Bill of Rights The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, also known as the U.S. Bill of Rights, is an important Declaration for Americans’ devised by Thomas Jefferson in 1971 to enumerate their rights. “Recently freed from the despotic English monarchy, the American people wanted strong guarantees that the new government would not trample upon their newly won freedoms of speech, press and religion, nor upon their right to be free from warrantless searches and seizures” (The Bill of Rights: A Brief History, 2017). The rights that the people wanted protected them from the abuse of the government and were the rights they believed to be naturally theirs. The Bill of Rights consist of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, created to protect …show more content…
They are a declaration set forth explaining what the government can not do, protecting us from their power. Citizens Civil Liberties “include rights to individual freedom, privacy, the secure possession of private property, the expression of opinion without prior restraint, the holding and exercise of personal beliefs, and more” (Grayling, 2009). These freedoms allow citizens to communicate freely to allow criticism of the government which is essential for the democracy to function adequately. Where civil liberties do not exist tyranny is …show more content…
Today, a ruler can not throw a citizen into prison on sheer notion, instead the Bill of Rights safeguards the individual liberties. There is a trial by jury where proof needs to be provided and brought before the courts. The evidence is then examined and tested with a presumption of innocence for the accused of committing crimes. “Although the idea of a written enumeration of rights seems entirely natural to Americans today, not all nations, including other advanced democratic societies, maintain a bill of rights” (Janda et al., 2016, pp. 421). Living in a democracy where the Bill of Rights guarantees that our government cannot tell us to be quiet is defiantly a