The Amendments Series

I’ve just spent the past thirteen weeks writing about and exploring the significance of the Bill of Rights. I’ve learned much and I hope you have as well. I figured now would be a good time to take a moment and consider how the U.S. Constitution allows for any new amendments to the Constitution. So, let’s take a moment to look at what Article V of the Constitution says. Click to read further.

The Eighth Amendment is one of those amendments that really spoils all those police shows we love to watch where the hero officer finally gets the bad guy and the bad guy just will not tell the hero officer where the kidnapped little girl is. And so, you always know, when the officer closes the door to that holding cell, or asks his partner to step out, he’s going to be inflicting some kind of cruel or unusual punishment on the perpetrator to illicit the ever so needed information. And who are we usually rooting for in this scenario?

Well, of course, the hero officer! Perhaps it’s time we step back for a moment and digest just how unhappy we would be if we were the perpetrator getting our rights violated. We need to remember and appreciate the Eighth Amendment. Click to read more.

I confess, until studying the Seventh Amendment to write this piece, I didn’t know much about the Seventh Amendment, nor had I ever really felt the need to know much about the Seventh Amendment. And yet, what I’ve come to realize during this series is how important and critical every single amendment in the Bill of Rights really is. Click to read further.

This is the Sixth Amendment and it is the only right guaranteed both in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. It is essential to a free society, to law and order, and to protecting citizens from each other and likewise, from government. It was included as a way to guarantee that criminal prosecutions were more accurate, fair, and legitimate.

In studying the Fifth Amendment, I’ve come to realize that there are multiple rights all wrapped up in this one “right” or “amendment”. It’s as if the founding fathers wanted to fit in as many rights as they could into each amendment since they were only writing ten. Click to learn more about your 5th Amendment rights.

We seem to have reached a point in America, where, we all know and realize that government is looking at our info and tracking us, and we’re all just living life as normal. I don’t think most people live their lives thinking that their personal property, their castles, are being violated constantly. But maybe we should. The Fourth Amendment should not relegated to the background behind the other amendments. Private property and its defense is what the nation was built upon. Click to read further.

“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.” Given that our government was created upon John Locke’s theory of government—that government exists solely to protect private property—I’d say this is one of the most important amendments. Click to read more.

When discussing the concept of “rights” with any conservative, or right leaning individual, I find that the one “right” that engenders the most passion and fervor is the right to “keep and bear arms”. Why is that? I think a little historical context and a slight exposition on what the Second Amendment means and the reason why we even have the Second Amendment in the first place, is needed. Click to read further.

Perhaps one of the most quintessentially American rights that we have is the right to freely exercise our religious beliefs. But how many people take the First Amendment and what it says about religion and completely ruin the context and meaning behind it?

Too many. Click to read more.