are you of a minority religion, say Jewish, or Mormon, or Quaker, or - gasp - even have NO religion?
Do you choose to read alternative publications such as the National Review on the Right or the Nation on the Left?
Have you ever refused to give evidence against yourself, had need of a lawyer in a criminal trial?
I have barely touched the surface of why this day is important.
In 1791 the Virginia legislature approved the first ten Amendments to our Constitution. it was the last state necessary for ratification to be effective.
Today the Bill of Rights became part of our Constitution.
Today, in 1791, finally we became a liberal democracy, with our rights protected from the actions of our national government.
The late Sen. Robert Byrd as a student of history and government insisted we focus on September 17, the day on which the original constitution was approved in convention. It is an important day. By itself it was insufficient. It is telling that despite that approval in 1786 1787, the 9th state to ratify, New Hampshire, did not do so until June of 21 1788. Even then there was no guarantee the new nation would actually work. There was opposition in Virginia, led by Patrick Henry and George Mason, and Virginia only narrowly ratified on June 56, by an 89-79 margin. There was opposition in New York, which even the Federalist Papers had not yet fully overcome, but it followed shortly thereafter on June 26, 30-27. Had either of them failed to do so, it is doubtful the new nation would have succeeded.
Opposition in Virginia centered on the lack of a bill of rights. That explains Mason's opposition - he was, after all, the author of Virginia's Declaration of Rights, adopted by the Commonwealth before the Declaration of Independence. It was only the commitment of the likes of Madison to draft a bill of rights in the first Congress that persuaded a sufficient number of Virginians to ratify. And that was not the only one of the original 13 where such a concern was expressed - after all, Pennsylvania's 1776 Constitution began with a bill of rights.
We have not always fully honored the intent of those first 10 Amendments. People constantly seek to find ways to limit its impact. The 9th Amendment, included precisely because some - like Madison - worried that providing a list of rights might imply rights not listed were not guaranteed to the people - is often either ignored or dismissed by those opposing assertions of other rights. It is worth noting that while Roe v Wade relied in part on the 9th Amendment, it was also based on a right of privacy established in Griswold v Connecticut, where Justice Douglas avoided reference to the 9th in establishing that right as constitutionally guaranteed (although in his concurrence Justice Goldberg relied upon the 9th Amendment).
The 9th Amendment: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
After all, Government does not exist to grant us rights. To refer to the words of Jefferson in the Declaration, who after telling us that "among these rights" were life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - thereby implying a far broader panoply of rights than he had listed, offers these words:
That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
I began with some of the rights. We can argue how to count the rights guaranteed by the words of the ten Amendments.
1st - free exercise of religion, no establishment of religion, freedom of press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, right to petition - are these 6 different rights rather than the normal 5?
2nd - (and please let's not go off on our usual tangent) - the right of the people, in order to have a well regulated militia, to keep and bear arms
3rd - government cannot in peacetime seize private property to quarter troops without the consent of the owner, and in wartime without compensation
4th - requirements for search warrant: before a court, by oath or affirmation, with probable cause, describing the place to be search, and the person or item being sought - cannot we count 5 rights here?
I will not continue with my enumeration - we might well remember that the ten amendments contain several dozen distinct rights that are guaranteed, along with the further guarantees limiting the federal government contained or implied in the final two of the first 10, the 9th and 10th.
I teach government. I am on different issues in both levels of classes today. My regular classes have a quiz tomorrow, and my AP classes are discussing "pork" and its appropriate role in Congress, if any.
In both classes i will take some time, before doing other things, to remind them of this day.
I have been 3 minority religions - Jewish, Eastern ORthodox, Quaker. I have students who are Muslim, Unification Church, Buddhists, . . .
My political views are often in the minority . . .
I am prepared to argue against the death penalty as now being, in the eyes of the civilized world, such a barbarism that it violates the idea of prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment
I can remind people that in our system, and in the BRitish system from which our legal system is in large part derived, the purpose of bail was to guarantee that an accused not flee from the charges s/he faced, and bail should only be denied if allowing the person out of custody represents a real threat to the community - if here you think I am referring to Assange you are correct.
We can trace these rights back hundreds of years, in part to the Magna Carta then in the Petition of Right and in the English Bill of Rights, and in some cases even word for word in Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights.
And when combined with the commitment to habeas corpus in Article I of the original Constitution - that Congress can only suspend it in cases of invasion or insurrection, Congress, not the executive - the rights in criminal cases guaranteed by the 5th and 6th Amendment should make abhorrent the idea of military commissions when civil courts are operating, of using secret evidence or confessions obtained by waterboarding or any other coercive method.
A liberal democracy - a form of government in which the people have broad suffrage to choose their leaders who should be responsive to the will of the people, except that certain rights are guaranteed against government action, even if it be the will of the people.
Our diversity would not be possible without our Bill of Rights.
We would not be the nation in which we so vigorously express our opinions without the Bill of Rights.
Today is an important day.
Do not forget these words:
Amendment I
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.
Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
peace.