Introduction and User’s Guide This second edition of Constitutional Amendments is unlike any encyclopedia or reference work on the subject. In two volumes, it not only defines the 27 amendments in comprehensive chapters with detailed narratives on the process behind each amendment, but includes in each chapter a valuable collection of supportive material designed to help students and researchers more fully grasp the rationale behind the amendments, their opposition, votes, and public sentiment. This material includes biographies of biographies of individuals significant to the amendment’s passage, reprints of actual political debates, newspaper articles, government reports, and Supreme Court cases. In addition, each amendment chapter includes a unique section called America At That Time, that offers a look at what was happening in America at the time the amendment was being proposed, debated and voted on. What did things cost? What were important “firsts”? What was in the news? NEW to each chapter in this edition is a brief summary and timeline of the amendment. In addition, researchers will find 10 new primary documents, and 54 new Supreme Court cases extending the coverage of this edition up to the minute in regard to the controversial issues before the court in recent years. Also NEW to this edition is Appendix D – a list of the 100 Supreme Court cases included in this edition. In addition to new material, other chapter elements have been updated to bring the work up to date.
CHAPTER ARRANGEMENT Each of the 18 chapters covers one amendment, except Chapter 1 which covers the first 10 amendments known as the Bill of Rights, and includes the following sections: Section One: Amendment • The Amendment reprinted as it appears in the official record. • NEW Summary offers a clear explanation of the amendment and its ramifications in a few succinct sentences. • NEW Timeline allows the reader to follow the proposal and ratification process. • Introduction provides the historical framework surrounding the reasons behind the amendment as it was proposed, and follows its path through to ratification. • Debate in Congress offers actual transcripts of the back and forth from both advocates and opponents. • Historical Background Documents are reprints of official documents, relevant to the amendment’s passage, including first drafts of the amendment, letters and speeches from politicians who support or oppose the amendment, and Congressional reports, all designed to give the details necessary to fully comprehend the driving force behind each amendment’s progress. • As Submitted to the States offers a look at how and when the states voted. Section Two: Original Primary Documents This section includes newspaper articles that show how public opinion differed in different regions of the country, and Supreme Court cases that ruled based on their interpretation at the time. Section Three: Supreme Court Cases Each case chosen represents individuals or entities who feel that their rights, under the amendment, have been violated. The analysis opens with the case’s official docket data, date, decision, and ruling justice, and includes a clear definition of the case.
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Section Four: Who’s Who This section offers biographies and photographs of those individuals who either played a significant role in getting the amendment ratified, or worked to block it. These comprehensive biographies combine personal and professional details, designed to offer a better understanding of why an individual acted as he or she did. Section Five: Footnotes, Sources, Further Reading These exhaustive and detailed lists by chapter section make it easy to pick up with research where these volumes leave off. Whether it’s more information on specific amendments, the amendment process, or the individuals responsible for the amendment, this section provides hundreds of ways to find it. Section Six: America At That Time This section sets Constitutional Amendments apart from other exclusively historical reference works. Pulling from Grey House Publishing’s acclaimed Working Americans series, here is where you will find what was happening in America at the time each amendment was progressing through the steps toward ratification. Beginning with a snapshot of significant political, cultural, and social “firsts,” this section goes on to include advertisements, selected prices (with currency conversion charts), newspaper articles and many fun images. There is nothing dry about this history lesson!
APPENDICES Appendix A: The Constitutional Amendment Process describes the legal channels taken by each amendment, and whose job it is to administer that process. Appendix B: Ratification of Amendments to the U.S.Constitution offers details on the process and dead lines for the amendment process, and includes timetables of the 27 amendments and average times to ratify. Appendix C: Proposed Amendments to the Constitution details six amendments that made it either through the House, the Senate, or both, but were not ratified by the states. Each of these proposed amendments is detailed in depth – who, what, when, where, and why – and supplemented by relevant original documents. Appendix D: List of Supreme Court Cases by Amendment includes a list of all 100 Supreme Court cases included in this edition, arranged by the amendment that the case claims is being violated. Ending this two-volume set is a comprehensive Index.
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Foreword he government of the Union, like that of each State, must be able to address itself immediately to the hopes and fears of individuals; and to attract to its support those passions which have the strongest influence upon the human heart. It must, in short, possess all the means and have a right to resort to all the methods of executing the powers with which it is entrusted that are possessed and exercised by the govern ments of the particular States.” —Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist, No. XVI, 4 December 1787.
“T
The Founding Fathers realized even as they were writing the original Constitution that it could not be ratified without specific promises that a Bill of Rights, additional amendments giving the people a specific set of rights such as the freedom of speech and of worship, would quickly follow. And to make sure that future generations could amend the Constitution – not with ease, but through a process that demanded a widespread national consensus for such amending – they inserted the ability to change the founding document through either a Congressional action or through a convention held by the states. This power is embodied in Article V of the Constitution itself, which is simple and straightforward in its language: 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 it’s equal Suffrage in the Senate. Leaders from all political parties and ideologies have relied on, and cheered, the built-in ability to amend the Constitution. In his first inaugural address on 4 March 1861, President Abraham Lincoln said, “This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their ‘constitutional’ right of amending it or their ‘revolutionary’ right to dismember or overthrow it.”1 Likewise, a century later, Senator (and later Vice President) Hubert Humphrey spoke about the Second Amendment’s right to own guns: “Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used and that definite rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of the citizen to bear arms is just one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.”2 Congress has had literally thousands of proposed amendments brought before it; few are ever voted on, and even fewer receive the coveted two-thirds of each house needed to send it to the states to begin the ratification process. Since the First Congress in 1789, only 33 proposed amendments have been sent to the states, and of these, only 27, counting the 10 amendments in the Bill of Rights, received enough state support for ratification. It is not an easy road to hew, which is just the way the Founders wanted it. The following graph documents the attempts since the First Congress to amend the Constitution:
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Congress
Date
Number of Amendments Proposed
1st-101st
1789-1990
10,431
102nd
1991-1992
153
103nd
1993-1994
155
104th
1995-1996
152
105th
1997-1998
118
106th
1999-2000
71
107th
2001-2002
77
108th
2003-2004
77
109th
2005-2006
72
110th
2007-2008
66
111th
2009-2010
75
112th
2011-2012
92
113th
2013-2014
84
Source: “Measures Proposed to Amend the Constitution,” courtesy of The US Senate Reference Home, online at http://www.senate.gov/reference/measures_ proposed_to_amend_constitution.htm.
Clearly, the desire to amend the Constitution through the amendment process continues unabated. As long as the American people wish to be governed by that document fashioned in the summer of 1787, the process to change it, to make it better, and to make it more relevant to today’s world will continue. Years ago, I purchased a copy of the US Constitution, which I still have, now worn and ragged, taped and stapled together. When I was beginning the research for this book I read it once again, and felt its majesty and imposing sense of value. My faded copy is a reminder of the original document, created in the minds of men whose values continue to shine and empower mankind. Imagine that a document formed by a group of men nearly two and a half centuries ago still governs our lives, our system of government, the way our laws are interpreted. But what is most fascinating is that in that span of time – more than 225 years – the hundreds of millions of people who have lived and died as Americans have seen fit to amend that precious document a mere 27 times. But what is more important than the fact that changes have been made is the fact that changes had to be made. Under the original document, black people were slaves and could be sold as property, women could not vote, Senators were elected not by the people but by state legislatures, and the President and Vice President were elected separately...these flaws have been remedied. It took not only a document with the ability and prescription to change it built into its language, but a change of mind of the people who elected their representatives in Congress and in state legislatures, and a civil war that pitted American against American, to change those minds and hearts. Change takes time, it takes respect for both sides, and it takes debate and answers to arguments made by those sides. Constitutional Amendments is not a dry history – it is a comprehensive work that includes how the amendments to the US Constitution came about, who was behind them, the arguments made for and against their enactment, the US Supreme Court cases which arose from them, and correspondence and contemporary news articles and opinion pieces that highlight the thoughts and feelings of those who lived through such tumultuous periods in our nation’s history. As Chief Justice Marshall said in the famous case of M’Culloch v. Maryland:
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Foreword
A constitution, to contain an accurate detail of all the subdivisions of which its great powers will admit, and of all the means by which they may be carried into execution, would partake of the prolixity of a legal code, and could scarcely be embraced by the human mind. It would probably never be understood by the public. Its nature, therefore, requires, that only its great outlines should be marked, its important objects designated, and the minor ingredients which compose those objects be deduced from the nature of the objects themselves. The theory of the Constitution has been in the consciousness of people since the beginning of time. One of the earliest persons to speak out for the need of such a governing document was Henry of Bratton, whose real name was Henricus de Brattona, or Bractona. He was an English judge, sitting on the court known as Coram Rege, or, the King’s Bench, from 1247 to 1250, and then again from 1253 to 1257. In his work on the English legal system, “Bracton: De Legibus Et Consuetudinibus Angliæ” (“Bracton on the Laws and Customs of England”), written between 1210 and his death in 1268, he wrote: Now we must explain how the dominion and possession of incorporeal things, as of rights, are acquired by express consent, by way of gift and by the creation of a servitude. Rights, being incorporeal, cannot be seen or touched, and thus do not admit of livery as corporeal things do. The gift must therefore be effected by the intention of the contracting parties, simply by the intention and will to transfer and accept and the view of the corporeal thing in which these rights inhere, and in that way, by means of a legal fiction, they are quasi-possessed; he who is thus in possession by a legal fiction always quasi-uses until he is disseised by force or without force by non-use, and if he does not use in his lifetime, being unwilling or unable to do so, his heir may use if the servitude was given ‘to him and his heirs,’and so from heir to heir, near and remote, by force of the modus of the gift. If it is constituted ‘to such a one and his heirs or to whomsoever he may wish to give or assign,’all such are admitted successively to its use by force of the modus of the constitution or gift, and, since they are in quasi-possession, all others are entirely excluded from using it. Rights of this sort, such as servitudes, may be called the appurtenances of some corporeal thing and are [owed] from one corporeal thing to another, as from another’s estate or tenement to one’s own estate or tenement, in many ways, as will be explained more fully below [in the portion] on the assises. [Such rights are transferred from one person to another by use and quasi-use before real use, as said above.] And as one has rights in another’s estate, so he has them in his own, as where he has an estate to which the advows on of a church belongs..."[3] Many historians see the blueprint of the US Constitution in English and British law. But the US Constitution is a document unheard and unseen prior to 1787, when it was formulated by a convention of leading American citizens. That amendments have been made to it should not come as a surprise. An examination of newspapers and congressional documents show the wide history of attempts to amend the Constitution on a various number of subjects. For instance, on 14 December 1882, during a rather dull debate over Post Office appropriations for the next fiscal year, Representative Roswell P. Flower, Democrat of New York, rose to challenge the members of the House to push for what is now called a line-item veto power for the President of the United States. Speaking on the subject of amending the Constitution, Flower said, “A copy of it was given [to] me when a youth. Its tattered remnants are in my pocket now.” He then introduced, to be included as part of the Congressional Record, the entire US Consti tution as it stood at that time. As the New York Tribune wrote several years later, “all around him in the House the buzz of conversation went on; members went in and out of the cloak-rooms...and doubtless at this very moment [Rep.] Leopold Morse [of Massachusetts] was walking up and down in front of the Speaker’s desk, chewing an unlighted cigar, and appearing to the admiring galleries every inch a statesman.” Flower was asked if he wanted to “attach” the Constitution to the postal bill, which he said he might do later. The confused members of the House then debated whether or not to adjourn for the day. The Tribune, a conservative paper, labeled Flower’s actions as “a class act.”4
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But while there is a historical record as to what is in the Constitution – and what is not – and what the amending process has done to make the document stronger and more relevant to the lives of the American people, there is still confusion surrounding the document. Journalist Ezra Klein of The Washington Post in December 2010 denounced members of the US House who wished to “adhere strictly” to the precepts of the Constitution. Mock ing these members, Klein said, “The issue of the Constitution is that the text is confusing because it was written more than 100 years ago and what people believe it says differs from person to person and differs depending on what they want to get done.” Unfortunately, Klein’s timing was wrong (the Constitution was written 223 years prior to his statement), and he did not elaborate on what parts confused him. But the fact that such a statement was made by a member of the nation’s press demonstrates how important the study of the original Constitution, as well as its amendments and the amending process, truly is. The history of the amendments is one that historians have long sought to explain. In the pages of this work, I hope that I have aided somewhat towards this goal of making the Constitution a document not to be “confusing” or feared, but to be celebrated. —Mark Grossman
1
Jaffa, Harry V., “A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War” (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2000), 346. 2 Statement by Humphrey in Robert Cottrol, “A Liberal’s Lament,” online at http://www.constitution.org/2ll/2ndschol/104ali.htm. 3 Bracton, Henry de (George E. Woodbine, ed.), “Bracton De Legibus Et Consuetudinibus Angliae” (New Haven: Yale University Press, four volumes, 1915-42), II:159. 4 “The Constitution in the Congressional Record,” courtesy of the Office of the Clerk of the US House of Representatives, online at http:// artandhistory.house.gov/highlights.aspx?action=view&intID=517.
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The Bill of Rights First Ten Amendments
Chapter 1 The Bill of Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Brief Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Debate in Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Historical Background Documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 As Submitted to the States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Original Primary Documents Sketch of Proceedings of Congress, 8 June 1789 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Congressional Intelligence, Daily Advertiser, 12 June 1789 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Remarks on the Amendments... The Federal Gazette, 23 July 1789. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Letter from a Philadelphian, Gazette of the United-States, 23 January 1790. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Bill of Rights, New-England Galaxy, 29 December 1820 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
25 28 30 31 32
Supreme Court Cases First Amendment Schenck v. United States, 3 March 1919. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Everson v. Board of Education, 10 February 1947 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New York Times Co. v. United States, 30 June 1971 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 13 January 1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Second Amendment United States v. Miller, 15 May 1939 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . District of Columbia v. Heller, 26 June 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . McDonald v. Chicago, 28 June 2010. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fourth Amendment Silverman v. United States, 6 March 1961 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beck v. Ohio, 23 November 1964 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katz v. United States, 18 December 1967. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry v. Ohio, 10 June 1968 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arizona v. Gant, 21 April 2009. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
35 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 41 42 43 44
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Constitutional Amendments
Fifth Amendment Miranda v. Arizona, 13 June 1966 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ohio v. Reiner, 19 March 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sixth Amendment Powell v. Alabama, 7 November 1932. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sheppard v. Maxwell, 6 June 1966 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barker v. Wingo, 22 June 1972 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eighth Amendment Trop v. Dulles, 31 March 1958. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Furman v. Georgia, 29 June 1972 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gregg v. Georgia, 2 July 1976. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roper v. Simmons, 1 March 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ninth Amendment Griswold v. Connecticut, 7 June 1965 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roe v. Wade, 22 January 1973 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tenth Amendment New York v. United States, 19 June 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printz v. United States, 27 June 1997 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
45 46 47 48 49 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 59
Who’s Who Tench Coxe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Hartley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . James Madison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roger Sherman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Loughton Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Vining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
61 63 64 66 69 70
Footnotes, Sources, Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 America At That Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
2
CHAPTER ONE | The Bill of Rights
3
Constitutional Amendments
Proposed in Congress:
25 September 1789
Sent to States:
28 September 1789
Ratified:
15 December 1791
Chapter 1 THE BILL OF RIGHTS The Preamble to The Bill of Rights Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine. THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution. RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz. ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution. The first ten amendments to the Constitution. Amendment I 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. Amendment II 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. Amendment III 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.
4
CHAPTER ONE | The Bill of Rights
Amendment IV 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. Amendment V 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. Amendment VI 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 defence. Amendment VII 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. Amendment VIII Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Amendment IX The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Amendment X 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.
Brief Summary The ten amendments comprising the Bill of Rights enshrine the fundamental liberties enjoyed by American citizens. The First Amendment protects the right of Americans to engage in political speech without fear of official reprisals. It accordingly ensures a free press. It also protects the rights of citizens to assemble for peaceable purposes and to petition the government. The amendment prohibits the establishment of a national or official religion (the Establishment Clause) and allows individuals to practice their religion freely (the Free Exercise Clause). The Second Amendment pertains to the right to own firearms. The amendment states that because a well-regulated militia is needed by a state to be secure, citizens have the right to keep and bear arms. The Third Amendment – the one amendment in the Bill of Rights that has little relevance in the modern world – prohibits the government from quartering troops in American homes.
Footnotes, Sources and Further Reading for this chapter appears on page 71
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Constitutional Amendments
The Fourth Amendment requires the police to obtain a warrant to search a person’s home and to seize either a criminal suspect or the suspect’s personal property. The warrant has to be based not on mere suspicion but on probable cause that evidence of a crime will be found. The warrant has to be particular about the property being searched and the person or property to be seized; the police cannot search on mere suspicion. The Fifth Amendment consists of several clauses. It requires that a person being tried for a capital crime must be indicted by a grand jury to ensure that there are reasonable grounds for the accusation; exceptions are made for the military and during wartime. The amendment prohibits double jeopardy, meaning that a person cannot be tried twice for the same crime. It states that no one can be forced to give self-incriminating testimony; persons “taking the Fifth” in a courtroom setting refuse to answer questions that might tend to incriminate them. A person cannot be executed or imprisoned, nor can his or her property be seized, without due process of law. Finally, the amendment states that if a person’s property is taken for public use, the owner has to be compensated fairly. The Sixth Amendment again consists of several clauses. It guarantees an accused criminal’s right to a speedy trial by an impartial jury. The trial cannot be conducted in a far-flung location. An accused criminal has the right to know the charges being brought and why; the right to examine witnesses; the right to locate witnesses who might testify in his or her favor; and the right to have legal counsel. The Seventh Amendment turns to “suits at common law” – that is, to civil lawsuits rather than criminal trials. It preserves the right of a trial by jury (generally held in modern times to consist of six members for civil trials) and states that once a jury has determined the facts of a case, no court can overturn that jury’s findings of fact. The twenty dollar requirement, although antiquated, remains applicable but it is so low in modern times as to be largely irrelevant. The Eighth Amendment prohibits excessive bail and excessive fines. Perhaps most importantly, it prohibits cruel and unusual punishment of convicted criminals. Criminals cannot be tortured, starved, beaten, or otherwise abused, but the question remains whether capital punishment is cruel and unusual. The Ninth Amendment acknowledges that the list of rights enumerated in the first eight amendments may not be exhaustive. Citizens may retain additional rights, even though those rights are not specified. The Tenth Amendment places limitations on the power of the centralized, federal government. It says that the states retain any powers that are not granted to the federal government by the Constitution.
Timeline 12 June 1776
The Virginia Declaration of Rights is ratified in that colony.
25 May 1787 – 17 September 1787
The Constitutional Convention meets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
12 September 1787
George Mason of Virginia, the primary author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, proposes adding a bill of rights to the US Constitution; the proposal is unanimously defeated.
17 September 1787
The Constitution is submitted to the delegates to the convention for signing.
21 June 1788
The Constitution is ratified when New Hampshire becomes the ninth state to ratify it.
8 June 1789
Representative James Madison introduces nine amendments to the Constitution in the House of Representatives; the amendments were to be incorporated into the text of the Constitution.
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CHAPTER ONE | The Bill of Rights
24 September 1789
The proposal enumerating the ten amendments (and others) that would make up the Bill of Rights passes in the US House of Representatives.
25 September 1789
The ten amendments (and others) that would make up the Bill of Rights are proposed in Congress and pass in the US Senate.
15 December 1791
The Bill of Rights is ratified when Virginia becomes the eleventh state to ratify it.
1939
Connecticut, Georgia, and Massachusetts ratify the first ten amendments to the Constitution.
Footnotes, Sources and Further Reading for this chapter appears on page 71
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