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Throughout the history of man a struggle has existed between the liberty of the people and the power of the central government to rule without infringing on those same liberties.  The success of any nation is best assured when a balance exists between the liberties, or rights, of the people and the power afforded the government to rule. 

The government of the United States, forged more than two hundred years ago, affords the people of our country such protection largely through the Bill of Rights as the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution are collectively and commonly known.  While there are now 27 amendments to the Constitution, perhaps the most crucial to the continued existence of the are the Bill of Rights.  Their primary significance is that they guarantee the existence and that these same rights will be afforded the people without interference from the government.  In doing this, the Bill of Rights, in many ways, serves as the cornerstone of our country and helps to balance the protection of the people’s liberty by the federal government.

The United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights are some of the most remarkable documents every created; however, these documents, the rights they protect and the manner in which they are crafted, are not unique to the US. Understanding the impact the Bill of Rights has had on the United States and our government today requires a brief exploration of the events that led up to their drafting and ratification in 1791.

Prior to the American Revolution, the original colonies, by way of the Continental Congress, adopted the Articles of Confederation which formed a bond between those original colonies as they struggled for in dependence from .  However, these Articles of Confederation did not adequately address or provide for the presence of a central government to rule the new country.   To address this problem, delegates from the colonies met in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
to formulate a document that would allow for the formation of this new government.  While the totality of the events that occurred at the Constitutional Convention provides a number of fascinating and intriguing historical points, perhaps most interesting is that the idea of a bill of rights was initially put before the Convention only to be rejected without debate.  The drafters of the Constitution were not against a bill of rights; however, as they were drafting a document that would allow only certain enumerated rights to the central government, they simply didn’t see the need for guaranteed rights to be set out in the document.  However, following the drafting of the Constitution and it being sent to the states for ratification, it became clear that the states held a different opinion on the inclusion of language providing these basic rights.  Why?  Simply put, the states didn’t trust the government to protect the rights of the people unless the rights were specifically enumerated.  After all, the concept was not new.

In 1215, nearly 600 years before the drafting of the Bill of Rights, King John of signed the Magna Carta, a document designed to protect the English people from the Crown’s abuse of power.  Following the Magna Carta, in , and even later in the American colonies, similar documents were drafted giving the people enumerated rights to protect them from the misuse of the central government’s power.  Even though the drafters of the Constitution presented the colonies with a remarkable document in the Constitution which crafted a government with an elaborate system of checks and balances on power, until it included certain enumerated ri ghts, it was not complete.

As a result for the call for a Bill of Rights, the framers, led primarily by James Madison, began work to create a document that provided for these basic rights. It was a difficult time for the young country.  Many wanted a second Constitutional Convention to limit the power of the new federal government and many disagreed on what rights to include.  The states provided a flood of proposed amendments and much debate was had as to how the matter would proceed.  However, when the Bill of Rights was sent to the states for acceptance or rejection, it was soon accepted and has remained in place for more than 200 years. 

In drafting the Bill of Rights the framers looked to further define the role of the central government, essentially by saying that the central government would never engage in certain conduct, that is to say, there would be certain actions that the federal government would simply never do.  In the broadest sense of the word, the Constitution created three branches of the federal government, the legislative, the executive, and judicial and gave each certain power; however, there were no rights expressly given to the people.  As part of the original Constitution, as it was envisioned to be a fluid document, that is, one that could, from time to time be amended, in fact, the drafters of the Constitution expressly included a provision in the Constitution allowing for amendments.  It was in this fashion that the Bill of Rights was born and wherein its primary significance rests, the protection of certain basic rights.  Without the Bill of Rights, certain concepts such as religious freedom, protection from troop quartering, the right to keep and bear arms, the right to a free press, the right of accused to a trial by jury or to confront his accuser, just to name a few, could have potentially been denied, or if not denied, repressed placing the burden on the person seeking to exercise the right to gain leave prior to doing what the Bill of Rights allows.  Through history, under other governments, this had happened and the framers wanted to make sure that all possible safe guards were in place to protect the people of our nation.  While the Constitution enumerated power to the new government, the framers wanted to make sure that at some point later the federal government did not infringe on the most basic of rights. It has also been out of the ingenious design of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as a whole that these documents, even today, are as significant and as important to our country as they were more than 200 years ago

In protecting these basic rights, the Bill of Rights is as relevant today as it ever was.  The United States Supreme Court frequently hears cases related to the rights of the people as guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

There are a variety of resources available, both online and in printed form that will aid those that want to learn more about this subject; however, perhaps the first place one should look to better understand the Bill of Rights is the document itself.  It is an unfortunate reality that many people have never read the document that ensures their basic freedoms and see why this document is as important today as it ever was.