Our Rights and the Constitution

Many Americans go about their lives blindly, learning about their Constitutional rights from shows such as Law & Order, COPS, et al… They also hear on the news people complaining about losing their “right to free speech”, while also “pleading the fifth”.

What are our rights, and where did they come from?
In 1787, the US Constitution was created in a process called a Constitutional Convention. This Constitution was an extremely important document to our country as it outlined the authority and the responsibilities of the government of what was then the brand new country called the United States.

The Constitution told us how to elect a president, it told us how to make our laws, and it told us how we were going to try to ensure that laws were enforced fairly. In essence, the Constitution created our government.

However, the Constitution told us how the Government would work, but it did not give that same government any guidance on what the rules should be. To fix this, the same convention created ten “amendments” to the US Constitution. These first ten amendments we now commonly refer to as the, “Bill of Rights.”

The Bill of Rights is an extremely important part of the Constitution, as it provides guidelines that all new laws and ordinances MUST follow, but it also tells every single citizen and resident the things that they can reasonably expect the government to protect on their behalf.

One big mistake that people make is that they consider the Bill of Rights to be something applicable throughout the entirety of the United States. However, they are not. The Bill of Rights is something that protects citizens from the Government. It does not protect anyone from the actions of other private citizens.

How it works is that the government itself makes the rules (laws) by which people must live. If a person is affected by a law, and thinks that the law breaches one of their personal rights granted under the US Constitution, that person can then argue the violation of their rights before a court. The court will then either uphold or overturn the law by finding either that it complies with our Constitutional rights, or that it violates them.

I am going to attempt to write a series of essays on what our rights under the Constitution are, and explain some of the impact that these rights as granted have on our everyday lives. I am not a constitutional scholar, and I am sure that somebody out there will say that I cannot “assume” to teach knowledge which I do not have, but…

I plead the first; it is my right to free speech that allows me the privilege. Simply follow along, and you, as well, may learn a thing or two.

You can email Alan at alan@alanfernald.com twenty-four hours a day.