SUN TZU

The Art of War! 

War is a matter of vital importance to the state!

It is a matter of life and death, survival or ruin! 

Keys:

• Deception
• Wisdom
• Strength

Understand the art of wars lessons, ignore them and you will fight in darkness.

No matter where your battle-field, you will prevail. 

1. If instructions are not clear and commands are not explicit. It is the fault of the general that the orders were not obeyed. If the orders are clear. It is the fault of the subordinate officers that the orders are not obeyed.
   1. War is a matter of life and death. Once this is understood, everyone from the leader to the individual soldier will be motivated to win.
2. Know your enemy and know yourself and in 100 battles you will never be in peril.
   1. To win 100 battles is not the height of skill – Subdue the enemy without fighting is.
3. Avoid what is strong, Attack what is weak. Don’t care about glory – Fight to Win.
4. Achieve your goals with minimum amount of resources and with a minimum amount of destruction.

·         Maneuver

·         Surprise

·         Deceptions

5.        It is more important to out think your enemy than to out fight him.

6.        In war, numbers alone confer no advantage. Do not advance relying on sheer military power.

7.        Let your plans be as dark as night – then strike like a thunderbolt.

8.        In battle use a direct attack to engage and an indirect attack to win.

9.        Weather, terrain, leadership, military doctrine and most importantly moral influence. Must have the people behind him or the war will fail. The will of the people must be maintained.

10.         To move your enemy, entice him with something he is certain to take.

11.         Put the army in the face of death, where there is no escape. And they will not flee or be afraid. There is nothing they cannot achieve.

12.         All warfare is deception.

·         It is essential to seek out enemy agents who have come to spy against you and bribe them to serve you.

·         The way a wise general can achieve greatness beyond ordinary men is through foreknowledge.

·         When a falcon strikes and breaks the back of its prey, it is because of timing. When torrential water tosses boulders, it is because of momentum.

·         It is essential for victory that generals are unconstrained by their leaders.

·         Make your enemy prepare on his left and he will be weak on his right. 

·         Deception

·         Foreknowledge

·         Superior Command Structure 

13.         The winning Army realizes the conditions for victory first, then fights. The losing army fights first then seeks victory

14.         No nation has ever benefited from prolonged war.

15.         Operation Developments cannot drive strategy! Goal orientation drives strategy!

16.         Move only when you see an advantage and there is something to gain. Only fight if a position is critical.

17.         When the enemy occupies high ground, do not confront him. If he attacks down hill do not oppose him.

18.         There are some armies that should not be fought. Some ground that should not be contested.

19.         Use attack to exploit a victory. Never use attack to rescue a defeat.

20.         Always use the intellect, rather than force. Never attack head long into an enemy force unless you can do otherwise.

21.         When troops flee, are insubordinate collapse or are routed in battle – it is the fault of the generals. Generals must be intelligent and cunning – Never rash or arrogant.

1.  
   • Preparation
   • Deception
   • Indirect attacks 

Sometimes the best way to win is not to fight at all. This is the Ultimate Secret. War can be a disaster. The angry can be made to be happy again, but the dead cannot be brought back to life.

Real Heroes

 

The date was July 16, 2008. They introduced a young musician. Welcome…Mr. Patrick Henry Hughes. He was rolled onto the stage in his wheelchair, and began to play the piano. His fingers danced across the keys as he made beautiful music.

 

He then began to sing as he played, and it was even more beautiful. For some reason, however, I knew that I was seeing something special. There was this aura about him that I really can’t explain and the smile…his smile was magic!

 

About ten minutes into Patrick’s performance, someone came on the stage and said…”I’d like to share a 7-minute video titled, The Patrick Henry Hughes story.” And the lights went dim.

 

Patrick Henry Hughes was born with no eyes, and a tightening of the joints, which left him crippled for life. However, as a child, he was fitted with artificial eyes and placed in a wheelchair. Before his first birthday, he discovered the piano. His mom said, “I could hit any note on the piano, and within one or two tries, he’d get it.” By his second birthday, he was playing requests (You Are My Sunshine, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). His father was ecstatic. “We might not play baseball, but we can play music together.”

 

Today, Patrick is a junior at the University of Louisville. His father attends classes with him and he’s made nearly all A’s, with the exception of 3 B’s He’s also a part of the 214 member marching band. You read it right…the marching band! He’s a blind, wheelchair-bound trumpet player; and he and his father do it together. They attend all the band practices and the half-time performance in front of thousands. His father rolls and rotates his son around the field to the cheers of Patrick’s fans. In order to attend Patrick’s classes and every band practice, his father works the graveyard shift at UPS. Patrick said…”My dad’s my hero.”

 

But even more than his unbelievable musical talent, it was Patrick’s “attitude of gratitude” that touches souls. On stage, between songs, he would talk to the audience about his life and about how blessed he was. He said, “God made me blind and unable to walk. BIG DEAL! He gave me the ability…the musical gifts I have…the great opportunity to meet new people.”

 

When his performance was over, Patrick and his father were on the stage together. The crowd rose to their feet and cheered for over five minutes. It gave me giant goose bumps!

 

My life was ready to meet Patrick Henry Hughes. I needed a hero, and I found one for the ages. If I live to be a hundred, I’ll never forget that night, that smile, that music, but most importantly, that wonderful “attitude of gratitude.”

 

I think you’ll love this quote.

 

“Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass…

It’s about learning to dance in the rain!”

 

We all face adversity in our life. However, it’s not the adversity, but how we react to it that will determine the joy and happiness in our life. During tough times, do we spend too much time feeling sorry for ourselves, or, can we, with gratitude…learn how to dance in the rain?

 

It almost sounds too simple to feel important, but one word…gratitude; can change your attitude, thus, your life, forever. Sarah Breathnack said it best…

 

“When we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present….we experience heaven on earth.”

Immigration Law

 

Those that have illegally infiltrated our borders are quickly robbing our country of its resources. Welfare, Public Education, Our Prison System and American Medical Facilities are all being drained by the influx of illegal aliens. Under Federal Law all Hospitals are required to treat anyone that comes in with an emergency. Whether or not they are insured, documented or able to pay. In California – 84 Hospitals are closing their doors, because of the rising number of illegal immigrants and their non-reimburse tax on our system. We are nearing the breaking point. It would be nice to help everyone. It’s just that we cannot do it any more. This is not spearing suffering – it is being transferred to the American People. Our Nation is over come these days. Recently our Sense of National Pride has shifted to Nationalized Institutionalized Paranoia with a Suspicion of Foreigners and with in this shift there has been an erosion of our Civil Rights. Our Democracy has given away to autocracy and we have alienated much of the world. America has lost sight of what it means to be American. Immigration is more than part of our heritage. It is part of how we were born as a country and how it became the American Dream. Understandably we cannot just let everyone into our country. We have Limited Resources, Security Issues. What to do with those that are already here? Do we just throw them all out for being undocumented – 20 Million illegal will affect you at a personal level. We can no longer be the land of dreams to the rest of the world. But how it feels to be truly blessed to be an American. To be part of a nation that prides itself on its compassion, its freedom, and its true sense of fairness. I think how lucky we are that there are times when we still get to believe this.

 

The real answer is:

Ship them to Iraq –Fight our wars and when they are done, don’t let them back in or Medical Research – Test New Drugs on them or Shot them! What ever floats your Boat?

Leadership

 

People want leadership and in the absents of genuine leadership they will listen to anyone that steps up to the microphone. People want leadership. They are so thirsty for it that they will crawl through the desert toward a mirage and when they discover there is no water, they will drink the sand. What is important here is that most people don’t drink the sand because they are thirsty, they drink the sand because they don’t know the difference.

America – Freedom of Speech and Accountability

 

America isn’t easy! America is advanced citizenship. You have to want it bad, because it is going to put up a fight. It’s going to say, “ You want free speech.” Then let me see you acknowledge a man, who’s words make your blood boil, who is standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs, that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this country as the land of the free; well then the symbol of this country cannot be just a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising their rights to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in our classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free. I have heard politicians for years and I have been operating under the assumption that the reason politicians devote so much time and energy shouting at the rain was simply that they don’t get it. I was wrong! Most politicians’ problem isn’t that they don’t get it; politician’s problem is that they can’t sell it. We have serious problems to solve in this country and we need serious people, which get it, to solve them. Whatever your particular problem is, I promise you that our, present leaders are not in the least interested in solving them. They are interested in two things and two things only. Making you afraid of it and telling you who is to blame for it. That is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle age, middle class, and middle-income voters. Who remember with longing an easier time and talk to them about family and American values and character and you scream about patriotism and you tell them that someone else is to blame for their lot in life.

People must realize that you must help the helpless; you cannot help the clueless.

We must lift our brothers, but we cannot carry them. I firmly believe that you must be held accountable for your life. Life is not easy! You can make it here if you try. We all should help you try. But we should not do it for you. If we do, you cannot grow. And our country will be weaker for it.

Life is Cruel!

 

People are not judged simply on their merits or on the content of their characters, but on how they look and whom they socialize with. This is a free society and people get to choose their friends, clubs get to choose their members. Sometimes it is very ugly and unfair, but that is life!

Our Soldiers!

 

I want our soldiers up in the grill of our enemy’s. Talking like General Patton and General MacCarthur. Talking Smack! I am tired of the feminization of manhood and political correctness of warfare, when you are at war.

Abortion Debate

 

One of our many rights in this country is what is called “ Informed Consent”. Every Patient has the right to decide what happens to his or her body. And to make that decision, a patient needs to rely on their doctor to disclose all available options. Political and religious views should never prevent the disclosure of an option.

I say, leave it to each state to decide if they are for or against abortion. If you choose not to support a view, well you can take your tax money to another state. It should not be left to a court to decide on a national level.

Constitution of the United States

XI. TEXT OF THE CONSTITUTIONA. Preamble

 

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

B. Article I

Section 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Comment: Congress controls all power to write legislation, and has two chambers—the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

Comment: The people directly elect the House, and its members serve two-year terms.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

Comment: Members of the House of Representatives must be 25 years old, a citizen of the United States for at least seven years, and live in the state that elects them to the House.

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner, as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

Comment: House seats are assigned according to a census conducted every ten years, initially using a formula that counted African American slaves as three-fifths of a person and excluded Native Americans who were not considered part of white society. The 14th Amendment abolished the rule counting African Americans as three-fifths of a person, but it did not end the exclusion of most Native Americans. Native American citizenship rights were gradually extended in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Comment: The House manages itself and has the power to impeach senior government officials.

Section 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

Comment: Each state has two senators, and they serve six-year terms.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.

Comment: One-third of the Senate faces election at a time.

No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

Comment: Senators must be 30 years old, a citizen of the United States for at least nine years, and live in the state that elects them to the Senate.

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they are equally divided.

Comment: The vice president presides over the Senate but can cast a vote only in case of a tie.

The Senate shall choose their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

Comment: The Senate is usually presided over by a temporary leader, the president pro tempore, who fills in for the vice president of the United States.

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

Comment: The Senate tries impeachment cases against senior federal officials after the House has voted to impeach. A conviction requires the support of two-thirds of the Senate members present.

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to law.

Comment: Anyone convicted of impeachable offenses can be removed from office and can be barred from serving in other senior government posts. The convicted person can also be tried in the courts.

Section 4. The Times, Places, and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of choosing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

Section 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns, and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Comment: The House and the Senate each monitor the elections of their own members. The chambers cannot take official action unless a majority of members are present.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

Comment: The House and the Senate discipline their own members.

Each House shall keep a journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the journal.

Comment: Congress must maintain a public record of its work except in matters that it decides should be kept secret.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

Comment: Congress makes a law that sets the salaries of senators and representatives.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

Comment: Unlike most parliamentary systems, members of the House and Senate cannot hold other government offices, including positions in the president’s cabinet.

Section 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

Comment: Bills to impose taxes originate in the House. This provision is not always followed in practice.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases Yeas and Nays shall determine the Votes of both Houses, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be re-passed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

Comment: After a bill passes both the House and the Senate, the president has ten days to decide whether to sign it into law or veto it. If the president does nothing, the bill becomes law automatically, unless Congress is not in session. If Congress is out of session and ten days lapse after Congress has submitted a bill to the president, then it is automatically vetoed. Congress can pass a law over a president’s veto through a two-thirds vote of each chamber.

Section 8. The Congress shall have Power

To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the Credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marquee and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; —And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Comment: Congress has broad authority, including the power to impose taxes, maintain a military, declare war, manage a postal system, create a judicial system, and borrow money. In addition, Congress has sweeping power to enact laws to provide for the general welfare of the country, and to pass any law that it regards as necessary to carry out its other duties.

Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

Comment: Citizens cannot be arrested and jailed arbitrarily except in extreme circumstances.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

Comment: Congress cannot pass a law that declares a person guilty of a crime or that makes an action in the past illegal.

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

Comment: Congress cannot impose direct taxes except in proportion to population. The 16th Amendment superseded this clause, but only as it pertains to income tax.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

Comment: Congress cannot create laws that arbitrarily favor the ports of some states over others.

No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

Comment: The government can only spend money if Congress has approved the expenditure by law, and the government must maintain public records of all revenues and spending.

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Comment: The United States cannot name a king or other royalty, and U.S. officials cannot accept payments or royal titles from other countries without congressional approval.

Section 10. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marquee and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Control of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Comment: Congress has powers over the states in many areas. The states are barred from encroaching on most congressional duties, including the issuing of money, entering into alliances with other countries, and imposing duties on imports from other countries.

C. Article II

Section 1. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

Comment: The president ensures that the nation’s laws are carried out and enforced. The president serves a four-year term, and is formally elected by electors of the Electoral College. Originally the state legislatures chose the electors, but since the 1820s they have been chosen through direct elections.

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be no more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose by Ballot one of them for President: and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the Votes shall be taken by the states, the Representation from each State having one Vote; a quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall choose from them by Ballot the Vice President.

Comment: Congress formally counts the presidential election ballots from the Electoral College. If no presidential candidate receives a majority of votes in the Electoral College, the House chooses the president. Originally the second place winner in the Electoral College became the vice president, with ties decided in the Senate. This section was amended by the 12th Amendment, which specified that the vice president be chosen on a separate ballot.

The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

Comment: The president must be at least 35 years old, a United States citizen born in the United States, and a resident of the country for at least 14 years.

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

Comment: This section was amended by the 25th Amendment. If the president dies, resigns, or becomes unable to carry out the responsibilities of the job, the vice president steps in. If there is no president or vice president, Congress has the power to appoint someone to fill the position. Currently the line of succession after the vice president is (1) the Speaker of the House, (2) the president pro tem of the Senate, and (3) a sequence of cabinet officials.

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Comment: Congress sets the president’s pay rate, and the rate cannot be changed once the president takes office. The president cannot accept other payments from the federal or state governments.

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: —“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Comment: On inauguration day the president takes an oath of office, traditionally administered by the chief justice of the United States.

Section 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

Comment: The president has wide authority in the executive branch. These powers include serving as commander in chief of the military, supervisory responsibility for executive branch departments, and the power to grant pardons in criminal cases.

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

Comment: The Senate acts as a check on some presidential powers. The president makes treaties with other countries, but they take effect only if two-thirds of the Senate approves. The president’s nominations of ambassadors, federal judges, cabinet members, and other top government officials require the approval of a majority of the Senate.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions, which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

Comment: The president can make appointments without Senate approval if Congress is not in session. These so-called recess appointments expire at the end of the next congressional term.

Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.

Comment: The president must periodically issue a State of the Union statement, usually a speech delivered in person, in which the president explains the condition of the country and offers legislative suggestions. The president can also call a joint session of Congress, or call a session of either of the houses separately. The president may decide when Congress should adjourn for a recess, although presidents rarely do so.

Section 4. The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Comment: The president, vice president, and other top officials can be removed from office if they commit serious offenses.

D. Article III

Section 1. The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

Comment: The Supreme Court has some administrative control over the legal system, but Congress decides the number of courts that are necessary and many other important issues. Supreme Court justices and other federal judges hold their appointments for life unless they violate significant laws. Their salary cannot be reduced while they are serving on the Court.

Section 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority; —to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; —to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; —to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; —to Controversies between two or more States; between a State and Citizens of another state; —between Citizens of different States;—between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

Comment: The Supreme Court has jurisdiction in seven types of cases: (1) cases raising issues involving the Constitution, federal law, or treaties; (2) cases affecting ambassadors; (3) maritime cases; (4) controversies in which the United States is a party; (5) controversies in which two or more states are parties; (6) controversies involving residents of different states; and (7) controversies in which residents of the same state make a claim on land in another state.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the Supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

Comment: Only in cases involving ambassadors, or if a state is a party, does the Supreme Court have original jurisdiction to conduct a trial to determine the facts of a case and issue a judgment. The Supreme Court hears only appeals in all other types of cases. Congress can limit the Court’s appellate jurisdiction.

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

Comment: Americans have a right to a jury trial in significant cases, and the trial must be held in the state where the crime is alleged to have occurred. Congress can enact laws to handle the rare cases that involve offenses occurring outside of the states.

Section 3. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

Comment: Congress can only define a few types of offenses as treason. A person accused of treason can only be convicted if there are two witnesses to the crime, or if the person confesses in court.

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

Comment: Congress can impose punishments and fines and can confiscate property from those convicted of treason. The heirs of the convicted person retain a right to inherit any estate, however.

E. Article IV

Section 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

Comment: States must accept most laws and legal decisions made in other states.

Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

Comment: The states must offer most fundamental legal rights to both residents and nonresidents of the state.

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

Comment: People accused of serious crimes cannot take refuge in other states.

No Person held to Service or Labor in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labor, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labor may be due.

Comment: The Fugitive Slave Clause barred states from passing laws that freed escaped slaves and required that such slaves be returned to their owners. The 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, made this clause obsolete.

Section 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

Comment: Congress controls the admission of new states. Congress and the legislatures of the states involved must approve the merger of two states or the creation of a new state within the boundaries of an existing state.

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

Comment: The government has the right to use federal buildings, lands, and property in almost any way it sees fit.

Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

Comment: The federal government has an obligation to protect the political and physical integrity of the states. The federal government must take responsibility for stopping invasions and, if the states ask, to squelch domestic unrest.

F. Article V

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One Thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

Comment: Both the states and Congress can propose amendments to the Constitution. It takes two-thirds of the states to call a constitutional convention to propose amendments, which must then be approved by state legislatures in three-quarters of the states. Congress can propose amendments to the Constitution if two-thirds of the members in both chambers vote to support the amendment. After Congress proposes an amendment, it then requires approval by three-quarters of the state legislatures, or three-quarters of special state conventions, whichever Congress specifies.

G. Article VI

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

Comment: All laws in the United States—federal, state, and local—must be consistent with the Constitution. All judges must hold the U.S. Constitution above all other law.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Comment: Members of Congress, the state legislatures, state and federal judges, and state and federal executive officials must agree to support the Constitution. This clause was intended to bind all government officials, including those at the state level, to support the Constitution and federal laws.

H. Article VII

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same.

Comment: Only 9 of the original 13 states were needed to approve the Constitution. New Hampshire became the ninth on June 21, 1788.

 

Bill of Rights

I. INTRODUCTION

Bill of Rights, first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The Bill of Rights establishes basic American civil liberties that the government cannot violate. The states ratified the Bill of Rights in 1791, three years after the Constitution was ratified. Originally the Bill of Rights applied only to the federal government, but in a series of 20th-century cases, the Supreme Court decided that most of its provisions apply to the states. Many countries have used the Bill of Rights as a model for defining civil liberties in their constitutions.

II. RIGHTS PROTECTED

The Bill of Rights includes a wide range of protections with a common theme and purpose—to define the scope of individual freedom in the United States and to make the political system more democratic. They are not the only rights contained in the Constitution. For example, Sections 9 and 10 of Article I of the Constitution prohibit the states and the federal government from passing an ex post facto law—a law that subjects a person to punishment for an act that was not unlawful when committed. But as a group the rights provided in the first ten amendments are the cornerstones of democracy in the United States.

A. First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Comment: The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of association and assembly. It also protects the rights of citizens to worship as they please and the right not to be forced to support someone else’s religion. The First Amendment also provides for the right to demand a change in government policies.

B. Second Amendment

A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Comment: Legal scholars disagree about what right is protected by the Second Amendment. Some scholars have concluded that this amendment affirms a broad individual right to gun ownership. Others interpret the amendment as protecting only a narrow right to possess firearms as members of a militia. Supreme Court decisions have not resolved the debate. However, the courts have held that the Second Amendment does not preclude certain government regulations on gun ownership, such as laws prohibiting ownership of firearms by felons.

C. Third Amendment

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Comment: The Third Amendment forbids the government from quartering soldiers in private residences during peacetime without the resident’s permission, and during wartime only according to law. Under British rule, American colonists were forced to feed and house British soldiers deployed to help enforce colonial tax laws. The colonists resented this practice, and so banned it with this amendment. This amendment has been basically irrelevant since the end of the American Revolution (1775-1783).

D. Fourth Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Comment: The Fourth Amendment prohibits the police and other government officials from searching people’s homes or offices or seizing their property without reasonable grounds to believe that a crime has been committed. In most cases, police can conduct a search of a person’s home or office only after they get a written search warrant from a judge, detailing where they will search and what they expect to find.

E. Fifth Amendment

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Comment: The Fifth Amendment provides five important protections against arbitrary government actions. First, no one may be prosecuted for a federal crime without first being indicted (formally accused) by a grand jury. Second, a criminal suspect may be prosecuted only once for each crime. If a jury acquits the accused person, there can be no retrial. Third, a person cannot be forced to testify against himself or herself in any criminal case. This is the right against self-incrimination. Fourth, the due process clause bars the government from arbitrarily depriving anyone of life, liberty, or property. Fifth, the government may not take anyone’s private property unless it is necessary for a public purpose and unless the government pays a fair price for it.

F. Sixth Amendment

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

Comment: The Sixth Amendment guarantees people accused of crimes the right to a speedy and public trial. Defendants in federal cases are entitled to be tried in the area in which the crime was committed, and both state and federal defendants have the right to have an impartial jury decide their guilt or innocence. The Sixth Amendment prohibits the government from prosecuting an accused person without first informing him or her of the nature of the charges against him or her. The accused has the right to “confront”—that is, to cross-examine witnesses who testify against him or her at trial. Those accused also have a right to subpoena (compel) supporting witnesses to testify in court and to have a lawyer assist in their legal defense.

G. Seventh Amendment

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Comment: The Seventh Amendment, which does not apply to the states, guarantees the right to a jury in some types of federal civil (noncriminal) trials.

H. Eighth Amendment

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Comment: The courts must allow most criminal defendants out of jail before their trial if the defendants put up a reasonable bail—a financial guarantee that they will come to the trial. If a person is convicted of a crime, the government cannot impose unreasonable fines or inflict inhumane punishments. What is “cruel and unusual” has no fixed meaning, and so decisions interpreting the clause are sometimes controversial. The Supreme Court has generally held that a punishment that is wildly disproportionate to the crime committed is cruel and unusual. The Court has also upheld the death penalty against claims that putting someone to death, regardless of what that person did, is cruel and unusual.

I. Ninth Amendment

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Comment: The Ninth Amendment declares that just because certain rights are not mentioned in the Constitution does not mean that they do not exist. Courts may not infer from the silence of the Constitution that an unlisted right is unavailable to protect individuals from the government.

J. Tenth Amendment

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Comment: The Tenth Amendment restates a fundamental constitutional rule: If a particular power was not assigned to the federal government by the Constitution itself, then the states may exercise the power, unless the Constitution also prohibits the states from exercising it. The Tenth Amendment also states that people are free to act, without permission of the federal government, in areas outside the scope of the federal government’s powers.

K. Summary

The first ten amendments to the Constitution have been crucial to the political and legal development of the United States. They accomplished three important purposes. First, they declare an important ideal—that the people have rights with which no government may interfere. Placing ideals into the Constitution makes it harder for tyrants to restrict human rights. Second, they provide the basis for actually securing the rights. In 1789 statesman Thomas Jefferson wrote James Madison that a bill of rights “puts into the hands of the judiciary” a “legal check” against tyranny by the legislature or the executive. Third, the Bill of Rights, especially the First Amendment, helps protect democratic government by barring criminal prosecutions against those who criticize the government and those who hold unpopular beliefs, and by providing a safe haven for minorities who are oppressed in many other countries.

III. ORIGINS OF THE BILL OF RIGHTSA. The English Legal Tradition in America

 

When English immigrants came to the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, most assumed that they would have the same protections against governmental abuses of power that they had in England. The most important of these were the right to trial by jury and the right of habeas corpus, which prevented the government from jailing people arbitrarily. Other personal liberties brought from England to America included the right of accused persons to have legal assistance at trials, and a ban on excessive fines and bail. These rights came from several centuries of English legal tradition, recorded in documents such as the Magna Carta of 1215, the Petition of Right of 1628, and the English Bill of Rights of 1689, from which the American Bill of Rights took its name. The assumption of basic legal rights of citizens also came out of the English common law, a body of English court-made law that evolved from the 12th century.

English settlers in America included many of these protections in colonial laws. The English Americans decided to codify (write into law) some parts of the common law and to make additions suited to the colonial society. The 1632 charter for the Maryland colony, for example, declared that all people who were born or who moved there were entitled to “all Privileges, Franchises and Liberties” of a native Englishman. By 1639 the Maryland General Assembly had passed an act for “the liberties of the people.”

Residents of the Massachusetts Bay Colony created the Body of Liberties in 1641, an important forerunner of the American Bill of Rights. The Body of Liberties granted limited religious freedom, assured landowners of the equal protection of the laws, the right to petition the government for change, and the use of the writ of habeas corpus. It also banned punishments considered “inhumane, Barbarous or cruel” and recognized the right of an accused person to have legal assistance under some circumstances. The Body of Liberties also required the presence of several witnesses to a crime before a person could be sentenced to death. It also granted citizens the right to travel and settle abroad, an important freedom often denied in England.

Some colonies created religious protections stronger than those in Massachusetts, even though religious freedom was not part of the English legal tradition. Religious intolerance in the Massachusetts Bay Colony spurred some people, including clergyman Roger Williams, to flee to other areas. Williams went to Rhode Island in 1636, where he started a new colony based on religious freedom and political equality. Eventually these freedoms were incorporated into the Rhode Island Charter of 1663. This charter banned government repression of religious groups and guaranteed individuals the right to their own beliefs. The strong religious protections in Rhode Island marked out a significant new limit on government power.

B. Rebellion and Agitation for New Rights

By the 18th century, several generations of English Americans in the colonies accepted the basic rights of citizens as part of their birthright. British authorities shattered this assumption during the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), during which European powers fought for control of North America. During the war British soldiers searched many colonists’ homes in an effort to find smuggled goods. By the end of the war, many colonists resented royal authority. The Stamp Act of 1765, which imposed a tax on a wide range of items, further increased tensions. The Stamp Act Congress of 1765 issued a Declaration of Rights that condemned the tax as unjust and also advocated trial by jury, the right to petition the government for change, and “all the inherent rights and liberties” of people native to England. The rebellion against English rule had started and eventually led to the American Revolution (1775-1783).

England repealed the Stamp Act in 1766, but the crisis continued. In 1774 the Continental Congress issued a Declaration of Rights that claimed the civil liberties provided under English law, but that also expanded beyond them to include claims based on a so-called natural law. This idea of rights based on natural law emerged from several English writers of the period, especially John Locke and William Blackstone. Locke argued that government rested on the consent of the governed, and that no government could violate basic natural principles of justice. Blackstone put English common law into writing, and also asserted that God had created “certain immutable laws.” Although the Declaration of Rights asserted new principles of freedom, it had little impact beyond popularizing the cause of the American rebels.

The English government resisted American claims for freedom, and fighting broke out in 1775. Many of the colonies called conventions to create new state governments free of English control. In June 1776 Virginia’s state constitutional convention adopted the Virginia Declaration of Rights. The declaration created basic civil liberties, including safeguards for accused persons: the right to call witnesses, the right against self-incrimination, a ban on excessive bails and fines, and due process of law. The declaration also banned widespread government searches, discouraged the creation of standing armies, and called for freedom of the press. James Madison, a delegate to the convention, successfully argued for the inclusion of a guarantee of freedom of religion.

Many colonies followed Virginia’s lead when they established new state governments. Traces of the Virginia bill soon appeared in the Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware declarations. By 1781 Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and the provisional government of Vermont had all prefaced their constitutions with some type of bill of rights. Most other states, including New York, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Georgia, protected civil liberties through a bill of rights in their new constitutions or through new supplementary laws. Only Rhode Island and Connecticut continued to rely on common law and existing legal provisions to guarantee personal rights.

The idea of a bill of rights as a basic protection of civil liberties thus dates to the American Revolution. From 1776 to 1781, the eight bills of rights adopted by the states contained a total of 90 different provisions. Some were heavily tailored to local circumstances. Most shared provisions for jury trial, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to bear arms (weapons), the right to petition the government for change, and a range of other freedoms rooted in the Magna Carta and the English common law. Through their assertions of broad rights to freedom of speech and religion, however, these documents broke with English tradition. In addition, the American bills of rights went far beyond the English precedents by ordering restraints on the powers of government that had been unthinkable before 1776.

IV. DEBATE OVER THE CONSTITUTION

The original Constitution drafted in 1787 did not include a bill of rights because the delegates to the Constitutional Convention did not think it necessary to set down a list of rights. Most of the framers believed that because the Constitution created a limited federal government, authorities would not try to establish a national religion, censor a newspaper, or prosecute someone at a secret trial.

When the Constitution went before the states for ratification, members of the Federalist Party, who favored ratification, soon found that failure to include a bill of rights had been a strategic error. The Federalists argued that the people retained all powers not delegated by the proposed Constitution, but the anti-Federalists did not trust this reasoning. Jefferson, then serving as a minister to France, read the proposal and sided with the advocates of a bill of rights. Human rights, he argued, were something “no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.”

The Federalists and anti-Federalists both tried to rally support for their position through widely distributed pamphlets. The Federal Republican Society, for example, printed antiratification pamphlets and spread them through the states. This group hoped that the states would reject the Constitution, which would lead to a second federal convention. Some states ratified the Constitution as early as 1787, but debates in these states often turned on the lack of a bill of rights. As the pamphlet war dragged out into the spring of 1788, many Federalists concluded that some concessions on the bill of rights issue were vital.

The debate over ratification extended beyond party lines. Many religious groups, particularly the Baptists, expressed alarm over the lack of explicit religious protections. Printers worried about possible curbs on the press. Old fears from pre-Revolutionary days regarding sweeping government searches, warrants, criminal-trial procedure, and other rights were stirred afresh during the debates.

Dedicated Federalists such as Alexander Hamilton remained unconcerned by the calls for a bill of rights, but Madison and others saw the need to compromise. The Constitution took effect when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it on June 21, 1788. Virginia’s ratifying convention debated bitterly but finally approved the Constitution by a narrow margin five days after New Hampshire’s vote. Discouraged by the Virginia vote, the New York anti-Federalists accepted that the Constitution would be adopted, but also insisted that the First Congress consider a bill of rights. Leaders in Rhode Island and North Carolina refused to ratify the Constitution because of the lack of a bill of rights.

James Madison kept the idea of a bill of rights alive in Congress. He had lost a Senate seat and barely won election to the House of Representatives, having finally made an unequivocal campaign pledge to fight for a bill of rights. Madison soon found he was almost alone in his concern for prompt action on this promise, but agreed to consider all reasonable suggestions for the new bill of rights. He distilled the essence of English and American personal freedoms, relying heavily on George Mason’s Virginia Bill of Rights.

When Madison reminded fellow members of Congress of the promise to enact a bill of rights, his insistence upon action met with some coolness. He kept fighting, however, and presented his plan to the House in June 1789. Madison originally thought the bill of rights should be incorporated into the original Constitution, rather than offered as separate amendments. After weeks of delay, the House appointed a committee to prepare a bill of rights, with Madison and Roger Sherman of Connecticut serving under Chairman John Vining of Delaware. Sherman favored a separate bill of rights, and his suggestion was finally adopted over Madison’s inclusion plan. After much debate, the House passed 17 proposed amendments.

The Senate combined some amendments and eliminated others, reducing the number to 12. The Senate defeated one amendment that Madison said he prized above all others. It would have prohibited the states from interfering with their citizens’ freedom of speech, religion, and conscience. But the Senate did not want to bind the states, and regarded the bill of rights as limiting only the federal government. The House and Senate deadlocked over the different versions of the bill of rights, and a joint committee convened to work out a final set of amendments. From this joint conference 12 amendments emerged, which the Congress passed on September 25, 1789.

Support from three-fourths of the states is needed to amend the Constitution. Vermont’s 1791 statehood brought the number of states to 14; so 11 states were required to add the Bill of Rights to the Constitution. Virginia became the 11th to do so on December 15, 1791. Most states did not ratify the first two articles of the Bill of Rights. The first dealt with the method of assigning congressional seats to the states. This amendment was never ratified. The second article, specifying congressional pay rates could not be changed before an intervening House of Representatives election, lay dormant for more than 200 years. The states eventually ratified it in 1992 as the 27th Amendment. The original third article of the Bill of Rights, when ratified in 1791, thus became the First Amendment.

V. INTERPRETATION

Courts interpreted the federal Bill of Rights narrowly for most of American history, but during the 20th century courts vastly expanded its protections. One of the most glaring violations of the Bill of Rights came in 1798 when Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which gave the government broad powers to squelch free speech. Opponents of the acts charged that they violated the First Amendment, but a court test never came. In a later dispute, Chief Justice John Marshall spoke for the Supreme Court in 1833 when he declared in Barron v. Baltimore that the first ten amendments applied only to the federal government, not to the states.

The Bill of Rights finally received close judicial analysis during Reconstruction—the process of rebuilding the South’s tattered political and economic system after the Civil War (1861-1865). The Supreme Court ruled in the so-called Slaughterhouse Cases of 1873 that, although the 14th Amendment prohibited laws that infringed on “privileges and immunities of citizens,” this protection did not include the first eight amendments. This decision effectively blocked any attempt to make the Bill of Rights binding on the states.

The Supreme Court applied Bill of Rights protections to the states in 1925 in Gitlow v. New York. The Court said that freedom of speech and of the press were fundamental personal liberties “protected by the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment from impairment by the States.” This application of the Bill of Rights through the 14th Amendment is sometimes called the doctrine of “incorporation.” But in 1937 the Supreme Court decided in Palko v. Connecticut that not all of the Bill of Rights was incorporated by the Due Process Clause, limiting such sections to those dealing with rights “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.” By the end of the 1960s, however, the Court had decided to apply nearly all of the Bill of Rights to the state level. See Supreme Court of the United States.

VI. COMPARISON WITH LAWS IN OTHER COUNTRIES

As interpreted by the Supreme Court, the Bill of Rights is the most extensive charter of liberties in the world today. Many other nations observe most of the same rights, but not necessarily in the same way or to the same degree. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, for example, guarantees most of the liberties protected by the Bill of Rights, but some of its provisions may be overridden in certain circumstances by both the Canadian federal government and provincial legislatures. In the United States, neither Congress nor the state legislatures may pass a law that conflicts with the Bill of Rights. Citizens of Britain enjoy civil liberties, but the Church of England remains the official church and the freedoms of speech and of the press are weaker than in the United States. Moreover, Parliament is supreme and may pass laws that violate civil liberties if it chooses. France and most other non-English-speaking countries of Western Europe and South America have a different type of criminal law system, and many protections afforded to the accused in the United States do not exist in these countries. Constitutions of the former Communist countries such as the Soviet Union and much of Eastern Europe established civil liberties on paper but created no enforcement mechanisms. One of the first legal steps taken in the newly emerging democracies in Russia and Eastern Europe in the 1990s was to add enforceable civil liberties to their rewritten constitutions