Charles Krauthammer's In Plain English: Lets Make It Official

Politicians including Donald Trump, Lindsey Graham, and Scott Walker, Chris Christie, and Rand Paul. Most Republicans are against wording but aren’t about repealing it, but they believe people are taking advantage of it. The Republicans argument against birthright citizenship, “that birthright citizenship needs to be changed to stem illegal immigration. They argue that having children become U.S. citizens is a motivating factor for immigrants to come into the country illegally and that when the child reaches adulthood he or she can try to sponsor their parents for citizenship. ”(Kopan), in other words, they are creating “anchor babies”(Navarrette).

In 1787 the United States’ constitution was written, two years later the Bill of Rights was added. The Bill of Rights consists of ten amendments which were designed based on the American ideals to ensure that the federal government is not too powerful, and that it would protect the rights of the people or of the state. One of the most important amendments in the Bill of Rights is the sixth amendment which gives the people the right to enjoy a speedy trial when accused, and it allows the accused person to know the cause of accusation and who his accuser is. It clearly represents some of the American ideals such as: democracy, equality, and opportunity. The sixth amendment provides more requirements for a fair trial in criminal cases.

There are many amendments in the constitution developed by supreme courts that secure the civil rights and liberties of the people; among 27 amendments of the constitution,

The first source which will be evaluated in depth is Eric Foner’s book “Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War” which was published in oxford in 1995. The purpose of this book is to analyze the civil war and evaluate the ideas of the early Republican Party. The author talks about how “free soil, free labor, free men” did not really apply for most Americans, and especially not blacks. The slogan refers to the belief that slavery was undemocratic, and the territories without slavery (free soil, free labor, free men), were morally and economically superior. The origin of this source is valuable because Eric Foner has served as a professor of History in City College from 1973 to 1982.

The transcript was interesting, it talked about how Thomas Jefferson wanted to live in an independant nation by switching the word “subjects” to the word citizens while writing the declaration of independence. This is related to the purpose of the government because he does not want the government to treat Americans like “subject”, he wants to treat them more like US citizens. In all of these documents they all say the same thing, they all express the same beliefs of an independent nation and how they would do it. In all of these documents they talk about similar ideas involving independence, but their solutions of becoming an independent nation are different. The Declaration of Independence and the transcript are different from Patrick Henry 's speech because Patrick Henry wants to have a war and fight without any peace, while the other two explain their thoughts in a more peaceful

There 's been a lot of wishful thinking about the 14th Amendment and I also have to agree with you Derick, when you mentioned that you were not born here. I actually do share the same views and I am also a naturalized citizen which also give me the privilege to vote. In my beliefs the civil-rights law protecting racial minorities from discrimination and it is still illegal to discriminate against a person when voting. Furthermore, the Voting Rights Act has been the most effective piece of civil rights legislation. However,It is stated that the Constitution 's emphasis on place of birth is antiquated.

Jaswinder Bolina uses his identification as Other, to describe difficulties within the writing and speaking community related to what is commonly identified as “white” English in his essay, Writing Like a White Guy. Bolina’s audience is people whom identify as “Other” or “non-white”. He emphasizes, “The first perhaps essential step in assimilating into any culture is the successful adoption of the host country’s language. What’s unusual in America is that this is no different for the immigrant than for the native-born nonwhite.”

From the 9,051,507 independent newspapers in circulation: 3,648,141 favored; 2,955,706 did not favor, and 2,447,660 were conditional. The conditional option generally referred to changes being made to the Treaty involving compromises between America and the rest of the World. Of these, there were 4,957,348 Democratic newspapers in circulation: 4,327,052 supported ratification; 121,912 did not support, and 508,384 were conditional. There were also 6,996,937 Republican newspapers in circulation: 1,911,256 supported; 1,249,264 did not support, and 3,836,417 were conditional. From this data, there was no evidence of definite and overwhelming dislike of the League of Nations, but there was evidence of conflict regarding ratification with or without changes being made to the

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech”. Some people in today’s time would argue the first amendment is one of the most important listed in the Bill of Rights. Many forms of speech are protected by the first amendment that one wouldn’t think would be such as flag burning and “adult videos”. Over the years there have been many different court cases that have debated and fought the forms of speech that are protected. Many people in society treat speech differently and this is given in the United States because there are such diverse groups throughout the nation.

The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution stating that civil rights may not be denied on the basis of one’s sex. All throughout history people have argued whether it is best to have human distinctions or gender equality. Ultimately, “The ERA would make women’s equality with men law of the land” (lecture notes). This federal amendment would make it impossible for legislators to pass laws that discriminate against women’s rights. In 1977, 35 out of 38 states ratified the ERA however, despite the widespread public support for the amendment, the extension ran out in 1982.

The Declaration of Independence was written on July, 2 1776 by Thomas Jefferson. It was not signed by all members of the parliament until July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence proposed that all men were equal in society. Perhaps as important as the Declaration, it was Abraham Lincoln 's own interpretation of the Declaration, which he wrote and spoke about in response to the Supreme Court 's horrific decision in the Dred Scott case of 1855. While there had been accusations at the time that the Founding Fathers did not include African-Americans in the references to citizenship in the Declaration 's wording, Lincoln elegantly & irrefutably argued that the Fathers had to have had based on the principles of the 'Enlightened ' notions of life & citizen that men like Thomas Jefferson were clearly alluding to.

James Madison wrote Federalist 51 over 200 years ago, yet its words still impact today’s government in 2016. When writing Federalist 51, Madison had two main objectives in mind; he wanted a government with a separation of powers, and he also wanted minorities to be protected. Both of his objectives have been accomplished and continue to be present in today’s American government with the latter objective being more present in today’s government even more so than in the past. To begin with, power is separated in today’s government, preventing a single person or group from having absolute power since, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” according to John Dalberg-Acton. The American government is composed of three branches which power is separated amongst.

David Brooks, a professor at Yale University and a writer for the New York Times, in his “The Uses of Patriotism” (2016), argues that the American national anthem promotes unity and therefore Americans should all respect the standing tradition. He first supports his argument by stating that America was the vision of a land where everyone has promised opportunities, then by stating the decline in American patriotism doesn’t fortify the creed of solidarity, and finally by stressing it will support 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump’s erecting barrier between ethnicities. Brooks’ purpose is to criticize Americans kneeling during the national anthem in order to persuade them it only causes less unification when the Americans need it most.

Proposed by Representative Jim McGovern in 2011, the People’s Rights Amendment would ratify the Constitution’s meaning of the word people. The definition of the word person is a “natural human”, meaning not a group of people. This amendment would overturn the Citizens United decision, which allowed companies to have the same rights of free speech as people. McGovern declared that, “My amendment clarifies that corporations, whether they are for-profit or non-profit entities are not people with constitutional rights.” While many support this amendment, such as the Free Speech for the People group, others say that this amendment will allow the government to take advantage of companies and organizations.

What is the definition of an American? Being American does not mean being a part of a specific race or religion. Although being born in the United States or taking the citizenship test and passing it does make you an American physically, but does it give you the American mentality? Regardless of the language and ethnic diversity that has thrived in America, it is the mutual principle of freedom, equality, and the aspiration of prosperity that makes a true American.     The people of the United States symbolizes a multitude of ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds.