¶ … authors discussing the Bill of Rights. The authors are Irving Brant and Michael J. Kryzanek, both experts in the field of political science.
The Bill of Rights did not exist when the Constitution was first written; it was a series of amendments proposed by James Madison in 1789. It now stands as the first ten amendments to the Constitution. "The Bill of Rights was ratified by the states on December 15, 1791, but the first two amendments were voted down. Failed Amendment One would have required that at least one representative be allocated in Congress for every 50,000 citizens. At that rate, Congress today would have 5,000 members. Failed Amendment Two would have required that no salary raise for members of Congress could take effect until after the next election of Congress. This proposal eventually became the Twenty-seventh Amendment"
Kryzanek 28).
Author Michael J. Kryzanek says it is "the most important step in the development of the Constitution...Most of us take the Bill of Rights for granted, but it is without question the shining star of constitutional development"
Kryzanek 20-21). The Bill of rights guarantees us our personal freedoms, including freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, and the right to assemble.
Author Irving Brant basically agrees with Kryzanek when he says, "for when a great outcry went up that the Constitution framed in 1787 contained no Bill of Rights, the reply was made that the entire document was a charter of rights and liberties. Both in the character of the original Constitution and in its specific details, that was true to a much greater extent than alarmed citizens realized. Yet as a charter of freedom it was woefully deficient" (Brant 3). However, Brant makes a distinction that the Constitution was indeed a "charter of rights and liberties," but the founding...
The First Amendment is often viewed as the centerpiece of the Bill of Rights because of its broad and undefined granting of freedoms of religion, speech, press, and assembly. With one short statement in Amendment One, the American people were granted a bonanza of rights that have allowed them to worship their own god, express themselves with almost complete freedom, gather and report news and opinion free of government censorship, and petition government, confident that public authorities will not interfere"
Kryzanek 21).
In other words, Amendment One of the Bill of Rights is one of the most important to us as citizens, and because of that, it is one of the most debated and discussed amendments. The language is often questioned, and the meaning is often argued and analyzed in and out of court.
Brant sees the context of the words as one of the biggest problems with analyzing and understanding the First Amendment. "In the United States, on the other hand, the Constitution is fixed and definite in wording. The meaning of the words is not always plain, but that is not what causes trouble in relation to the Bill of Rights. The question in that respect more often is: shall the clear and ordinary meaning of words be followed or disregarded?"
Brant 8). He goes on to prove his point, "Let the wording of the Bill of Rights be accepted as its true meaning and every deviation from it will be recognized for what it is. There will be no need to ask, after each new appointment to the Supreme Court: what additional degree of freedom will this give to the American people…
