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The Bill of Rights provided the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States in 1791 to guarantee civil liberties and rights to the citizens. It is generally agreed that the Constitution could not be ratified without the promises to add a Bill of Rights to it. These amendments were written to emphasize the rights of citizens and the national government. Although only ten of the original twelve amendments were ratified, it seems important to reflect on the original document as it became the basis of all the civil liberties and rights the people of the United States have nowadays.
The original document was a proposal by the Joint Resolution of Congress and included twelve amendments, ten of which were ratified on December 15, 1791, by Congress. The first two amendments could not gain the necessary amount of votes from nine states to pass ratification. The first eight amendments described in this bill dealt with the particular civil rights, while the ninth amendment expressed concern that some unlisted rights might be limited. This amendment is numbered as the eleventh one in the original document and states that the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people ( Bill of Rights, 1789, par. 12). By this amendment, many unlisted rights are recognized.
Although some of the civil rights are named in the Constitution of the United States as well, the Bill of Rights contains basic civil liberties outlining the rights that are important for the freedom of an individual. The amendments listed in the Bill of Rights can be divided into several categories, such as the right to keep arms, protection of the private property, freedom of expression, the rights of the people accused in the crime and the assurance of punishment according to the crime. After public debates in the press at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Congress has based public policy on the Bill of Rights.
The first amendment of the Bill of Rights guarantees the freedom of religion stating that congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ( The Bill of Rights, 1789, par. 5). It also ensures the freedom of speech and press remaining crucial in the field of civil liberties even nowadays. It is generally recognized that the proposals for separating the church and the state were not supported by people as it contradicted the first amendment. There are also constant debates about the freedom of speech and press, especially after the rapid development of internet media sources. Still, the first amendment keeps assuring peoples rights. The other amendments, such as the second amendment which guarantees the right to bear and keep a weapon, also attract the attention of publicity from time to time.
Contemporary issues in the government keep bearing the influence of the primary Bill of Rights, developing the notion of civil rights and liberties. The United States Department of State includes the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor which applies strict principles to its work on human rights. Some of their principles include strives to learn the truth and state the facts in all of its human rights investigations, reports on country conditions, speeches and votes in the UN, and asylum profiles ( Human rights, 2017, par. 9). It is a good example of the fact that the protection of the primary human rights remains the basic priority of the U.S. government. The government also includes the issue of protecting the human rights in the foreign policy.
Although many other amendments were added to the Constitution since the original Bill of Rights passed the ratification, this document remains the basic guarantee to the civil rights of the people of the United States. The discussed right still have significant importance nowadays. Nowadays, the number of civil rights keeps growing ensuring rights to minorities.
References
Human rights. (2017). Web.
The Bill of Rights. (1789). Web.
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