British Tyranny, the First Amendment, The Origins of the Bill of Rights (Part 1:)

The Bill of Rights when submitted to the States in 1789 contained 12 approved Articles by Congress, 10 of which would be ratified by the required States on December 17, 1791, and an additional one would eventually be ratified in 1992 and is now the 27^th Amendment. But it is the first 10 Amendments that will be explored here.

Why where these specifics things chosen to be protected? What caused them to be so important? Who and what where the driving factors in having a Bill of Rights at all? These things and more will be explored through the course of this discussion.

The first thing to look at is the root motivation of the clauses. What happened in the past that caused it to be so important to specifically protect these rights? What lessons in history were learned leading to the inclusion of these Rights. To answer these questions we need to go back to even before the American Revolution even started, to when the British Ruled the continent.

Each amendment will be broken up into individual components for analysis.

THE FIRST AMENDMENT

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 to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Signing with Autopen: Quick Thoughts

Today the President signed an extension on the Patriot Act using a device called autopen (the merits of the Patriot act are not of concern here, only the circumstances of its signing). The reason for this is, the President was in Europe at the time the bill was approved by Congress and ready for a the Presidents signature. According to Article I Section 7 regarding the passage of bills into Law it states:

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States: If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law.

Article I Section 7 also states:

If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

Who are the Founding Fathers? George Mason IV

Life: December 11, 1725-October 7, 1792

Wife: Wife: Ann Eilbeck (Wed April 4, 1750, Died March 9, 1773)

            Wife: Sarah Brent (Wed April 11, 1780, Died 1805)

Children:

Son: George Mason V (April 30, 1753)
Daughter: Ann Eilbeck Mason (January 13, 1755)
Son: William Mason (April 16, 1756-August 4, 1757)
Son: William Mason (October 22, 1757)
Son: Thomson Mason (March 4, 1759)
Daughter: Sarah Eilbeck Mason (December 11, 1760)
Daughter: Mary Thomson Mason (January 27, 1762)
Son: John T. Mason (April 4, 1766-March 19, 1849)
Daughter: Elizabeth Mason (April 19, 1768)
Son: Thomas Mason (May 1, 1770)
Son: Richard Mason (December 4, 1772- December 5, 1772)
Son: James Mason (December 4, 1772- December 5, 1772)

Home State: Virginia

Place of Birth: Stafford County (now Fairfax County), Virginia

Died: Gunston Hall, VA

Natural (unalienable) Rights

We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

These are words every American is probably familiar with and something every child reads in school. But what are “unalienable rights”?  The Declaration of Independence provides some insight to them in the text that follows, that among them are “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, but if these are only part among others, what are the rest?

Perhaps the first best place to look is the primary author of the Declaration of Independence itself, Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson said, “Bacon, Locke and Newton. I consider them as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception, and as having laid the foundation of those superstructures which have been raised in the Physical and Moral sciences”¹. Francis Bacon influenced on separating religion and philosophy, Isaac Newton influenced him in science, but it was John Locke who influenced Thomas Jefferson on the Natural rights most.

So what is “Unalienable”? It simply means it cannot be alienated, or separated. These Rights can not be taken or separated from a person. They always belong to the individual, and never to anybody else. So what rights cannot separated from a person?

John Locke: Two Treatises of Government

John Locke discussed Natural Rights most predominantly in his books Two Treatises of Government, with the second treatises on Civil government in particular discussing Natural rights. It was Chapter II of Book II, the State of Nature that Locke talks about Natural Rights in 11 parts, this what Thomas Jefferson would later call the unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence. Locke starts off with this statement,

Which Document did it come from?

Where did the phrase come from? » online testing