Bill Of Rights Synthesis

This article is explaining the author Walter William’s opinion on why the Bill of Rights were written. He states that they were written because “Congress could not be trusted with our God-given rights.” The article also explained that the Amendments within the Bill of Rights were written because the “Government was the enemy of the people.” Even though the government was the “enemy” it was still needed to provided the State's protection.Others think that the Bill of Rights were “unnecessary and dangerous.” One of the individuals that felt it was unnecessary and dangerous was Alexander Hamilton, he felt that the government should have more power than the States.
The Constitution was written to protect the rights of “We the people,” which is
why I feel it is crucial to keep this document viable. In the Constitution there are certain rights decreed by John Locke “that all individuals are equal in the sense that they are born with certain "inalienable" natural rights. That is, rights that are God-given and can never be taken or even given away. Among these fundamental natural rights, Locke said, are "life, liberty, and property,”(Constitutional Rights Foundation,2001). In the ninth amendment it states that not all of State's rights are stated in the constitution. This amendment was written by Anti-Federalists to insure that “everyday” people like you and I would get fair treatment by the courts. I like this Amendment because I feel that it limits the court’s power to justify what our rights are. Another Amendment that helps defend our rights as Americans is the second Amendment, which states that we have the right to bear arms which is the right to legally own and possess a gun. I feel that being able to posses a gun LEGALLY is very important because you should have a chance to defend yourself in the time of crisis or danger.
I agree with all of the first ten amendments except the eighth Amendment. The eighth amendment states that No cruel or unusual punishment can be inflicted on an individual. I disagree with this because there are some extenuating circumstances where the treatment “an eye for an eye” should be exercised. This should only happen as long as there is compelling evidence and the punishment fits the crime. For example, if someone were to torture or commit mass murder they should be feathered and tarred like they did back then, which then would help lead to a decrease in the prison population. In 2015, there were 372 mass shooting in the United states alone ( pbs.org,2016).
Even after reading this article I still have the same beliefs as I did prior to reading it. I feel that the constitution and the bill of right help keep our government from gaining complete control over us. I found it interesting that the author of this article said “ The 10th amendment means absolutely nothing to us today as Americans because we have developed a level of native trust for the congress, the white house, and the U.S. Supreme court.” I feel that there is little trust in the White House and the Government because of how things are being dealt with today. Everyone today in my opinion feels that the government is more against them then they have been in the past. I also found it interesting that the author said that “ trust will lead to our undoing as a great nation.” This was interesting because it is talking about how we trust the government so much that we are going to let us destroy our own country. Which I feel is the opposite of how “we the people” are with the government today. We show little trust in the government and they at times show little trust in us and I feel we should work on changing that by learning how to work together as a team.