Term Paper on "Bill of Rights There Are Certain Rules"

Term Paper 5 pages (1587 words) Sources: 2 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Bill of Rights

There are certain rules and standards need to be in placed to run the affairs of a country. The set of such rules is called constitution. Whenever change needs to be done in the constitution it is brought about by Amendments. In the constitution of USA the first ten amendments were proposed by its constitutional assembly called Congress on December 15, 1791. These ten amendments are collectively and famously known as Bill of Rights, the ultimate aim of adding these amendments is to maintain and upheld the human dignity in all its forms and manifestations leaving no room whatsoever for misinterpretation of the law to deprive people of their inalienable rights. As an acknowledgement of the significance of the Bill of Rights in the politics and the constitution of USA the December 15 is observed as the Bill of Rights Day in America each year. The following discourse will try to assess the viability of these provisions in the context of modern world and present probable solutions for the ones needing further amendments.

Amendment I: [1]

The first amendment is about the freedom of religion, expression and right of congregating together in a peaceful manner.

The first amendment is related with religion and personal freedom of expression. This is very important amendment and rightly deserves the place at the top of the list, because every human being is basically emotional in connection with matters of religion and creed and this is also a fact that history is more often filled with episodes of wars fought in the name of religion than on any other ground. Thus American forefathers realized that if stability and progress for America as a country is required than a guarantee must be given by the state in the constitution that every citizen is free to choose and follow the religion of his or her choice and no other factor is going to play part in it other than the free will of the person involved. Besides that other issues dealt by this amendment are also very important like the freedom of speech and press. For prosperity and security of a country it is vital that all such practices which cause alienation of citizens in state are curbed as it develops the atmosphere of frustration in general and resentment against authority in particular, the net result of all this is unhealthy impact on the country. Hence the best way to overcome this negative influence is by imparting people with power to express themselves freely in speech, print and through other media and in this way the people living in country do consider themselves efficient part of system and understand the fact that whatever they are doing and will do directly affect their country, this helps them to mould themselves to be responsible citizens. So through this amendment a way has been provided to the people by which they can express themselves freely and consequently can utilize themselves efficiently and play part in the affairs of the country. This amendment makes it a constitutional right of public to assemble together peacefully in an organized fashion to put forward demands to the government and also to express dissent. This not only provides good mechanism to vent the public emotions but also serve as a good indicator for government to gauge the level of public opinion on number of issues.

Amendment II: [1]

By second amendment Congress allowed people to secure and keep arms for the purpose of their safety and defense.

Now this is the amendment I think needs serious reconsideration because no doubt one can't undermine the importance of self-defense but one can't also negate the fact that large scale presence and easy availability of weapons has also increased sense of insecurity in the society. Every year number of incidences is on the rise where irresponsible and erratic behavior by people bearing arms results into the loss of innocent and precious lives. Especially the memories of recent past must be fresh in the minds of people when teenage students wreaked havoc in the school premises with fire power. This issue definitely needs urgent attention from the law makers to resolve the looming crisis which obviously has resulted from the outdated piece of legislation that is doing more harm than good in the modern society. Keeping this perspective in mind government needs to work on two pronged strategy in this regard, number one being providing utmost security to the people in general as it is one of the prime responsibility of the government and secondly this amendment needs to be revised in order to eliminate the loopholes in the system through which weapons end up in the hands of irresponsible people and this must be done on urgent basis to stop the growing trend of weapon misuse.

Amendment III: [1]

The third amendment exquisitely stops government from the act of deploying troops on private lands during peace times. This is an important step and prevents government from encroaching private property and also acknowledges and amplifies the owner's right over the land.

Amendment IV: [1]

By fourth amendment it's been aptly endorsed in the constitution that citizens' right to privacy will not be violated and must be upheld all the time and also made clear the conditions and protocols under which it could be done otherwise. it's very important amendment articulating the fundamental right of every human being.

Amendment V: [1]

The Fifth Amendment is important in regard to people accused of felony. It is generally seen that whenever somebody is accused of serious crime the dominant perception about the accused is that he or she is really guilty and circle of life is tightened around him/her irrespective of the fact whether the accusation is true or not. This whole scenario was quite dexterously handled by American forefathers and they arranged for this provision that accused should not be prejudged and must be given all the opportunity to prove his/her innocence, thus fulfilling all the requisites of justice. Hence this and couple of other amendments were added to ensure that accused may not be forced to testify against his/herself and that life, freedom and property of accused must not be taken unduly. One more important point mentioned in this amendment is that it's been made mandatory upon government to compensate the owner whose property is being utilized for public use.

Amendment VI: [1]

The sixth amendment is the extension of fifth and is important in a sense that it further consolidates the rights of people charged with serious crimes, with rights like access of accused to legal counsel and permission to see his/her accusers, chance to question them for proving his/her innocence. This is an important provision because in the absence of it there will definitely arise many serious problems in the justice system and might render the whole exercise futile.

Amendment VII: [1]

The seventh amendment plays significant role in defining probably the best legal set up for the judicial hearing of cases. This recommended court system entailing the jury trial because in this system different people who constitute jury listen to the whole trial and at the end give verdict on the basis of majority vote. This is a good approach in judiciary as it narrows the reliance on single judge and thus yields better and faster results.

Amendment VIII: [1]

This amendment calls for less severe punishments, but after second amendment the other amendment that needs revision is this amendment although it won't be befitting to consider the whole amendment faulty but it won't be unfair to treat this amendment as rather incomplete either because though the constitution of America lays emphasis on no cruel and unusual punishments but it falls short of declaring abolition of death sentence. I think it's about time that… READ MORE

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