Our Rights As American Citizens

Improved Essays
A man writes a paper to a newspaper complaining about an issue that the paper did an article on. The newspaper files a complaint with the local law enforcement and the man is brought to the police station for questioning. The man is let go because freedom of the press is one of his rights as an American citizen. Our rights are important things to have and are extremely helpfully in establishing us as a free country. The rights that we have as American citizens are many and amazing when compared with the rights of people from other countries. The definition of our rights as American citizens is a definition that is conflicted throughout the country for many years according to race and religion, but is now changing to help many people.
The
…show more content…
People have defined the right of different religious groups for many years. This defining has been a problem as people who are made out to be different are not given their full rights and are not treated as everybody else is treated. After the attacks on the Twin Towers the rights of Muslims changed dramatically. Before these attacks people were learning to accept people based on their personalities and how they treat other people. After these attacks many Americans refused Muslims their rights based on nothing other than their religion. This is still a problem today with people basing it solely off of the war in Iraq and the attacks by the ISIS rebels. This is wrong as it generalizes that all Muslims are bad because of the actions of a few. The definition of rights should be given to all people who do nothing to prove that they are not worthy of their …show more content…
The definition of rights should be that everybody that is a legal American has the rights that are given to them according to the Constitution of our country. The rights should never be refused to somebody based on racism or hatred. These rights are our rights as free humans to make the best out of our country and to do what is best for our family and friends. People have to learn that rights should be given to everybody despite any differences. The definition can be changed to this if the people come together as a nation to stand up for what their constitutional rights are.
The ways in how people define our rights are changing, but are still in conflict as they have been for many years. Racism had been a big part of how people define their rights and is beginning to become something of the past for a majority of people. Religion has also been a huge part of how people define the rights of others. If people come together they can change many things about this country including how our rights are given to us. They can also make sure that our rights are given fairly and without prejudice based on any sort of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    What impact did World War I have on Civil Liberties in the United States? While World War I was going on, it had a major impact on Civil Liberties in the United States. The government was taking people's individual rights, freedom of speech and the right to protest was inhibited as well. Those people who showed any interference with the government or refused to military recruitment with the war would be punished by being sent to jail for twenty years or were fined with at least ten thousand dollars.…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    America's Rights Dbq

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1.What altered ideas about society and government in France are reflected in this excerpt from The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen? P 612 text Many of the statements in this declaration deal with changes in the law. For one, statement number five states the need for improved laws in dealing all crimes, and the need to take precautions so that the law isn’t abbused wrongfully. Secondly, statement number 7 states that “No man may be indicted, arrested or detained, accept in cases determined by the law and according to the forms which it has prescribed.” Thirdly, number nine is very important because it states that all men shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty, without this statement many more people would have been punished for…

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Brent Staples Stereotypes

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages

    No one wants to be told that who they are and what they believe is wrong. I, as a peaceful Muslim American, am not a terrorist. I am a practicing Muslim and I have been since I was born; however this is not the only thing that defines me as a person. I love learning and experiencing new things. I love eating dinner with my family.…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Muslims got beaten, ridiculed, and even killed by people that could not realize that not every Muslim seeks domination against the United States. Muslim men, women, and even children were scared to walk outside their home because of stubborn people that refuse to believe almost all Muslims perform no terrorist attacks. Some Arabic Muslims needed to perform religious statements condemning terrorism in front of Americans just to prove they are innocent in the 9/11 attack. It took one action from the Muslims to completely shun all of their peoples’…

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Bill of Rights is the first 10 Amendments of the Constitution. It was created to exclude governmental power to citizen rights. The Bill of Rights, is a protection for an individual’s liberty. Built for a person’s freedom of speech, religion, and press. It arranges rules for due process of law and reserves all power not substituted to the Federal Government, to the people or the states, but imagine if the government stops granting you those rights, striping them away from you.…

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    You would figure that living in the United States one would get the rights they deserve. Well it hasn’t always been that ways especially toward Africans Americans in the South. African Americans have fought for equality in both education and labor. It hasn’t been easy to be considered as an American because there are still some rights that have been denied to us African Americans including, getting a higher education and succeeding in a profession. African Americans and have a right to equality and should be able to work with white men to create a stronger and better nation.…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are many different religions in this world such as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and much much more. In America anyone has the right to practice those beliefs. You can go to any church without getting locked up, or getting executed. In other countries such as Iraq you can’t perform your religious devotions. People do not have the rights to be free and believe in what they want to believe in.…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Every single American citizen has rights. Whether it is going to whatever school is closest to home, the right to vote, or even being able to marry whoever you choose: none of these rights should be restricted. In the past, African Americans’ and other immigrants’ human rights have been restricted. With the help of many rights activists and government involvement, these rights have been granted.…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Bill Of Rights

    • 1024 Words
    • 5 Pages

    History The Bill of Rights, much like the Constitution, has been a staple in the way that US law has been carried out ever since they were created. In recent years, however, it is becoming increasingly obvious that they no longer serve their original purpose. The second amendment, for instance, protects US citizens’ right to bear arms. This amendment can be problematic as people can own automatic weapons cable of killing dozens in seconds versus when the amendment was created and available weapons were limited to muskets that could shoot off about 3 rounds a minute.…

    • 1024 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Larry Flynt once said, “If you’re not going to offend somebody you don’t need the First Amendment.” This quotation means that if you are unable to help somebody protect their rights, then you are not using the freedoms the first Amendment guarantees. On December 15, 1791, the state of Virginia ratified that the citizens of The United States were now protected of their essential freedoms. (FirstAmendmentCenter.org)This means that American citizens now had the freedoms of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition. The amendment clearly states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably…

    • 1582 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Civil Rights And Liberties

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages

    This is question #1 The constitution, the fundamental right and principles as well as the bill of rights, the first ten rights stated in the constitution establish the foundations of American politics. These documents establish American politics by giving the government a structure to work debates, rules and many other oppositions around. They formed an orderly way of doing things. The American constitution I feel is more of an organizational document the helps keep things in order.…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One current civil rights issues that has been going on for the past few months is the movement of women's rights. A lot of women have been worried about certain rights being taken away or that will lose funding after the new President comes into office. Some examples would be the banning of safe abortions or the funding of Planned Parenthood. A lot of women do not want these two things taken away because it can cause unsafe situations for women. So now all over the country millions of women have been marching to spread their word.…

    • 228 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As an American, it is one’s duty to support and stand for the views of the United States through various policies, human rights, and the classic American ideals. However, over the years, these ideas and interpretation of rights have often changed. We have seen this though radical new laws that would have never been accepted a few centuries ago. Some of these new policies are things such as the legalizing same-sex marriage through the entire nation, legalizing medical marijuana, or death with dignity policies. While there have been many things added to the American system, such as these laws, there have also been many things taken out, such as the military draft.…

    • 1097 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Our Founding Fathers established the foundation of our country considering the diversity among the people- a nation of immigrants. Settlers came to the New World to escape religious persecution, a corrupted government, financial turmoil, or just to establish a better way of life and pursue a desirable quality of living. The people of this nation fought for what they presumed, and later declared, as their natural rights as human beings; “[t]he sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power” (Hamilton). The First Amendment is important to protect…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Liberty And Justice

    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The United States was built upon the ideas of freedom, equality, and justice. We have all grown up reciting the pledge of allegiance and stated “Liberty and justice for all”. Liberty equates to freedom to do whatever one chooses as long as it is not affecting someone else freedom. Justice is the concept of not being judged and/or prosecuted without trial or habeas corpus.…

    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays