More handpicked essays just for you.
The importance of civil liberties
American government chapter 2 origins of american government
Civil liberties issues today
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
I. Introduction The United States is founded on the concept of Liberty. As expressed in the Constitution, all United States citizens are entitled to the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These values have been endlessly challenged throughout history in an attempt to determine where freedom should end and where government regulation might begin.
Between the creation of the Constitution and the Civil War, there was a period of implementation . In this period the Bill of Rights were ratified. During the years that followed and before the Civil War, there were a variety of “constitutional” violations and interpretations. For example, we read of John Adams who created a military without a Congressional declaration of war.
In the discussion of the 8th amendment, this paper will examine: the history of the 8th amendment, the interpretations made by courts regarding 8th, and how the 8th affects us today. The Amendment first was ratified in 1791 along with the nine other amendments to form the bill of rights. The bill of rights is used to “lists specific prohibitions on governmental power.” (“Bill of Rights”). By doing this, the government has less power to not make the citizens feel like that even the government has to follow some sort of procedure and would stabilize the power the government has from having either too much or too little.
The founding fathers attempted to balance order with liberty. They wanted to avoid tyranny, allowing others to participate in politics; giving people a voice. Their foresight into the future affairs of government is believable. If we take in look on how the United States is now, many can argue that the government take advantage of people. A lot of people think that the government gives enough for people to survive, but not enough to keep people poor.
America has long been considered “the land of the free”, illustrated in many historic documents from around the time our country was born. The Declaration of Independence of 1776 immediately showed that freedom, as we declared ourselves independent of Britain’s rule. A little over a decade later, in 1787, the Constitution was created, after the failed attempt of the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution initiated the setup of America’s government during the Constitutional Convention, in which George Washington was selected as the first president of the United States. Another four years later, in 1791, the Bill of Rights was adopted as part of the Constitution, giving Americans their basic freedoms that are very much debated about today.
The ratification of the US Bill of Rights took place in 1789. The Bill of Rights supply citizens of the US with inalienable rights that they are born with and acquire if they immigrate. Since it was ratified, there have been several occasions in which these rights have been infringed upon during times of conflict, in which the United States government attempts to shield the nation from conflicting issues inside or even outside the country because of fear. The government believes that this unconstitutional action to restrict citizens’ rights must be done to protect citizens of the United States, but in an attempt to protect others, many become mistreated.
Civil liberties are reason for us being so free in American. It protects us from the government getting to powerful over our amendments that are in the constitution. Our federalism government must be following our civil liberties, or they can get in trouble for violating them. That is why they were put into the Constitution the bill of rights to protect our freedom and to prevent the government from being too powerful over the people which is not allowed in federalism since it has two main party’s that make up the political system. Civil Liberties was created to make everyone be equal and to prevent them
During the twentieth century, the United States emerged as a persistent and powerful actor on the world stage. And at key moments of worldwide involvement the encounter with a foreign "other" subtly affected the meaning of freedom in the United States. Today, when asked to define their rights as citizens, Americans instinctively turn to the privileges enumerated in the Bill of Rights—freedom of speech, the press, and religion, for example. But for many decades after the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution in 1791, the social and legal defenses of free expression were extremely fragile in the United States. A broad rhetorical commitment to this ideal coexisted with stringent restrictions on speech deemed radical or
While it is indubitable that modern America is developing too many comparable characteristics to Orwell’s dystopia depicted in 1984, despite all its flaws, the United States continues to uphold its principles of democracy, individualism, and law and order. The Freedom in the World report is an international record that documents global trends in civil liberties and political rights that published the United States “is a federal republic whose people benefit from a competitive political system, a strong rule-of-law tradition, robust freedoms of expression and religious belief, and a wide array of other civil liberties” (Freedom House 2). This statement is validated through their thorough and insightful analysis of US economic, political, and social policies, accentuating that although the United States struggles with challenges, overall its democratic practices are sustained and natural rights continue to be preached. To contradict this finding, these same freedom of speech and economic equality freedoms expressed in the report are eroding due to flawed or lack of regulations regarding income disparity and cyber
Chapter 4 of the book We the People talks about Civil Liberties, this chapter mainly talks about the Rights that were placed in the Constitution (not in the Bill of Rights), it also talks about the Bill of Rights and it describes the rights protected by the Bill of Rights. It also talks about specific rights that work close together with the Bill of Rights and Amendments rights. One of the first Amendments that is described in great detail is Freedom of Speech and Religion. The first Amendment protects US citizens right to talk about almost any topic in the United States. I said almost any topic because there are some forms of speech that aren’t protected by the First Amendment (these forms of speech can be limited or prohibited), some of the forms of speech that aren’t protected by the First Amendment are Fighting Words and Hate Speech, Student Speech, Libel and Slander speech.
Citizens across America have many wide-ranging and diverse political beliefs. Everyone across America sees the issues affecting the country differently and has their own opinions on how the government should solve these problems. People’s views can be affected by where they live, who they interact with, and what activities they are a part of. My beliefs have been heavily influenced by my friends, family, and the media. All of these factors and more have led me to the conclusion that I am politically moderate.
Origins of American Government Since over the past several centuries, there have been many historical documents that have influenced and are key in the American Government we have today. The Magna Carta, Petition of Right, English Bill of Rights, Two Treatises on Civil Government, The Social Contract, Common Sense, Declaration of Independence, and The Articles of Confederation are all documents that have, in their own and/or similar way, shaped the American Government.
Civil liberties concern basic rights and freedoms that are guaranteed, either explicitly identified in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, or inferred through the years by legislatures or the courts. These basic rights are sometimes forgotten or not fully understood in our generation. Another issue is the lack of knowledge when it comes to our Congress. Congress has all legislative power, meaning that it is the only part of the government that can make new laws or change existing laws. Congress has a great amount of power that is often overlooked.
I split the standard, “Identify the basic principles of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, such as popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, majority rule with minority rights, and federalism” (Idaho State Department of Education, 2009), into two parts. Week five dealt with the type of government that was being formed, and its scope of power; week six will deal with the principles of the Bill of Rights. At this point, students will be familiar with why and how the Constitution was formed to protect and unify the nation. Now we will explore how the Bill of Rights protect the citizens. This field trip demonstrates the principles of the Bill or Rights in a creative way by exploring life without it.
In the United States of America, the citizens are told they have protected freedoms. In many ways this is a very true factor, but the more time goes on it would seem the less serious the government takes these freedoms. If these freedoms are not respected as they should be there may be various problems arise from this. It is believed that Religious freedoms should be more protected, because of the founding fathers’ views, the first amendment, and the rights of citizens in the United States.
