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1230L
Constitution and the Bill of Rights
Date: 2024
From: Gale In Context Online Collection
Publisher: Gale, part of Cengage Group
Document Type: Law overview
Length: 1,568 words
Content Level: (Level 4)
Lexile Measure: 1230L
Full Text:
The US Constitution established the framework of the government of the United States and is the supreme law of the nation. The
Constitution created and describes the powers of the three branches of the US government: legislative, executive, and judicial. The
Constitution was first amended with the Bill of Rights, or the first ten amendments, which establish the basic rights and freedoms of
US citizens. There have been several other constitutional amendments over the years.
Critical Thinking Questions
Why do you think a stronger federal government was needed after the United States gained its independence?
Why did the Founding Fathers create a process for amending the US Constitution?
What has resulted from the sometimes vague language of the Constitution?
The Constitution
After the American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776, they established an initial governing document
called the Articles of Confederation, which gave the federal government little power. After the Americans defeated the British and
became fully independent in 1783, it soon became clear that the country needed a stronger national government. The US
Constitution was written during the Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia in 1787 and took effect in 1788, following its
ratification by three-quarters of the original thirteen colonies. Many politicians believed that a stronger central government was
necessary if the newly formed nation hoped to survive the challenges ahead.
Amending the Constitution
The Founding Fathers knew that adjustments to the Constitution would be necessary to deal with the issues facing a young, growing
nation. Because of this, they outlined a process that would allow the government to amend the Constitution.
Amendments can be proposed in two ways: two-thirds of both houses of Congress may vote to propose an amendment or two-thirds
of the state legislatures may petition Congress to call a national convention to propose amendments. After an amendment is
proposed, it must be ratified. Ratification of an amendment must take place within a reasonable amount of time after its initial
proposal. An amendment can also be ratified in one of two ways. Three-fourths of the state legislatures must approve the
amendment, or three-fourths of the states must hold ratifying conventions to endorse the amendment. The latter method of ratification
has only been used to ratify the Twenty-first Amendment. This amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, which established
the prohibition of the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol in the United States.
The Bill of Rights
The framers styled the Constitution as the “law of the land.” During debates held at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, critics
argued that the Constitution, in its original form, could leave citizens vulnerable to a tyrannical central government. This worried many
Americans, who could still vividly recall the civil rights violations they suffered under Great Britain’s rule. Congress proposed a series
of constitutional amendments to address these concerns. In September 1789, Congress approved the Bill of Rights as a group of
twelve amendments. Ten of these amendments were ratified by a majority of state legislatures by December 1791.
The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, the right to peacefully assemble and the right to petition the government. It also
prohibits Congress from establishing a state religion. The provisions outlined in the First Amendment have withstood dozens of legal
tests over the years despite efforts by its critics to narrow the interpretation of the amendment.
The Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms. This amendment was the focus of considerable debate in the late
twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. While some citizens insist that the second amendment guarantees the right to own a
firearm, others believe it was created to provide for the use of state militias in times of crisis. These different interpretations have led
to many legal and political battles between gun-control advocates and gun-rights groups over the years.
The Third Amendment states that troops may not be stationed in the home of a property owner without that owner’s consent and the
Fourth Amendment acts as a safeguard against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Amendments five through eight focus on the justice system. The Fifth Amendment prohibits a trial for a major crime, except after an
indictment by a grand jury. It also includes a clause—called the double jeopardy provision—that prevents a person from being tried
for the same crime twice following an acquittal. In addition, the amendment forbids punishment without due process and protects
defendants from incriminating themselves during a trial.
The Sixth Amendment guarantees defendants a quick public trial, requires a trial by a jury of peers, and establishes a defendant’s
right to legal counsel. It also stipulates that criminal witnesses attend the trial and testify in the presence of the defendant. The
Seventh Amendment calls for a trial by jury in civil cases involving anything valued at more than $20, while the Eighth Amendment
bands excessive bail or fines and prohibits punishment that could be considered cruel or unusual.
The final two amendments in the Bill of Rights address the wider subject of constitutional authority. The Ninth Amendment holds that
rights spelled out in the Constitution are not exhaustive and do not preclude the existence and enforcement of other rights. The Tenth
Amendment limits the scope of the federal government. The amendment, in its enacted form, gives all rights not assigned to the
federal government by the Constitution to the states and the people.
Other Amendments
Since 1789, the Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times. This includes the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights. The
other seventeen amendments cover a wide range of issues, from requiring the direct election of senators to establishing term limits
for the president, that reflect the evolution of the United States. Some amendments even changed the structure of government
originally established by the Constitution.
Significant constitutional amendments followed the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865). The Reconstruction Amendments
—which include the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments—were designed to restructure the fractured nation following
the Union’s victory in the Civil War. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery throughout the United States. This was a sensitive
issue for many Southern states, which relied on the slavery-based plantation system to support their economies. The Fourteenth
Amendment made all persons born in the United States citizens, no matter what their race or former condition of servitude, and the
Fifteenth Amendment prevented states from denying citizens the right to vote based on their race. Although these amendments made
former slaves citizens, African Americans faced much discrimination in the years that followed.
Other noteworthy amendments include the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote; the Twenty-third
Amendment, which provided Washington, DC, with representation in the Electoral College; and the Twenty-sixth Amendment, which
lowered the national voting age to eighteen.
During the last two centuries, more than eleven thousand amendments to the Constitution have been proposed, according to the
National Archives. However, most of these amendments never make it past congressional committees.
Debate about Interpretations
The interpretation of the meaning of the Constitution usually falls to the Supreme Court.The Supreme Court is a court of appeal,
meaning that defendants who believe their constitutional rights have been violated can appeal to the court to overturn a decision
made by a lower court. The Supreme Court has weighed in on many issues that have determined the scope of rights in the Bill of
Rights and how they are applied.Rights sometimes get expanded. For example, Plessy v. Fergusson (1898) established the legal
right of states to segregate by race as long as they were “separate but equal.” However, a few decades later in Brown v. Board of
Education (1954) the Court ruled that segregation was inherently unequal and violated people’s civil rights.
Interpretations of the Constitution and its amendments have varied greatly in court decisions at the state and federal levels and even
within the Supreme Court, the country’s ultimate judicial authority. Legal scholars believe that the unclear language used in many
amendments is responsible for the various interpretations of the law.
Over the years, the vague language of many amendments has led to some controversial interpretations. For example, the personal
freedoms guaranteed by the First, Ninth, and Fourteenth amendments led the Supreme Court to strike down many state and federal
restrictions on abortion in the case of Roe v. Wade (1973). While the decision was praised by some, others felt that the Supreme
Court had used too broad of an interpretation of the personal liberties outlined in the Constitution when making its decision. Roe v.
Wade was overturned in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022, returning the regulation of abortion to the states.
The personal right to possess firearms under the Second Amendment has been greatly expanded in recent Supreme Court
Decisions. For example, the Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) that individual rights to own firearms were protected
under the amendment. To this day, political scholars continue to debate the interpretation of certain amendments.
Despite any controversy regarding interpretations, the US Constitution remains the oldest written constitution that is still in use. For
more than two hundred years, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights have guided the United States’ leaders and protected the rights
of American citizens.
Words to Know
amendment
A change or addition to a legal document.
civil liberty
A personal freedom that a country’s government cannot take away from its citizens.
Constitutional Convention
A 1787 assembly of US representatives in Philadelphia that resulted in the creation of the US Constitution.
ratify
To approve of a document.
tyranny
A cruel and oppressive form of government.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2024 Gale, part of Cengage Group
Source Citation (MLA 9th Edition)
"Constitution and the Bill of Rights." Gale In Context Online Collection, Gale, 2024. Gale In Context: High School,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ2181500124/SUIC?u=wylrc_buhs&sid=bookmark-SUIC&xid=42a79c8d. Accessed 11 Dec. 2024.
Gale Document Number: GALE|EJ2181500124
