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Freedom During The American Revolution Essay

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Freedom During the American Revolution During the American Revolution of 1754 - 1820, the citizen of the United States believed that freedom meant the rights to fight for their opinion and beliefs. Freedom meant you have the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, assembly, and to petition the government, which will be declared and written in the first amendment of the bill of rights.
The citizen of the United States during the American Revolution era want to make their own rules and govern themselves. These people are tired of being governed by other people from England. This is why they created the Declaration of Independence. “In January 1776, Congress finally called on the colonies to each form a new government …show more content…

They don't want the government to abuse its citizen’s rights and manipulate it. “-In the words of James Madison (1751–1836), the principal author of the U.S. Bill of Rights, ‘Independent tribunals of justice will consider themselves in a peculiar manner the guardians of those rights… [and] resist every encroachment upon rights expressly stipulated … by the declaration of rights’ (Annals of Congress 1789, 457)”(Edelman). They wanted the government to protect them,restraining their power to let the citizens be independent. “I shall begin with those articles and stipulations which are necessary for accurately ascertaining the extent of powers, and what is given, and for guarding, limiting, and restraining them in their exercise. We often find, these articles and stipulations placed in bills of rights...” (Lawson). With the rights of people protected in the bill of rights, the government cannot manipulate or abuse the rights of its citizens easily. “ANTIFEDERALISTS did not necessarily regard a bill of rights as a legally enforceable set of claims that individuals could invoke; rather, they thought of it as a statement of principles that would enable the people to judge the legitimacy of acts of government” (Rakove). This also help the government to appear more legitimate, formal and more like a for the people type of government. “Opponents of the Constitution believed that the

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