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First 10 Amendments Essay

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The people of today’s world often take for granted what our founding fathers have fought for and accomplished. A good portion remains unaware of the freedoms and liberties we have now that were merely just a thought in the past. Unfortunately, when speaking about the government and laws, not many know of its origins and how they came to be. Simple rights such as freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and the right to petition are all examples of the Bill of Rights, which defines the first 10 amendments of the Constitution. These amendments are not just added, they must go through a process. In order to understand the process, there needs to be a clear understanding as to what exactly is a constitution …show more content…

Not only are the powers divided between states and national government, but the writers of the Constitution went on to separate the operation of the national government into three distinct branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. Article I states that “all legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States”; Article II, that “the executive Powers shall be vested in a President of the United States of America”; and Article III, that “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.” (Volkmer, 2011, …show more content…

The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments that were ratified on December 15, 1791. It defines basic rights that the people of the United States have. The Bill of Rights amendments include (a) Freedom of relgion, speech, assembly, and politics; (b) Militia and the rights to bear arms; (c) Quartering of soldiers; (d) Searches and Seizures; (e) Grand juries, self-incrimination, doublejeopardy, due process, and eminent domain; (f) Criminal court procedures; (g) Trail by Jury in common law cases;(h) Bail, cruel and unusual punishment; (i) Retention of rights of the people; (j) Reserved powers of states. (Volkmer, 2011,

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