Our Beautiful Bill of Rights

Photo by Luke Michael on Unsplash

Our young nation, The United States of America, mainly through the labor and prompting of James Madison, ratified ten amendments, The Bill of Rights, to its founding Constitution. The ratification was completed on December 15, 1791, 221 years ago today.

This is a brief synopsis of what that Bill of Rights has to say as best as I can understand them. May we all become familiar with these rights so that we may never forfeit them.

The primary and foremost right enacted in this bill is this: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This is a two-edged sword. No denomination could be recognized by Congress as the established national religion to the disregard of others nor could it interfere with the free exercise of faith (religion).

The Bill of Rights does not claim to “grant” rights to individuals but rather recognizes that they are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” as the Constitution says. Here are the rights that it acknowledges to “we the people:”

1.     The First Amendment – The Right:

a.     To freedom of religion

b.     To freedom of speech,

c.      To a free press

d.     To peacefully assemble

e.     To petition the government to redress (rectify) grievances.

2.     The Second Amendment – The Right:

For the people to keep and bear arms.

3.     The Third Amendment – The Right:

For homeowners to refuse or accept the boarding of soldiers in their homes at any time.

4.     The Fourth Amendment – The Right:

To not have them or their property, unreasonably or without probable cause, searched or seized.

5.     The Fifth Amendment – The Right:

a.     To not be charged with a capital or infamous crime without the indictment
of a grand jury. (Except by military during war or public danger)

b.     To not be put in double jeopardy in charge of a crime.

c.      To not be compelled to have to speak as a witness against himself.

d.     To due process of law before being deprived of life, liberty, or property,

e.     To be justly compensated if one’s private property is taken for public use.

6.     The Sixth Amendment - The Right:

a.     To a speedy and public trial, if accused of any criminal prosecution, by an impartial jury from the district where the crime was lawfully determined to have been committed,

b.     To be told of the nature and cause of the accusation;

c.      To be able to be confronted with the witnesses against him;

d.     To have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor,

e.     To have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

7.     The Seventh Amendment – The right: 

a.     To obtain trial by jury in suits at common law (if exceeding twenty dollars in value.)

b.     To not have to be reexamined in any court of the United States,
than according to the rules of the common law.

8.     The Eighth Amendment – The Right:

a.     To not be required to pay excessive bail

b.     nor be imposed with excessive fines

c.      nor be inflicted with cruel and unusual punishments.

9.     The Ninth Amendment – The Right:

To retain other rights which cannot be denied or diminished by those rights enumerated in the Constitution.

10.  The Tenth Amendment – The Right:

Of the States, or the people, to have the powers which are not delegated nor prohibited to the United States by the Constitution.