Choose one of these 3:Bill of Rights, Constitution of US, Declaration of Independence. And how principles outlined in these document have been applied to historical events in the US?

Question

Please write at least 5-6 sentences including the introducing sentence, body sentence and closing sentence.

Answer 1

The principles outlined in the Bill of Rights have a practical application to many components of U.S. history, as seemingly small uses or abridgments of these rights influenced American society signficantly. Additionally, because all of these rights are important but may not have been explicitly enlisted (referring to the 3rd Amendment), it is best to consider the influence of individual rights on historical events.

The First Amendment has largely been a part of the protests that help to define American society, so during events like the Vietnam War or Civil Rights Movement, the use of these rights were employed in order to demand changes such as the withdraw of troops or the actual implementation of rights for protected classes of people (race, religion, and gender can place people in these classes, to name a few). The constant protesting of individuals despite arrest and torment during the 1910's also led to the 19th Amendment being passed which tells us that the right to vote cannot be taken away because of someone's sex.

Even still, one important piece of information to note about the Bill of Rights is that they did not begin to become as relevant to public life until many of the Supreme Court rulings that exist from the late 1950's onward. One of these is Miranda v. Arizona, which the 5th Amendment helped to decide. This event helped individuals to look more critically at law enforcement, while also helping to shift protections in the judicial system onto the accused in a more suitable and generalized manner.

Finally, one more example would have to be the 4th Amendment. This one is a bit different, because it was shaped and created because of U.S. historical events. During the colonial period of American history, the colonists became very frustrated with the "Writs of Assistance," which were essentially warrants that said that those who worked for the Crown could have their items (boat, home, practically anything) searched if there was even a small suspicion they might be holding onto smuggled goods. This was a primary motivation for the development of the 4th Amendment, which provides for specific warrants as a necessity, with limited capability to infringe on rights to, what has been inferred as privacy. It also means that there are very limited exceptions to this rule and that an incident has to be ongoing or someone has to be getting hurt in order to break that rule.

In summary, the Bill of Rights is an important source of American history, as it can indicate why certain amendments were passed and allow us to have pertinent information moving forward as we deal with new and exciting government challenges in the future.