Sunday, May 6, 2018

Rights and Liberty



America, the country known as Freedom Fighters, would not have existed if it weren't for the documents that set the foundation for the country. Contrary to beliefs, the Bill of Rights was indeed created in America, however most of the ideas that beneath are many layers consisting of past European errors turned justice. It might seem like America is freed from European influences, it must be admitted that without Europe's mistake, America would not be the country for freedom/liberty.

James Madison proposed the Bill of Rights, which was influenced by George Mason's 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, some parts of the Magna Carta, 1689 English Bill of Rights, and other past bills that pertains information of human right and of liberty. After all, America is known as the "Freedom Fighters", it would only be fitting that the foundation of the country is made up of layers of human rights. Although it is more evident in future events that not all of the proposed ideas took action, it is clear that being free is an essential part of the nation and has been integrated into American culture.

The Bill of Rights was originally created to address the objections of Democratic Republicans, also known as Anti-Federalists.  This guaranteed personal freedoms, limit government's power, and declared that not all power belong to the Congress by the Constitution. The difference between the Constitution and Bill of Rights was that the first 10 amendments from the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution, and the Constitution itself sets up the government system. However the creation of these two important documents were not made over night and not without some bias.

https://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-constitution-amendments/bill-of-rights/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights#First_Amendment

1 comment:

  1. Great post, Chi! I think it's great that you mentioned the original purpose of the Bill of Rights was to satisfy the Democratic-Republicans. Most members of this party refused to ratify the Constitution without the Bill of Rights because they felt that the government could easily become a dictatorship or monarchy that would limit individual liberties. They saw the structure of government in the United Kingdom as something that was replicable in the United States if specific liberties were not outlined, so they insisted on a Bill of Rights. On the contrary, Federalists argued that a Bill of Rights would actually limit freedoms by implying that other rights beyond those outlined would not be included. Obviously, however, a Bill of Rights was ultimately included in the Constitution.

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