The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights
There are many important documents that have warped American history, but the three most well-known would be the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. They are all compare and contrast in many ways. Although they are similar, they all stated different things and served different purposes. But in my opinion, there is a single greatest thing they share; they all created pride in being an inhabitant of the United States of America.
The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson, our third president and first secretary of state, to set in stone that we were a separate nation from Great Britain and no longer a part of the British Empire. The founding fathers were motivated by their hate for the harsh taxation imposed by the king of Britain, King George III, and Parliament to pay for the French and Indian war. They felt they didn’t need to pay these taxes because they had no one to represent them in Parliament and fight against these taxes on a political level. Jefferson wrote that King George III was not holding up the English Bill of Rights, which included a social contract saying that the people followed the government if the government protected their natural rights. He then put the colonists’ feelings into words that included principals that are included in the preamble of the Constitution. Grammar mistakes were revised by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin before being presented to the second Continental Congress. It was voted on unanimously after more changes were made. Everyone approved when it was shipped to King George III.
The Constitution is the document outlining our government made up of a preamble and seven articles. Like the Declaration of Independence, this marked an end to Great Britain's rule. Article I established a Congress made up of a Senate and a House of Representatives with Senators that serve six-year terms and Representatives that serve two-year terms. Article II established our presidency. This article stated that the president represents the nation, creates policy, makes sure laws are faithfully executed, serves as the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, and appoints heads of federal agencies. Article III established the Supreme Court, established local and state courts, and stated that the final decision is made by a jury. The Constitution includes five principles: popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism. Popular sovereignty is an enlightenment idea that states that government gets its power from the people, and is put into play when the people of the US get to vote for their representatives. Limited government, another Enlightenment idea, means that the government can only do what the people give it authority to do, which is exemplified by having state governments ratify the Constitution. The third principal, separation of powers, ensures each branch has different powers so one branch of government does not become too powerful. Checks and balances, like in the name, limits each branch’s powers. For example, Congress makes the laws, the president passes the laws, and the Supreme Court evaluates the laws. This goes hand-in-hand with the separation of powers. Finally, federalism expresses the need for the US to have a strong central government and grants states specific powers. This was implemented because our former Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, had no central government. Congress was the only branch, and it couldn’t stop the states from printing money, regulate prices, control trade, or collect taxes. In other words, they couldn’t solve the issues if devalued currency, inflation, over-importation of foreign goods, and high national debt. Because of federalism, federal powers can regulate interstate and international trade, make treaties, conduct foreign policies, and declare war. Due to the fifth principal, state powers can establish a local government, regulate business within the state, and issue state licenses. Both can build roads, collect taxes, make laws, and enforce laws. The fifth article states that the Constitution can be amended by being voted on in both Congressional houses, must win two thirds vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives and three quarters of the state government’s votes. The founding fathers wanted the law of the land to be able to change with the nation.
The Bill of Rights was included in the Constitution to encourage New York and Virginia to ratify the Constitution. They eventually did, because the Constitution had to be ratified by all thirteen states and its obviously still in play today. The first four amendments are the rights of the people, the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth amendments are the rights of those accused of a crime, and the ninth and tenth are general rights of the people, states, and government. The first amendment protects rights to freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition of the government. Within these freedoms, it states that church and state are separate, there cannot be a national religion, the government cannot stop or force the press to print something true, and government cannot force journalists to reveal their information sources. The second amendment protects the right to bear arms. The third amendment protects the right against quartering soldiers, which was an issue American states had when they were still British colonies during the events leading up to the American Revolution. The fourth amendment protects citizens of America against unreasonable search and seizure by stating officers must have a warrant, identify the property they are searching, identify what they are looking for, and have a probable cause. The fifth amendment protects the right for those accused of a crime to testify against themselves in court, as many people know. But what people don’t know, is that the fifth amendment also states that the accused cannot be punished without the due process of law and that the person cannot go to the same level of court twice for the same crime. The sixth amendment protects people on trial. The sixth amendment ensures the defendant a speedy and public trial, the knowledge of the crime they are accused of, the ability to question witnesses, the ability to call witnesses to their defense, and the option to be represented by a lawyer. The seventh amendment protects rights of people in non-criminal court, including a guaranteed trial by jury in cases involving over twenty dollars and the statement that jury cases cannot be restricted except as allowed by common law. The eighth amendment protects against cruel and unusual punishment, such as excessive bail and fines. The ninth amendment states that people have rights not listed in the Constitution. This amendment has been used to protect personal privacy and other rights. The tenth and final amendment in the Bill of Rights states that any power not specifically given to the federal government in the Constitution belongs to either the states or the people in order to limit the federal government. The Constitution is forever changing, as it is obvious to see that it has been amended twenty seven times.
The Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights while they are similar, are quite different, but they were all influenced by Great Britain’s wrongs to the colonies, Enlightenment ideas, and documents that came before them. One of the things that all of these important historical documents all share in common is the fact that they include ways that Great Britain has wronged the colonies in events leading up to the American Revolution. The Declaration of Independence included them by using them as excuses to break away from Britain, including the different acts that Parliament implemented on the colonies. For example, the Intolerable Acts were one of the most recent at the time, so these were widely complained about in this document. The Constitution used these events to make sure their government could not end up like Great Britain’s. All five of the Constitutional principles were created to set this in stone. The Bill of Rights made sure that rights that Great Britain had violated would not be harmed. For instance, take the third amendment, which protects citizens from quartering soldiers. This was added because the British made the inhabitants of the colonies house British soldiers against their will. Another thing that these documents generally share are Enlightenment ideas. The Declaration of Independence refers to inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Thomas Jefferson got these ideas from a man named John Locke, who wrote that everyone had natural rights that include life, liberty, and property. The Constitution uses this by getting its principles from Enlightenment thinkers such as when Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote a book called The Social Contract. The main idea of this book was that government gets its authority from the consent of the people, which is the principle of limited government. The Bill of Rights uses Enlightenment ideas by using the idea of Enlightenment philosopher Francois-Marie Arout, better known as Voltaire, of religious tolerance, which is a right in the first amendment. The last way that these documents are alike is that they were all influenced by documents before them. The Declaration of Independence was influenced by the Virginia Declaration of Independence, which stated all men are born free and have natural rights including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Declaration of Independence includes similar, if not the same, principles. The Mayflower Compact influenced the Constitution by creating a government for the common good. The Bill of Rights was influenced by the English Bill of Rights, which includes freedom of speech stated in the first amendment. These documents share their influence, and therefore share many of the same concepts within.
As written in the paragraph above, these historical documents, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights, differ in many ways including purpose, targeted audience, and who pushed for the making of them. Purpose is the biggest difference that divides them. The Declaration of Independence was created to separate America from Great Britain. The colonists, after sending King George III the rejected Olive Branch petition addressing complaints and needed changes, wrote this because they decided that they just had to break away. The Constitution was made to create a government for the US after the Articles of Confederation proved weak. The Bill of Rights was made to record the rights of the people and the states, because people felt that their personal and state rights would be neglected because the Constitution only addressed the federal government. The targeted audience, or who these documents address, are not the same as well. The Declaration of Independence was made to mark that the US had a separate government than the king and Parliament, which were the two groups that caused the most unrest, so this is where the Declaration of Independence was created to influence the most. The Constitution was made to create a structure for the federal government. The Bill of Rights was created to satisfy the people of the US and the states, specifically Virginia and New York. These two states had the largest populations at the time, so it was important to the founding fathers that these two states would ratify the Constitution. The last way that these three documents differ is the who pushed for their making. The Declaration of Independence was pushed for by the rebels, and many loyalists were against this idea. The Constitution was created for the federalists, which were a group that didn’t want a Bill of Rights because they felt that the Constitution stated enough rights and one was simply not needed. Without opposition to the Bill of Rights, most of our founding fathers saw how weak the Articles of Confederation were and decided we needed a stronger federal government. On the other hand, the anti-federalists pushed for the creation of the Bill of Rights because they felt that they would be taken advantage of by the government if there wasn’t a document specifically stating their rights. The Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights differ mostly in purpose and different forms of purpose.
In conclusion, not only did these most important documents shape the course of American history, but the American legacy. All, once we were free, opened our eyes to recognizing other races and women as equals. If not for these documents, we would not share the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen. Over the course of history, America has become more free, and will continue to liberate more minorities and create more pride all across the nation.