Short Summary: The English Bill Of Rights

The first 10 amendments to the Constitution make up the Bill of Rights which was written by James Madison. He wrote The Bill Of Rights in response of calls from several states for greater constitutional protection of individual liberties. The people who signed the declaration made a promise to protect the people from the government. The colonist wanted to keep their rights because they had a fear of a tyrannical government. People believed and were taught that The Bill Of Rights came from the desire to protect the liberties won in the American Revolution. Evidence shows that that’s not really the case, there was some desire to protect the rights but mainly it was because of the American fear of a new government.

After the French and Indian war, Great Britain’s control over the colonies tightened because they believed that since they had supreme legislative power over the colonies they could impose taxes on the colonists to help pay the debt after the war (Document 1). One of the many acts imposed in the colonists was the stamp act. The stamp act had placed taxed stamps onto newspapers and pamphlets (Document 6). Colonists who refused

Enlightenment was a concept that inspired a new way of thinking of the people. In the newly formed United States of America, enlightenment shaped the way the new government was run. Scientific reasoning was applied to politics, religion, and science. Enlightenment saved music, art, and literature programs in colleges. Enlightenment in Europe led to drastically altered views on philosophy, politics, and communications. While enlightenment was the same revolution in thinking around the world, the ideas it brought were not always the same. For example, French enlightenment had different approaches to thinking than American enlightenment. Because of this, the two countries new governments were run on different ideologies.

Have you ever thought to yourself, where did the Constitution come from? Someone surely had to inspire the people who wrote it? You’re right and I’m going to talk about 3 of some of the most important documents that influenced the Constitution. Starting with the Rights of Citizenship in the Constitution because we got to know how the Constitution affects us and why we care about it. The Constitution gives us rights that nobody can take away from us. Starting with the very first amendment granting us freedom of speech. The first 10 were in the Bill of rights written way back in 1791 giving us in detail 10 rights as a citizen. With 27 amendments now (the most recent added in 1992) we have a lot of rights as Americans. Some of these rights were gained through tradition and time. The woman’s right to vote was added to the amendments to give women equal rights. As Americans, we also have responsibilities, stated in the Constitution. We have the responsibility to vote in the elections. We also have the responsibly to follow all the laws the government makes. Those are some of our rights and responsibilities as Americans. There are many more if you look in the U.S. Constitution. My thesis statement is, American citizenship rights and responsibilities shown in the U.S. Constitution originate from the English

In 1776, the British colonists that were living in America were getting tired of Great Britain’s control. The British were strictly ruling the colonies at this time, and the colonists decided that they were going to fight back. Firstly, colonists were given hefty taxes. Great Britain did this to receive more money, since they are in debt from the French and Indian War. Also, there were many unfair laws that were being instilled. King George III and Parliament restricted the colonists in almost everything they did. Next, the Boston Massacre helped lead to the American Revolution. It proved that the British were in charge and violent, and the colonists were enraged. Lastly, colonists had no representation in Parliament. Laws and taxes were passed without them having a say. Americans decided to fight for their independence in 1776 because they were being treated unjustly by Great Britain.

After the French and Indian War, Great Britain was in a huge debt and had a lot more land to rule. As a result of their debt and their new land, they began to put taxes on the colonists living in that land. The colonists were angry about these taxes because they were getting taxed without representation in British Parliament. Two acts that caused some of these reactions are the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts. The British actions after 1763 caused numerous reactions from the colonists, which ultimately led to the American Revolution.

One of the main conflicts for ratifying the Constitution was on how it would guard against tyranny. The Constitution is a document which states how the government will work. The Constitution had some flaws but it wasn 't until after it was made that they amended it and added the bill of rights. The Constitution guards against tyranny by limiting the power of the government using the Bill of rights, Separation of powers, and Checks and balances.

It is not the leaders, but the people who make a difference in the community. The

I remember the night very clearly. I was ten years old the night my dad came home complaining about a new act that King George had passed. This act was called the Stamp Act. Little did we know at the time that this act would lead to many things. He said that they were making us pay for a stamp for every single piece of paper we bought. This included the newspaper, wills, deeds, pamphlets and even playing cards. The colonists did not want to pay the tax, not because of the money that they had to pay but because they had to pay for a war that they were not involved in. He said the reason we had to do this is because Britain was in great debt from the war with France. Since we benefited from the war the British government decided that we should

1700’s British colonies made up most of America. These colonists generated a lot of money by growing and exporting lumber, fishing, doing work as blacksmiths, and many other jobs. But when the French and Indian War had ended in 1763, Britain was heavily in debt. To pay off all this debt Britain started passing many acts, to make money off of the colonists. There were many different acts which included The Stamp Act of 1765, which required colonists to purchase postage and include the stamps with documents and paper goods. The Declaratory Act of 1766, which stated that the colonies are subordinate and dependent on the Imperial Crown and Parliament of Britain and that Parliament had the authority to pass laws. More and more unfair acts were passed

It was called the sugar act. Then, Parliament passed the stamp act, which the colonists hated even more. They burned stamps. British got annoyed and passed more taxes, like the Townshend act. The colonist were know boycotting them and were protesting so much that all of the taxes and acts were overturned. The colonists were not only angry because of the taxes. They had no power to represent to British that they did not like the taxes. They adapted a saying (“No taxation without representation”) to say that the British can not tax without

The Sugar Interest already hiked up the price of sugar for the colonists, and that led to many acts being placed on the colonists which caused complications. First came the Currency Act of 1764. This was practically reinforcing the Currency Act of 1751 because Parliament was scared of the colonists bonding together. This act was created just for the New England colonies, and it really made money have no value as England prohibited the colonists from issuing new bills or reissuing new currency. Soon the Sugar Act was enforced also after already having been in existence for a while. The Sugar Interest wanted to be positive the colonists were not buying anyone else’s rum except for English rum, so the Act places customs duties on non-British sugar and prohibited any rum that was not British. Most colonists actually did not mind this and thought it was constitutional, except for Boston who grew to be quite angry especially since smugglers had a harder time of making a living now. Next, comes the Stamp Act, which was a miniscule tax on just about everything made of paper. Some colonies already had their own type of Stamp Act imposed, so the extra tax made most colonists very angry especially because it was an internal tax; therefore, it is unconstitutional. Due to the Stamp Act, Boston acted in extreme fashions, as the Liberty Boys tarred and feathered and terrorized many

The Sugar Act would lower the taxes sugar and molasses, but much to the dismay of the colonists Europe had increased its enforcement of these taxes, (Shultz,n.d.). Sugar and molasses were not the only items being taxed with this act, they began taxing items such as indigo, pimento, allspice, coffee, and some wines. Britain had made it so they could collect revenue from the colonies directly and thus still having some

Freedom has been the center of American ideals since the United States gained independence from Great Britain. To protect these ideals, the Founding Fathers created the Bill of Rights; which contains the first ten amendments to the Constitution. The document grants American citizens their basic rights and freedoms. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press and the right to petition the government without retribution. It directly states:

The first part of this apply assignment consists of summarizing the Bill of Rights, written by James Madison in 1789, which was ratified in 1791, to the people and the limitations placed on the government. In the Bill of Rights that he wrote the ten Amendments. I will try to simplify and summarize what each one meant. The second part of this assignment I will choose two of the amendments that I feel strongly about and what would happen if they were eliminated and what the nation would be like today.