Coleman.American law and legal systems. Routledge, 2016. Neubauer, David W., and Henry F. Fradella.America's courts and the criminal justice system. Cengage Learning, 2018.