"The Bill of Rights was intended to limit the powers of the national government to infringe on the rights and liberties of the citizenry." Explain this statement and describe, showing a thorough knowledge of historic events, how the principles in the Bill of Rights have been incorporated into the states.
talk bout various aspects of the bill of rights andhow they contribute to american society? underlying ideologies and stuff.
put facts to back up your statements. dates.
How laws have been changed in various ways.
Undoubtedly, you need to start with the Bill of Rights itself - that is, the first ten amendments of the US Constitution:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html
You may decide to add an explanation to each one as you include it. For example, people throw around the phrase "my right to privacy," but if you'll notice, the word "privacy" doesn't show up at all in these amendments. Which amendment do you think leads to this idea?
Then you'll need to look at the history of the writing of the following documents -- all of which led to the writing of the ten amendments:
~Declaration of Independence
~
~US Constitution
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/help/constRedir.html
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/billofrights.html
http://www.billofrights.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights
Read thoroughly, and be sure to check on the references and external links at the bottom of this page.
http://www.constitution.org/billofr_.htm
http://www.constitutioncenter.org/explore/ForKids/index.shtml
Click on various links on the left.
You can undoubtedly find more by going to www.google.com and entering "bill of rights" history (including the quotation marks).
=)
I forgot to include what I intended in that list of three. Here's the complete list:
~Declaration of Independence
~Articles of Confederation
~US Constitution
And this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Congress
thanks so much... but what about the incorporateing into the states how can one go about doing that?
The statement "The Bill of Rights was intended to limit the powers of the national government to infringe on the rights and liberties of the citizenry" accurately captures the purpose behind the creation of the Bill of Rights. When the United States Constitution was ratified in 1788, there was concern among some framers and citizens that the central government might abuse its authority and neglect the individual rights of the people. To address these concerns, the Bill of Rights, consisting of the first ten amendments to the Constitution, was added in 1791.
The Bill of Rights serves as a safeguard against potential government overreach by explicitly stating various rights and liberties that are deemed fundamental and cannot be violated. These rights include freedom of speech, religion, and assembly, protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, the right to a fair trial, and many others. The primary aim of the Bill of Rights is to protect individual liberties and limit the power of the federal government to infringe upon them.
Historically, the principles outlined in the Bill of Rights have been incorporated into the states through a process known as selective or "incorporation doctrine." Initially, the Bill of Rights only applied to the national government, and individual states were not bound to follow those rights. However, over time, the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause to extend the protections of the Bill of Rights to the states.
The incorporation process occurred gradually, with the Supreme Court selectively incorporating specific rights over the years through various landmark cases. For example, in the 1925 case Gitlow v. New York, the Court held that the First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech also applies to state governments. This was the starting point for incorporating the First Amendment's guarantees into state law.
Since then, the Supreme Court has continued to incorporate other amendments. Notable cases include Mapp v. Ohio (1961), which incorporated the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, and Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), which incorporated the Sixth Amendment's right to counsel.
Overall, the incorporation doctrine has progressively enforced the core principles of the Bill of Rights upon the states, ensuring that individual rights and liberties are equally protected across the nation. While some individual state constitutions may provide even greater rights or additional protections, the Bill of Rights sets a minimum standard that states must meet in safeguarding the fundamental liberties of their citizens.