laration of IndependencePeople in the United States can participate in government activities by voting and opposing their views. People are protected under the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
These documents lay down the blueprint for freedom. As a man, women, or child, you are affected by these important documents they guarantee your basic rights like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and economic freedom. Lincoln best put it in his Gettysburg address stating, ” A government of the people, by the people, for the people”. It is the First Amendment that justifies this belief: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the nation’s most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson’s most enduring monument. Here, in exalted and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people.
The political philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Continental philosophers. What Jefferson did was to summarize this philosophy in “self-evident truths” and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country. During the debates on the adoption of the Constitution, its opponents repeatedly charged that the Constitution as drafted would open the way to tyranny by the central government. Fresh in their minds was the memory of the British violation of civil rights before and during the Revolution. They demanded a “bill of rights” that would spell out the immunities of individual citizens.
Several state conventions in their formal ratification of the Constitution asked for such amendments; others ratified the Constitution with the understanding that the amendments would be offered. On September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States therefore proposed to the state legislatures 12 amendments to the Constitution that met arguments most frequently advanced against it. The first two proposed amendments, which concerned the number of constituents for each Representative and the compensation of Congressmen, were not ratified. Articles 3 to 12, however, ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, constitute the first 10 amendments of the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights. The Constitution of America was implemented with the following words, “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. ” Though the Constitution of America was integrated on a democratic basis, the American leaders were doubtful as to its validity.
They had seen too often corruption distorting democracy and so, were not ready to accept it without certain amendments. These amendments were specifically written to safe guard the rights of people. Amendment IV safeguards the right of people and their privacy. While citizens of other countries are terrorized by unwarranted searches and violations to their homes by the police, or upholders’ of law, American citizens need not have such fear, even if they are guilty. “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
” People the world over are fearful of keeping weapons in their homes regardless of the crime penetrating the streets. In the US citizens have the right to keep guns for whatever reason they may feel necessary. “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.”(Amendment .
