Amendment Seven

"In Suits at common law, where the value in conroversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law."

What the seventh amendment means to me is it has the right to a trial by jury. A group of your peers will be used to determine your guilt in a particular case of either guilty or not-guilty. "The 7th Amendment was added to the Constitution because citizens were concerned about the right for a trial by jury." The 7th Amendment guaranteed the right for civil law trials by jury. It also guaranteed the right to an appeal to federal courts.

 

                 

This picture represents the seventh amendment because if you steal or do something that is more than twenty dollars, then you have the right to have a jury to try you, instead of a judge.

This video really shows how important the seventh amendment is because in the video it showed how the innocent lady got accused for something she really did not do and as you can see this could happen to anyone and innocent people get accused of things they really did not do.  It's important to have someone to affend yourself then to just have one person to decide your guilt.

Amendment Six

"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence."

To me I think that overall the amendment means that only people commit crimes get punished for crimes, and that innocent people don't get punished. It is to make sure that the wealthy will actually be punished if they commit crimes, rather than buying their way out of prison. The accused shall have the right to a speedy trial which means speedy sets no specific date.

This picture relates to the sixth amendment because the accused has the right to a quick trial. This does not mean that their trial must be over in one week. This means that the state can not make them sit in jail for 6 years while they wait to have a trial, because that would be unfair to anyone who was innocent.

The accused also has the right to an lawyer. If you can not afford an attorney or lawyer, one will be given to you by the court. The Miranda case has made this right famous. Whenever someone is arrested they are read their Miranda rights. "These rights include the right to be silent, and the right to an attorney."

Amendment Five

"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

When I watch movies about a case I always here the saying..."I plead the fifth." When you plead the fifth, you are exercising your fifth amendment right to not incriminate yourself with testimony. The fifth amendment says you have the right to not testify and incriminate yourself. But if you decide to plead the fifth, you probably have to plead everytime and if you do answer the question then you lost your right. By saying you plead the fifth doesn't mean that you still can't be found guilty.

This video demonstates the fifth amendment and he explains how he approaches an individual that is involved with something.  He goes through the rights with them and lets the individual know that they do have the right to remain silent. If you lie and the police go to the judge, then that can hurt them more than if the individual would have just talked to the police and be honest. If you talk to the police everything will be written down, and if you get pulled over the cop writes everything that is said.

This picture is demonstrating the Fifth Amendment, by showing that an individual does have the right to remain silent. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say maybe be used against you in the court. You have a right to an attorney, and you can decide not to talk to me at anytime and exercise these rights." That is a basic way to say a warrant to an individual.

Amendment Four

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrents shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

The Amendment four guarntee's the security of persons, houses, papers, and effects. It also protects from unreasonable searches, and police do not have the power to search for evidence. In order for a police officer to search your home, they have to have a warrant issued. In order for a warrant to be issued, someone must affirm to the judge that believes that a crime has been committed and that by searching the premises of any location, he believes he will find evidence of a crime.

This picture relates to the fourth amendment because its showing police going to someone's door and they obviously think that there has been a crime of some sort.  In order for the cops to be at this home and to search the home, then they have to get a warrant and affirm it with the judge that there might be a crime. I read in a article, "the police officer does not have to be correct in his assumption, he just has to have a reasonable belief that searching someone's private property will show evidence of the crime."

Amendment Four is a big deal in the bay of Florida. This video talks about the state of Florida and that 48.8% support the amendment and 27.8% oppose the amendment. Jim Davis opposes the amendment four but he did talk about how he wants to see change in Florida. The video was talking about how the amendment could be a jobs killer, but according to some people they think that it wouldn't. Millions of dollars have been spent to defeat Amendment four in Florida.

Amendment Three

"No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law."

The Fourth Amendment to my understanding when we talked about it in class is, during the Colonial Period, colonists were forced to let British soldiers sleep in their homes and eat their meals. Colonists were outraged, and the more they upset the British government, the more they were punished by having soldiers forced into their homes. The amendment offers the property rights and the privacy rights. The Bill of Rights writers didn't want this to happen again, so they added Amendment Three.

This picture relates to Amendment Three because it's showing that the Constitution is protecting American's from house soldiers. Now the law also protects the Americans' rights to privacy.

The Third Amendment says, "that troops cannot be quartered in homes at all during peacetime, and only as prescribed by law during wartime" Quartering means that the government cannot "quarter" troops in your home. By having their private property used by the government without their permission, early Americans wanted a guarantee that they would be protected from this abuse in the future.

Amendment Two

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

The second amendment was included in the Bill of Rights to protect the right of citizens to keep and bear arms if called into miltia service by the government. It means that we, as law abiding Citizens of the US, have the right to own firearms, and those rights won't be taken away from you. The second amendment was written in order to protect this right of states to have standing militias. "Most constitutional scholars agree that the right to bear arms extends to citizens not part of a militia. However, the right to bear arms does not extend to unorganized individuals and the central argument for the right to own firearms breaks down."

This video deals with the second amendment as Ron Paul talks about how crucial the Second Amendment lacks in the areas in our country where its needed the most.  It's very discriminatory in the inner cities.  The inner cities is where there is the most crime and if your a law biden citizen then your not allowed to defend against the crime.  The second amendment would help with the violence in the inner cities throughout the country.

This picture relates to the Second Amendment because it talks about the right to bear arms.  If people have hidden guns in their homes, it is called concealed weapons. There are a lot of people that carry guns in their homes.  A lot of people are for it and against it.  I grew up with a gun in my house but I was never told where it was hidden.  My dad was a cop so he has it more for protection of the family. I feel a lot more safe with a gun in my house then if I didn't, because if someone were to brake it, we would have something to protect us.

First Amendment

"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."

The First Amendment means to me today, is it state's a person's basic rights to live in the United States of America. Without the First Amendment we citizen's today would not be able to express our thoughts and are beliefs.  I also let's us choose whatever religion we believe in and that allows us to have our freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.

This video relates to the First Amendment because you should be able to say what you want and not be afraid of attack. A lot of people can take this offensive, but it's true and we the people have that right to say what we want and we the people have the freedom of speech.

 

I picked this picture because its funny and I think this picture relates to the first amendment because people make their own assumptions or definitions about what the first amendment means. Although it is not distract as this picture shows, people defintions are how the founding fathers planned on people perceiving the first amendment.