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A short essay about the second amendment
How important is the bill of rights
A short essay about the second amendment
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After a long, exhausting, painful war for independence from Great Britain, the United States became its own nation, a nation of choice and rights, a nation of voice and strong opinion, a nation with freedom handed to humans by God. The birth of this glorious new state brought forth a new era of revolution throughout the world. Countries took America’s victory to heart, overthrowing their monarchial governments and establishing governments run by popular sovereignty. The existence of the United States, perhaps, led to the global fight for self-government. However, though all our grandeur, this great nation was naïve at birth. The establishment of the first constitution nearly brought an end to the triumphant title of the United States. Fortunately, our founding fathers refused to allow such glory die. Full of the same determination and pride held during the revolution, they constructed the Constitution we know and honor today. They fashioned equally strong state and federal governments, a representative democracy in the form of Congress, and most importantly, the Bill of Rights, which ultimately reflected our demand for civil liberties. Because the Constitution is a live document, it can be changed in the form of Amendments. The Bill of Rights is a collection of the first Ten Amendments. These alterations voiced the demand for freedoms of religion, speech, and protest, along with others previously held back by the King. It is because of the Bill of Rights that the new Constitution prospered into the most powerful document in the United States. Among these powerful Amendments is the Right to Bear Arms (the Second Amendment. It declares, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of th... ... middle of paper ... ...s and criminals and children. We must remember that weapons do not rule the world, humans do. Works Cited • Stolinsky, David C., M.D. “America: The Most Violent Nation?” Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons © 2000. Obtained 7/6/10. http://www.jpands.org/hacienda/stolinsky.html • Reinhart, Christopher, Senior attorney. “Castle Doctrine and Self-Defense”. January 17, 2007. Connecticut General Assembly. Obtained 7/6/10 http://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/rpt/2007-r-0052.htm • “Constitutional Topic: The Second Amendment”. USConstitution.net © 1995-2010. Obtained 7/6/10. http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_2nd.html • Smith, Brian W. “‘Castle Doctrine’ Applied to Road Rage Case” September 28, 2008. The Injury Board Blog Network. Obtained 7/6/10. http://tallahassee.injuryboard.com/miscellaneous/castle-doctrine-applied-to-road-rage-case.aspx?googleid=248338
BACKGROUND OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS The United States Bill of Rights came into being as a result of a promise made by the Fathers of Confederation to the states during the struggle for ratification of the Constitution in 1787-88. A great number of the states made as a condition for their ratification, the addition of amendments, which would guarantee citizens protection of their rights against the central government. Thus, we have a rather interesting situation in which the entrenchment of a bill of rights in the American Constitution was done by the virtual demand of the states, themselves fearing a central government which was not legally constrained and restricted as far as its powers were concerned. The resulting Bill of Rights is appended to the American Constitution as the first of ten amendments.
As the United States developed into a world economic power, it also became a military and political power. Certain things led Americans to become more involved in world affairs, such as territorial growth. There were also consequences to the nation’s new role, like conflict between citizens and people of power. United States government and leaders had to learn the “hard way”, the challenges and negativity that they would face, such as loss of money and lack of control between certain nations, and the positive effects such as expansion of territory and alliances.
The year of 1776 was a time of revolution, independence, and patriotism. American colonists had severed their umbilical cord to the Mother Country and declared themselves “Free and Independent States”.1 The chains of monarchy had been thrown off and a new government was formed. Shying away from a totalitarian government, the Second Continental Congress drafted a document called the Articles of Confederation which established a loose union of the states. It was an attempt at self-government that ended in failure. The Articles of Confederation had many defects which included a weak central government that lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, required equal representation and a unanimous vote to amend the Articles, and had only a legislative branch. As a result the United States lacked respect from foreign countries. These flaws were so severe that a new government had to be drafted and as a result the Constitution was born. This document remedied the weak points of the federal government and created one that was strong and fair, yet still governed by the people.
After the American Revolution, America had earned it’s freedom from Britain. In order to govern this new country the Articles of Confederation was created. This document was flawed by the colonists fear of putting too much power into a central government. Knowing the document needed to be fixed a constitutional convention was called. The document created at this convention has been our constitution ever since. But even the Constitution was meet with criticism. One major concern when writing the constitution was how to protect the citizens rights. The Constitution did this through the preamble, the legislative process, the limit of presidential terms, the judicial branch, and the bill of rights.
Elsen, Sheldon, and Arthur Rosett. “Protections for the Suspect under Miranda v. Arizona.” Columbia Law Review 67.4 (1967): 645-670. Web. 10 January 2014.
The American Revolution holds a very prominent place in the history of this country, as it was the longest and the most painful war Americans ever encountered. It took many years and numerous conflicts to finally gain independence in 1776 from British domination, which had been subjugating its colonies with laws of an unwritten constitution. It must be understood that though Americans were fighting for the right of democracy and each state wanted self-government, later that same issue turned into a big problem. Soon after America became independent, the former British colonies decided to form their own governments. It was then that the real battle began. The task of forming separate constitutions for each state, along with the formation of governmental institutions, turned in to a huge task -- a task so gigantic that it forced some states to rethink the matter and soon the rumors of a central government started circulating.
The Bill of Rights the first ten amendments to the US Constitution, ratified in 1791 and guaranteeing such rights as the freedoms of speech, assembly, and worship. These were the basic principles of the Bill of rights. These were the principles that American people was fighting for in the Revolutionary war. In the summer of 1787 thirteen delegates got together and came up with the Constitution. As things progressed they found out that the Constitution was deeply flawed and they needed to find a way to correct the problems that they had.
The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states "a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
In 1787, the Constitution, created by a group of men known as the “Framers”, is the highest law in the United States. At first, the Constitution was not ratify because it did not have a bill of rights which is a list of rights that belong to the people. Therefore to allow changes to the Constitution, the Framers created the amendment process. In 1791, congress proposed twelve changes to the Constitution. Ten of the twelve changes were agreed to by the states and were called “The Bill of Rights.” Some of these rights include the right of free speech, the right to practice your own religion and the right to be silent if you are arrested.
When the Second Constitutional Convention wrote the Constitution in 1787, there was a controversy between the federalists and the anti-federalists surrounding whether or not to have a Bill of Rights. The anti-federalists claimed that a bill of rights was needed that listed the guaranteed rights that the government could never take away from a person i.e. “inalienable rights.” A Bill of Rights was eventually deemed necessary, and has worked for over 210 years. There are many reasons why the ten amendments are still valid to this day, and the best examples are the First Amendment, concerning the freedom of religion, the Fifth Amendment, and the Sixth Amendment.
The Castle Doctrine is a law that gives citizens the right to protect their homes and other property by any means necessary---often resulting in the use of deadly force. The Castle Doctrine is different in all the states and is not federally mandated, which is one of the biggest issues with the law. Governor of Ohio:
Harr, S. J., Hess, K. M., & Orthmann, C. H. (2012). Constitutional Law and the Criminal Justice
The second amendment states “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The Founding Fathers included this in the Bill of Rights because they feared the Federal Government might oppress the population if the people did not have the means to defend themselves as a nation or individuals.
Gold, Bruce. “The 2nd Amendment: A Historical Understanding.” Keep and Bear Arms.com. 5 April 2004
The Castle Doctrine is a bill that was passed which lets you defend yourself with necessary force in your residence if someone is breaking into your home. Criminals like to go after easy targets such as, the elderly, disabled citizens, children, and people who are unarmed. Every citizen has the right to live free and happy, if they are attacked they should be able to defend themselves and their property without being charged as a murderer.