| The CAMC
Seminar |
|
| Council for America My
Country |
|
"To Empower to Practise Good
Citizenship" |
|
| 965 Clover Court, Blue Bell, PA 19422 |
T: (610) 277-0149 |
F: (610) 277-3992 |
E:camc@icasinc.org |
Jerry Boucher
Im Ja P. Choi
Steve S. Choi
Mary Etezady
Don Kim
Il Hwan Kim
Sang Joo Kim
|
Director for Systems Management
Director for Community Relations
Deputy Director for Voter Registration
Advisor
Secretary
Director for Outreach
Chairman |
Tae Shik Kwon
Jae Jin Ma
Willie Pai
Choon Ki Yoo
Ae Sook Yoon
Il Joong Yoon |
Director for Community Relations
Treasurer
Deputy Secretary
Deputy Director for Outreach
Director for Ageing & Elder Care
Director for Voter Registration |
What are the Bill of Rights and how do they
affect our everyday lives?
Edward Dennis
September 18, 2000
I am grateful to the Council for America My Country for the opportunity to address you
this evening on an aspect of citizenship that touches all of us in our daily lives, but which we
often take for granted. Many of us take our constitutional rights for granted because we have
known nothing else. I am pleased to see that you have an interest in good citizenship and have
taken time to come out to this event to learn about our constitution and the Bill of
Rights.
When you came in, each of you should have received a copy of the Constitution of the
United States which you can take with you. I hope you will, from time to time, study it. It is a
fascinating document and it is not just for lawyers.
What are the Bill of Rights?
The Constitution of the United States establishes the form of our federal government. As
anticipated in our Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States lays the
foundation of the new government on certain principles and organizes the powers of the
government in such form for the purpose of effecting (or bringing about) the safety and happiness
of the people.
Our federal government has powers as defined in the Constitution that are above those of
our now fifty states. However, those powers are limited. The constitution not only gives power
to the federal government, it also limits those powers, reserving all other powers to the status that
are not otherwise prohibited to them by the constitution. The first Congress convened in New
York City on March 4, 1789. George Washington was inaugurated as our first President of the
United States on April 30, 1789. Thirty-nine days after George Washington's inauguration on
June 8, 1789, James Madison, a delegate to the constitutional convention from Virginia,
introduced into the House of Representatives a "Bill of Rights" as amendments to the
new U. S. Constitution. [By the way, at that time, as you may know, the Constitutional
Convention convened here in Philadelphia and Philadelphia was, for the first ten years of our
country, the seat of the federal government which, of course, is now seated in Washington, D.C. -
- only about 125 miles from where we are having this event.]
Near the end of the constitutional convention, before the Constitution was ratified, there
were concerns among the convention delegates that the new central government would have too
much power which it would then abuse to the detriment of the people's liberty. To guard against
possible tyranny by the federal government, it was agreed that there needed to be a set of rights
that would further limit the exercise the power of the federal government over the people of the
United States. And so, an agreement was reached within the convention that, as a condition for
ratifying the Constitution in its original form, that a "Bill of Rights" would be offered
as amendments to the Constitution. There were 12 amendments offered and ten of them were
ratified by the 13 states that then made up the United States. Those 10 amendments are called
"The Bill of Rights" and they are Amendments 1 through 10 of the United States
Constitution. We now have 27 amendments to the United States Constitution and there are a
number of very important amendments to the Constitution that are of particular importance to
ethnic groups and minority citizens, such as the 13th Amendment which abolishes slavery, the
14th Amendment which guaranteed all citizens equal protection of the laws and the due process
of law and the 15th Amendment which protects the right of all citizens to vote and prohibits the
denial of that right based on race and color. Of course, the term race encompasses nationality or
country of origin for those that are new to the United States. Although these are important
amendments, they are not part of the Bill of Rights, but they are often referred to as the Civil War
Amendments.
One thing that distinguishes the Bill of Rights is that they all became effective on the
same date. Although the Civil War Amendments were adopted in rapid succession after the Civil
War, these amendments were sufficiently controversial that there was considerable debate over
them in the Congress and they were passed in different years. The 13th Amendment was ratified
in 1865, the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, and the 15th Amendment was ratified in
1870.
Well, I've told you where they were located as a part of the Constitution and informed
you that there appeared to be a substantial unanimity among our founding fathers that these
Amendments were prudent to safeguard the liberty of us all.
Let's look at subjects these amendments address? Let me summarize them briefly for
you. If you will turn to the Amendment section of your Constitution you will see them and you
can read them for yourselves. Remember I said that these amendments were designed to limit
the powers of the federal government. The federal government is made up of three branches -- a
Legislative Branch called the Congress; the Executive Branch of which the President of the
United States is in charge; and the Judicial Branch where our federal judiciary presides and
lawyers like me earn their living in the practice of law. The first amendment limits the power of
the Congress of the United States and it starts with the words "Congress shall make no
law" and it describes what subjects Congress shall make no law respecting. One of those is
the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise of religion. Next deals with the
subject of freedom of speech which Congress cannot abridge or restrict; freedom of the press
which of course is related to speech and, of course, the right of the people to peaceably assemble
and to petition the government. The second amendment prohibits the federal government from
infringing upon the right of the people to bear arms and it suggests that the right to bear arms
allows the states to insure their security by maintaining a militia made up of arms bearing
citizens. The third amendment has little application today and it deals with the quartering of
soldiers in private homes without the consent of the owner, even in time of war.
The fourth amendment and the fifth amendment and the sixth amendment all deal with
criminal law issues. Nowhere else is the power of government more directly applied against the
individual than in the enforcement of criminal laws unless it is perhaps the levy of taxes. The
need for these amendments grew out of abuses that were suffered under the reign of English
kings. Under these amendments, the government can't break into your house without a warrant
and it describes how such warrants must be obtained in the courts. It provides safeguards for the
bringing of criminal charges outside of the military courts. It prohibits the government from
trying an individual twice for the same crime after a verdict has been rendered. It also prevents
the government from compelling the individual to testifying against himself. It requires the
government to use the due process of law before depriving the individual of life, liberty or
property and it prohibits the government from taking your property for public use without just
compensation. The sixth amendment requires that the government give an accused a speedy and
public trial before an impartial jury in the place where the crime was committed. The accused
must be informed of the charges against him, the individual must be permitted to confront the
witnesses against him and have the ability to obtain the testimony of witnesses in his favor and,
of course, the right to the assistance of a lawyer in his defense. The seventh amendment assures
a right of a trial by jury in civil cases. The eighth amendment also deals with criminal matters in
that it prohibits excessive bail in a criminal case. Of course, bail is money or property that the
judge requires be held by the government to assure that a criminal defendant appears for trial.
The 8th amendment also limits the punishment of a convicted person by prohibiting the
imposition of excessive fines or the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment. The 9th
amendment says, in effect, that if other rights defined in the Constitution are in conflict with the
rights retained by the people, rights not necessarily limited to the Bill of Rights, that the rights of
the people cannot be disparaged. And the 10th amendment makes it clear that the powers of the
United States government flow from the Constitution and the states or the people have freedom
to exercise such powers not delegated to the federal government or prohibited by the constitution
to the states.
But why are the Bill of Rights important to you and me in our everyday lives? The Bill of
Rights were designed to protect the individual from the tyranny of the government's exercise of
its powers against the freedom of the people. We all love the flag of the United States and
pledge allegiance to it. We sing the Star Spangled Banner. If you go to Washington, I'm sure
you would want to see the White House and the Capitol Building and maybe the Supreme Court
Building. But although we're very proud to reside in the United States, nonetheless, the founding
fathers were wise enough to realize that one of the primary purposes of the Constitution was to
insure the freedom of the people -- not just the maintenance of an orderly society. The people
should have the freedom to develop their skills and talents, to speak their minds and to
participate in issues in areas of society that interest them. Indeed, our country tolerates a
substantial amount of disorder in order to avoid infringing upon the freedom of the people to
explore and experiment and be unconventional. You see, we are not a society that is terribly
bound by tradition. We're a young country. We are only 224 years old while, of course, Korea
can trace its history back thousands of years. Many of our greatest achievements are the direct
result of unleashing human potential by preserving a society that is open and by our belief that
the energies and talents of individuals unencumbered by the oppressive powers of government
has and will continue to lead us to greater prosperity and personal satisfaction. In this soil, a
person can grow, develop and mature because their rights are protected by the highest law in the
land and government is prohibited by that same law from intruding unnecessarily in the lives of
its citizens. Government is not society. It can affect society and can lead society and, of course,
government exercises its power over society but society is more than the government under
which it carries out its activities. I like to think of the structure of government as a greenhouse
where its citizens are the plants that are growing in their own way and according to their own
nature. Government protects the plants from the damage of the elements but, even though it is
over society like the panes of glass in a greenhouse, it must allow those plants to propagate each
in its own way. Government may and does set certain boundaries but our founding fathers knew
the wisdom of preserving the space within those boundaries for the miracle of creation,
creativity, beliefs, work, diverse traditions, different religions, different ideas and even
disorderliness at times so that each may otherwise act according to his or her own conscience and
the belief that men and women left to find their own way are wise enough to govern themselves
and that the only stable power in our society is the power of the people.
CAMC is a not-for-profit,
nonpartisan, civic and educational organisation. It promotes ways to enhance
good citizenship and its practice. It is solely supported by voluntary
contributions.CAMC
strives to provide public service pro bono publico in the public interest.
All staff members are non-paid volunteers.
This page last updated 7/5/2001 jdb
|
|