EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
Key Constitutional Concepts and Supreme Court Cases
Professor Kermit Roosevelt, III, University of Pennsylvania
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E The Bill of Rights Notes taken on December 6, 2014 by Edward Tanguay |
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Constitution was written in 1787 and ratified in 1788
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but that Constitution, the Founders constitution, isn't the one we live under today
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in part because of Supreme Court decisions on amendments
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how judges should apply old constitutional provisions to modern circumstances is a difficult question
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the words of the Constitution are changed through amendments
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our history with amendments has not been one of slow and steady change, but bursts of activity, such as these three:
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1. The Bill of Rights
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the first 10 amendments
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2. The Reconstruction Amendments
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followed the Civil War
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3. The Progressive Era Amendments
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Bill of Rights
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the original Constitution was missing what we often think about most when we think of the Constitution: individual rights
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the original constitution has some protections for individuals
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government cannot create ex post facto laws
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no bills of attainder
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declaring someone guilty of a crime while denying that person due process of law
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but these are limited
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lack of protections for individual was not because people were not concerned about them
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the Americans had fought a war arguing that their rights as Englishmen had been taken away
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the reason the Constitutional Convention didn't add a set of individual rights to the original Constitution is a bit mundane
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they were getting homesick
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they ran out of time
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every state already had a bill of rights to some degree
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two groups
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Federalists
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George Washington
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Alexander Hamilton
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James Madison
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pro-constitution
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a strong national government that would have power over the states
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will protect us from other countries but also from the small-mindedness of state governments
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make sure that states don't do anything unfair to individuals
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Anti-Federalists
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Thomas Jefferson
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George Mason
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Patrick Henry
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argued that we needed a Bill of Rights
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Federalists responded that government only had limited powers anyway and couldn't invade individual rights
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other argued that a Bill of Rights would be dangerous
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the government could claim that individuals had no rights other than the ones listed
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ratifying the Constitution
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5 states ratified
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Massachusetts ratified with the recommendation that a Bill of Rights be added
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4 of next 5 states do the same
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so when Constitution does get ratified, the Bill of Rights is one of the first things congress does
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draft a list of amendments
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send them out to the states
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there were twelve
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two didn't make it
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the ten that did are now what we call the Bill of Rights
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to understand the Bill of Rights, you can ask three questions:
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1. what were the drafters worried about?
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worried about the federal government
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worried it would become a tyrant like King George did
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2. how did they try to protect us?
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gave government limited powers and divided these powers among the branches of government
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gave individuals certain rights, this is what the Bill of Rights does
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protects certain activities against interference from certain actors, usually the government
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also protected state power
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the important thing to remember about the Bill of Rights is that is applies only to the federal government
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the drafters were not worried about what the states would do to their own citizens
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in their minds, states were good and well-meaning
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3. how has their solution worked out hundreds of years later?
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the Framers thought we would have states standing up against the federal government, but instead we have seen individuals stand up against states
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corrected:
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admendments
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amendments
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Massasschusettes
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Massachusetts