The Bill of Rights is the collection of the first ten amendments that were drafted by James Madison. Each amendment was passed by congress on September 25, 1789 and ratified on December 15, 1791. Madison originally drafted only seventeen amendments. Of the seventeen, five were rejected and only ten from the remaining twelve were ratified. Although the original Bill of Rights pertained only to land-owning white men, all men were granted protections of the constitution with the help of the Fourteenth Amendment. In today’s environment, some may say that the Bill of Rights is outdated and in need of revision.
If I were to rewrite the Bill of Rights, the first amendment that I would keep is the First Amendment. It is one of the reasons why the U.S. stands out amongst the rest: it provides us with our basic freedoms. It states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting its free exercise. We as a country are able to openly express our faith and its one of the many reasons why people …show more content…
Today, this amendment is one of the biggest topics discussed over, especially during election season. This amendment states that citizens have a right to bear arms. In 2008 the Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller the court ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to own a gun for personal use. However, the decision only applied to federal laws and did not address local and state laws so in July of 2010 the Supreme Court ruled that the federal right to bear arms also applies at the state and local level. The reasons for why people own guns vary depending on the person. According to survey done by the Pew Research Center, as of 2013, about 37% of Americans reported having a gun in their household and nearly half of these gun owners (48%) used their guns for protection. The second highest reason for owning a gun was hunting at a reasonable
If I were to rewrite the Bill of Rights, the first amendment that I would keep is the First Amendment. It is one of the reasons why the U.S. stands out amongst the rest: it provides us with our basic freedoms. It states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting its free exercise. We as a country are able to openly express our faith and its one of the many reasons why people …show more content…
Today, this amendment is one of the biggest topics discussed over, especially during election season. This amendment states that citizens have a right to bear arms. In 2008 the Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller the court ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to own a gun for personal use. However, the decision only applied to federal laws and did not address local and state laws so in July of 2010 the Supreme Court ruled that the federal right to bear arms also applies at the state and local level. The reasons for why people own guns vary depending on the person. According to survey done by the Pew Research Center, as of 2013, about 37% of Americans reported having a gun in their household and nearly half of these gun owners (48%) used their guns for protection. The second highest reason for owning a gun was hunting at a reasonable