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Learning objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

  • Identify the liberties and rights guaranteed by the first four amendments to the Constitution
  • Explain why in practice these rights and liberties are limited
  • Explain why interpreting some amendments has been controversial

We can broadly divide the provisions of the Bill of Rights    into three categories. The First, Second, Third, and Fourth Amendments protect basic individual freedoms; the Fourth (partly), Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth protect people suspected or accused of criminal activity; and the Ninth and Tenth, are consistent with the framers’ view that the Bill of Rights is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all the rights people have and guarantees a role for state as well as federal government ( [link] ).

A Venn Diagram labeled “Categories of Rights and Protections”. The top circle of the diagram is labeled “Criminal”, the circle on the left is labeled “Procedural”, and the circle on the right is labeled “Individual Freedoms”. The values “Fifth Amendment” and “Sixth Amendment” are shown in the center of the diagram where all three circles overlap. The values “Fourth Amendment” and “Tenth Amendment” are shown in the circle on the left labeled “Procedural”. The values “First Amendment”, “Seventh Amendment”, and “Eighth Amendment” are shown at the bottom of the diagram where the circles labeled “Procedural” and “Individual Freedoms” overlap. The values “Second Amendment”, “Third Amendment”, and “Ninth Amendment” are shown in the circle on the right labeled “Individual Freedoms”.

The First Amendment protects the right to freedom of religious conscience and practice and the right to free expression, particularly of political and social beliefs. The Second Amendment—perhaps the most controversial today—protects the right to defend yourself in your home or other property, as well as the collective right to protect the community as part of the militia. The Third Amendment prohibits the government from commandeering people’s homes to house soldiers, particularly in peacetime. Finally, the Fourth Amendment prevents the government from searching our persons or property or taking evidence without a warrant issued by a judge, with certain exceptions.

The first amendment

The First Amendment is perhaps the most famous provision of the Bill of Rights; it is arguably also the most extensive, because it guarantees both religious freedoms and the right to express your views in public. Specifically, the First Amendment says:

“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.”

Given the broad scope of this amendment, it is helpful to break it into its two major parts.

The first portion deals with religious freedom. However, it actually protects two related sorts of freedom: first, it protects people from having a set of religious beliefs imposed on them by the government, and second, it protects people from having their own religious beliefs restricted by government authorities.

The establishment clause

The first of these two freedoms is known as the establishment clause    . Congress is prohibited from creating or promoting a state-sponsored religion (this now includes the states too). When the United States was founded, most countries around the world had an established church or religion, an officially sponsored set of religious beliefs and values. In Europe, bitter wars were fought between and within states, often because the established church of one territory was in conflict with that of another; wars and civil strife were common, particularly between states with Protestant and Catholic churches that had differing interpretations of Christianity. Even today, the legacy of these wars remains, most notably in Ireland, which has been divided between a mostly Catholic south and a largely Protestant north for nearly a century.

Questions & Answers

what does preconceived mean
sammie Reply
physiological Psychology
Nwosu Reply
How can I develope my cognitive domain
Amanyire Reply
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Dakolo Reply
Communication is effective because it allows individuals to share ideas, thoughts, and information with others.
effective communication can lead to improved outcomes in various settings, including personal relationships, business environments, and educational settings. By communicating effectively, individuals can negotiate effectively, solve problems collaboratively, and work towards common goals.
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miss
Every time someone flushes a toilet in the apartment building, the person begins to jumb back automatically after hearing the flush, before the water temperature changes. Identify the types of learning, if it is classical conditioning identify the NS, UCS, CS and CR. If it is operant conditioning, identify the type of consequence positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement or punishment
Wekolamo Reply
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Wekolamo
because it helps many people around the world to understand how to interact with other people and understand them well, for example at work (job).
Manix Reply
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ARC
A child is a member of community not society elucidate ?
JESSY Reply
Isn't practices worldwide, be it psychology, be it science. isn't much just a false belief of control over something the mind cannot truly comprehend?
Simon Reply
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namakula Reply
Skinner skipped the whole unconscious phenomenon and rather emphasized on classical conditioning
war
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Amesalu Reply
nature is an hereditary factor while nurture is an environmental factor which constitute an individual personality. so if an individual's parent has a deviant behavior and was also brought up in an deviant environment, observation of the behavior and the inborn trait we make the individual deviant.
Samuel
I am taking this course because I am hoping that I could somehow learn more about my chosen field of interest and due to the fact that being a PsyD really ignites my passion as an individual the more I hope to learn about developing and literally explore the complexity of my critical thinking skills
Zyryn Reply
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Jonathan
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Jonathan
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interpersonal relationships
Abdulfatai Reply
What would be the best educational aid(s) for gifted kids/savants?
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Saurabh
What are the treatment for autism?
Magret Reply
hello. autism is a umbrella term. autistic kids have different disorder overlapping. for example. a kid may show symptoms of ADHD and also learning disabilities. before treatment please make sure the kid doesn't have physical disabilities like hearing..vision..speech problem. sometimes these
Jharna
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Jharna
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Jharna
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Source:  OpenStax, American government. OpenStax CNX. Dec 05, 2016 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11995/1.15
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