In the United States, the Bill of Rights refers to the first ten constitutional amendments. The constitution was amended to safeguard the natural rights of liberty and material goods.
Through the bill of rights, an individual is assured of a number of personal freedoms, including the right to own property, the right to life, right of protection from the law, freedom of movement, freedom of association and the freedom of speech. Moreover, the bill o rights limit the power of the central government regarding the independence of the judiciary. Subsequent amendments allowed states and the public to have some rights and freedoms that could not be denied.
The amendments originally applied to the federal government only, but the Fourteenth Amendment allowed various states to apply the bill of rights (Davies, 750). The bill of rights plays a critical role in the United States because they define the relationship between the government and the populace. The governor is expected to behave in a certain manner while the governed has various rights and responsibilities (Brinkley 12).
Based on the ideas of John Locke, the civil society should be created to protect the private property meaning that the bill of rights plays an important role of safeguarding the wealth of various individuals. In the state of nature, Locke was of the view that each person is free and equal implying that natural rights cannot be separated from an individual. For instance, the right to life cannot be denied because it defines an individual.
The state should always make sure that the right of each is protected. This would not have been achieved without a constitutional order. Therefore, the bill of rights was drafted to safeguard the interests of individuals. The populace should always be the ultimate authority because it elects leaders. The government of the day has the legal responsibility of protecting the rights of individuals. These rights are mainly found in the bill of rights. Any government that fails to protect the fundamental right of an individual should cease to exist.
The main reason why the bill of rights was written was to prevent it from the powers of the central government. The bill of rights could be scrapped in case it remained unwritten because the power of the central government was growing. The way the constitution was drafted would open the way for to totalitarianism meaning that the president would have adequate powers over the ruled.
He would easily order the arrest of individuals and seizure of property (Brinkley 88). The English bill of rights differed in a number of ways with the American version. The American version aimed at addressing the rights of individuals as represented by the legislature against the crown. In this regard, it had to be written, unlike the English version, which was unwritten.
Drafters of the constitution based their argument on the violation of civil rights during and after the Revolution since the British unleashed terror to citizens even though unwritten constitutional order preventing the government from using force existed (Levy 26).
The bill of rights was viewed as one of the national unifying factor hence it had to be written. The English bill of rights contained clauses on the right to petition, independent judiciary and, freedom of speech. Americans needed something different regarding the right to petition because a number of individuals were not allowed to participate in a democratic process.
The Fourth Amendment, which states that the state security agencies should not infringe the rights of an individual through unreasonable search and seizure, is the most important. The law requires that an individual be given an arrest warrant before being searched. Moreover, the arrest warrant must be supported by probable cause meaning that the state security forces must provide adequate evidence showing that an individual indeed committed a crime before being arrested.
The law was formulated specifically to contain the behaviour of the colonial government, which would conduct a search without an adequate reason. In this process, an individual would be injured while his or her property would be destroyed. The court should conduct a critical review of evidence before issuing an arrest warrant meaning that the state security agencies have no permission to enter private premises.
In the Fourth Amendment, the meaning of search is outlined. In this regard, the right to privacy should always be considered when searching a premise or frisking an individual. Regarding seizure, the security agencies are prohibited from taking away private property to be used as evidence. Arresting an individual and holding him or her in a police custody amounts to seizure.
However, ordinary police checks, such as traffic inspection, do not result to arrest. Whenever security forces conduct search the premises of an individual, it is expected that they should uncover a criminal activity (Schultz 74). This is referred to as the probable cause meaning that the search and subsequent seizure should bear fruits. If the search were unsuccessful, the rights of individual would have been violated. The individual would have the right to demand compensation for any injury or damage caused.
Works Cited
Brinkley, Alan. American History: A survey. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1999. Print.
Davies, Thomas. “Recovering the Original Fourth Amendment”. Michigan Law Review, 98.3 (1999), 547–750. Print.
Levy, Williams. Seasoned Judgments: The American Constitution, Rights, and History. New York: Transaction Publishers, 1995. Print.
Schultz, David. Encyclopaedia of the United States Constitution. New York: InfoBase Publishing, 2009. Print.