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Bill Of Rights Essay

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The Bill of Rights and Later Amendments to the Constitution
In 1607, radical revolutionaries arrived in America with the dream of freedoms they were not given in their home country. Purely motivated by a thirst for equality, these pilgrims set out for the New World in hopes of establishing religious freedom, and while this is partly the case, there is a whole other motivator that is left untouched by popular tellings of American history. The primary motivator for colonizing America was not religious freedom, but as it often is in history, money. The Virginia Company wished to collect America’s natural resources, and it is for this reason that those first colonists made the treacherous journey. This practice of highlighting heroism within …show more content…

This was primarily argued by the Anti-Federalist party, a party who opposed a strong central government and who advocated for states to be given the right to run themselves. The main concern of the Anti-Federalists was that a government that was given to much power would become an oppressive dictatorship ship which would inevitably strip the citizen of its inalienable rights. For this reason, the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution in order to appease the Anti-Federalist party. Largely, the addition of the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution was a political move. Ultimately, the Bill of Rights was added as an afterthought, as a means to an end. The Federalists, the party who supported the Constitution, desired for their document supporting their ideas to be passed into law, and this could only be done by appeasing the Anti-Federalists. The real motivator behind the Bill of Rights being drafted was not the fabled good old fashioned American heroism that fights tooth and nail for the Everyman, it was a political agenda (Misiroglu).
The same political agenda was responsible for the addition of other amendments to the Constitution, two notable amendments being the Eighteenth and the Twenty-First Amendments, which were directly tied to

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Therefore, the anti-federalist proposed the Bill of Rights to be added along with the Constitution. The Anti-federalist felt secure with the Bill of Rights in the Constitution because it protects citizens liberty and freedom. In the end, the founding fathers gathered and agreed to add the Bill of Rights when ratifying the Constitution. Furthermore, Anti-federalists were mainly farmers and they feared that under the Constitution economic policies their business will be endanger.

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The Federalists favored a strong central government and a subordinate state government. They also trusted that a well-educated group of elected officials would act in the best interest of the nation (Document 3). However the Anti Federalists favored the Articles of Confederation, and the weak central government that came with them. Because of their experiences with the brutal King of England, the colonists feared the national government would become too powerful and begin discrediting the individual rights of the colonists. Although the Federalists succeeded in ratifying the Constitution, a Bill of Rights was implemented as a safeguard against

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In Massachusetts, the Anti-Federalists, led by James Madison, argued that the Bill of Rights was necessary to protect people rights from the government because the government might get too powerful and hurt people’s rights and freedom. They had this fear because they suffered from the British tyranny and worried that the highly centralized government would make the miserable history happen again. Nevertheless, in favor of the government, the Federalists insisted that the Bill of Rights were unnecessary because the Constitution already limited the power of government, so it would not get too powerful. Also, they worried that people might forget to list certain rights in the Bill of Rights, so if later they were fighting for their rights that were not written in the document, the government might use it against them. Eventually, a compromise was made through a vote in Massachusetts; Anti-Federalists agreed to ratify the Constitution without the Bill of Rights, but they should also submit amendments for the Congress to consider adding the Bill of Rights.

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Hence Federalists came up with the Bill of Rights as a way to get the Constitution ratified and for people to really see a needed change. The Bill Of Rights which lists specific prohibitions on governmental power, lead the Anti-Federalists to be less fearful of the new Constitution . This guaranteed that the people would still remain to have rights, but the strong central government that the country needed would have to be approved. The 1804 Map of the nation shows that even after the ratification of the United States Constitution there still continued to be “commotion” and dispute in the country.(Document 8) George Washington stated that the people should have a say in the nation and government and everything should not be left to the government to decide.(Document 3) Although George Washington was a Federalist many believed he showed a point of view that seemed to be Anti-Federalists. Many believed that The Bill of Rights needed to be changed and modified and a new document’s time to come into place.

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The Bill of Rights was another topic the Federalists discussed. In a political system where government authority is derived from the people, adding the Bill of Rights “might afford the pretext for the government to claim power if it doesn’t have on the ground. ” It would provide protection against powers that have not been granted. In addition, Federalists argued the liberties listed in the Bill of Rights were included in the guarantee of habeas corpus, and prohibition of ex post facto laws. To adopt these provisions, states ratified the

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To them, it was clear that the Articles of Confederation were not upholding America, and therefore, America could not succeed. While they did to some extent listen to the fears of the Antifederalists—as is evidenced by the passing of the Bill of Rights—they altogether tended to be more optimistic when it came to the Constitution. One of the founding principles of the Federalist Party was their support of a strong central government. A strong central government would provide needed stability, more so than the Articles of Confederation ever could. The Federalists were also generally less concerned with ensuring individual’s rights, as many of them felt it was the government’s duty to serve the people, and such rights did not need to be formally written because they should already be in place.

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The debate between the Anti-Federalists and the Federalists significantly impacted the ratification of the Constitution. In the 1780’s, there were two opposing groups: the Anti-Federalists and the Federalists. The Anti-Federalists were concerned about the potential for a strong central government and the lack of individual rights. On the other hand, Federalists believed in a strong federal government to maintain order and protect the nation. Both these arguments and discussions led to the addition of the Bill of Rights, which addressed the Anti-Federalists' concerns.

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The arguments between the Federalist and Massachusetts Anti-Federalist caused by Federalist paper #84 would have been very difficult to resolve without modifications to the items that were to be included in the Constitution like the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights were considered to be relevant and deleterious to the Constitution by Federalist Alexander Hamilton, who stated in the essay Federalist Paper #84 that the Bill of Rights is “...not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution, but would even be dangerous.” In addition Hamilton pointed out that many natural rights, like the right to redress grievances, were already implied in the body of the Constitution, therefore no further listing was necessary. However, Anti-Federalist counteracted

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They believed it was essential that individual rights were explicitly stated so that citizens were informed and could defend their own liberty (Cornell, 2012). The Federalists initially believed that a Bill of Rights was not necessary, as the states retained any rights and powers not explicitly granted to the federal government. Seeking to get the Constitution ratified, the Federalists agreed to write a Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights Institute, a non-profit foundation that aims to educate students, explains: The Bill of Rights is a list of limits on government power. For example, what the Founders saw as the natural right of individuals to speak and worship freely was protected by the First Amendment’s prohibitions on Congress from making laws establishing a religion or abridging freedom of speech.

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The Federalists wanted a strong central government. The Anti- Federalists claims Constitution gives the central government too much power and, and they worried about the new constitution will not give them any rights. That the new system threatened freedom; Also, threatened the sovereignty of the states and personal liberties; failed to protect individual rights. Besides, some of famous peoples such as " Patrick Henry" and artists have came out against the Constitution. Although the anti-Federalists were unsuccessful in stopping the passage of the Constitution, their efforts have been responsible for the creation and implementation of the Bill of

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The Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791 written by James Madison. The Bill of Rights was written and added into the Constitution in order to protect the rights of the citizens. The Bill of Rights was added into the Constitution by a compromise between the Anti-Federalists and the Federalists. Federalists were citizens who supported the new Constitution. While Anti-Federalists were another group of citizens who were scared to have another king or a abusive government, basically did not support the Constitution.

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The Anti- Federalists claimed the Constitution gave the central government an excessive amount of power, and while not a Bill of Rights the folks would be in danger of oppression. Both Hamilton and Madison argued that the Constitution did not want a Bill of Rights, that it might produce a "parchment barrier" that restricted the rights of the folks, as critical protective

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They felt the Constitution would create a system of federalism, a system in which the national government holds significant power, but the smaller political subdivisions also hold significant power. They felt the country needed a strong central government so that it didn’t fall apart. The Ant-Federalists were on the opposing side, they felt the Constitution granted the government too much power. They also felt there wasn’t enough protection of their right with an absent Bill of Rights. Another concern of the Anti-Federalists mainly came from the lower classes, from their standpoint they thought the wealthy class would be in main control and gain the most benefits from the ratification of this document.

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In the late 1700’s, James Madison wrote the first Ten Amendments that are listed in the United States Constitution. The Bill of Rights were written to ensure American citizens that they have freedoms and rights that the government can 't infringe. Out of the Ten Amendments, I believe that the First and Eighth Amendment are the most significant. The First Amendment grants us freedom of speech, religion, press, petition, and for people to assemble peaceably.

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He thought that the government would be given too much power. His thoughts on the injustices in the Constitution greatly influenced the making of the Bill of Rights. At the time, Federalists argued that the Constitution didn’t need a bill of rights, due to the fact that the people and states kept any powers not given to the federal government, but Anti-Federalists said that a bill of rights was necessary to safeguard individual liberty. So when the Bill of Rights was made it listed prohibitions on governmental power and the rights that were granted to people. When the Bill of Rights was adopted into the Constitution it was became the fundamental rights of all citizens in 1791.

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