Friday, September 19, 2008

From Q

Our rights are secured by the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights. Americans have the basic rights that ensure our freedom. Although perfect in its entirety, the Bill of Rights, if need be could be shortened to these five amendments: Amendments number one, four, five, six, eight, and nine.
It is important to retain the amendment for free speech, press and protest. It gives the people the right to express themselves. Also, when posed with a threat to their freedom from a tyrannical government, the people have the rights to meet with their peers and discuss the issue freely along with protesting the unfair acts. This amendment helps defend freedom.
It is more important, in my opinion, than amendment number two. Amendment two gives citizens the right to bear arms and to have a militia. Although important, the ability to protest can be more effective than trying to kill the opponent.
Once again, amendment number three is important, but life can continue without it. First of all, not many wars have been fought on American soil, so I would not worry about a soldier demanding refuge in your home. It is more important to protect a civil right than housing a soldier.
Amendment number four is extremely important because it guarantees us the right to keep our possessions that rightfully belong to us. This amendment can help filter propaganda because the internet, television, and the telephone cannot be taken from us. These tools can help us20communicate with others far away and globalize us. We could not be cut off from the world with these tools.
Amendments five and six deal with court processes. They guarantee us the right to a fair, quick trial. They also provide the basis for innocent until proven guilty. They ensure us that we cannot be wrongly imprisoned under any circumstance. They give us the rights to lawyers, impartial jury members, and witnesses.
Although amendment number seven deals with court process as well, pertaining to the prosecution, it is less important than five and six. Those two make sure that we can not be wrongly imprisoned. Even though it is important to be able to sue, it is more important to be defended properly.
Eight is crucial to avoid torture and only have legal and just punishments. Torture is unacceptable by any means. This amendment protects our right to be defended properly along with five and six.
Amendment number nine is for those literal people that try to make life just a little harder. Just in case anyone is a little to literal and thinks that the rights not listed here are not given, this amendment says otherwise. This can prevent future dictators from manipulating our rights and eventually conquering us.
Ten is also important, but I will be honest that because I could only choose five to keep, and ten is my sixth most important, it has been eliminated by default. It is basically like number nine for the sta tes instead of the people. Yes, it is very important that the states don’t get manipulated by those legal sharks, but not as important as some of the other amendments.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The page was well written. The reasons given for eliminating the rights you chose to eliminate were sensible. Your composition showed that you knew a lot about the rights given to people in the US. For an essay like this, it was important to show that you know what the purpose of each right is so the composition would make sense to the reader.

At the beginng of the essay, you said "five amendments" then listed six. Only four amendments were chosen to be removed. Which amendment would be the fifth???