The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. It was created to protect certain rights that were not obviously granted and protected in the Constitution. It does this extremely well. Philosopher John Locke spoke about how the people feared a government that was too powerful, they did not want a tyranny. They had just escaped the rule of King George and the English monarchy and they wanted a system of government with limited power. This is where the Bill of Rights comes in. Document 1 or the excerpt from the Bill of Rights and the 14th amendment, shows what is protected by this bill. The things protected include the right to bear arms, and no double jeopardy (being tried twice for the same crime). It protects …show more content…
For the longest time it was considered illegal, but in the case of Texas. V. Johnson that changed. This case ruled that it was legal to burn the flag as long it was not bringing harm to others. In the political cartoon (document 2), there is a man burning the American Flag, which is legal. Behind him is another man burning a smaller version of the flag, which is on the first man's back pocket. As he burns the pocket he is saying, “Oh, I’m all for keeping it legal!”. The authors point of view is that, a lot of people don’t understand that the five freedoms in the First Amendment to the Constitution stop when harm is caused by them. Yes, the man in the cartoon has the right to burn the flag, but he can’t do so if it harms the other man, and it is. The Bill of Rights ensures that the people's freedoms of speech, press, assembly, religion, and petition are preserved, this document specifically showing the protection of the freedom of speech. These freedoms can be limited if the freedom is causing someone to harm another person. This could include using your religion as an excuse to bomb a mall. The Bill of Rights ensures the Americans the right of free speech, but it also ensures that they are safe from harm caused by these freedoms. The amendments do an effective job at protecting the rights of the people when in regards to the five main freedoms. Most things are not limited in the United States, you can wear, do, say, or act …show more content…
Wainwright was the case where the Sixth Amendment to the constitution was applied to the states. The Sixth Amendment states that a person should have the right to trial by jury, and the right to a lawyer. In the quote from Robert Kennedy (document 3), where he discusses the impact and trial of Gideon v. Wainwright , he proclaims, “he was retried with the help of competent defense council.” In the Gideon v. Wainwright case, Gideon Young had been called into court on the account that he stole change, wine, and coke from the Bay Harbor Pool Hall. He did not make enough money to hire a lawyer, so he asked the state of Florida to provide one for him. He was refused because the court said he did not fall under any of the special circumstances. These circumstances were if the person being tried was illiterate, facing a death sentence, facing a life sentence, had a complex case, or was being tried in a hostile environment. Gideon did not fall under any of these categories and had to defend himself in the trial. He lost and was sentenced to jail. When he was in jail, he read a book about due process of law and realised that he should have been provided a lawyer according to that. He appealed his case to the Supreme Court and they accepted. They declared that the rule that an attorney must be provided to someone if the needed one was constitutional. Gideon was tried again and was defended by an attorney provided to him by the state of Florida. He won the case and set the
the lawyer gathered the facts and then presented them in court. They found gideon not guilty and all charges were
Then Gideon tried to defend himself, but like many of us, he could not defend very well so was found guilty. He then was sentenced to imprisonment. Then Gideon applied to the state supreme court with a Writ of Habeas Corpus on the ground that the conviction violated his sixth amendment right. The Florida State Supreme Court then reviewed his case and agreed with the lower court. Gideon was not eligible to receive an attorney from the state.
Gideon was arrested and charged with a crime on the basis of hearsay testimony from an alleged witness. When Gideon went to court for trial, he requested that he be granted counsel. The trial judge denied his request citing lack of legal authorization under Florida state law. Gideon subsequently represented himself at his trial, and was convicted by a jury. He was sentenced to five years in prison.
Gideon v. Wainwright was a Supreme Court case that approached criminal justice around the mid 1950s and 1960s. In certain states criminals were not receiving fair representation in courts, which violated the Sixth Amendment. It wasn’t until the Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright of 1963 that this issue changed. Gideon v. Wainwright was the most controversial and influential the Supreme Court ever took on, due to the fact that it challenged the very way criminals are incarcerated by the court themselves. Earl Gideon was a man with an eighth-grade education, he ran away from home when he was in middle school.
W ith all the evidence Gideon stacked up against him without a professional to defend him, he was screwed. His trial was completely unfair. According to the movie I watched in eighth grade on Gideon
The court then found him guilty because he was not capable of defending himself in court because he was a man with an 8th grade education. He also had no parents to raise him because he ran away from home so he was an uneducated man living on the streets with nothing to do his whole life. Gideon did not think this was fair that he was not given a lawyer. He did some research in
Before his trial Clarence Gideon requested an attorney to represent him in court because he was aware of his sixth amendment rights but, he was denied the possibility of being properly represented in court due to the fact that he was not facing charges that would warrant the death penalty (Oyez). This practice is recognized as unjust and unconstitutional but was once seen as normal in Floridian court systems. It would be virtually impossible to represent oneself in court because it is almost impossible to know every law and therefore substantially harder to not self-incriminate. The judicial system is built on the principles of justice and fairness. One can easily see how the odds were stacked against Gideon and thus proving how it was unjust for him to go into a trial so grossly unprepared on how to defend himself.
illiteracy, mental illness etc. These circumstances, outlined in an earlier supreme court case Betts v. Brady, stated the state was not required to appoint counsel to the defendant. Unless there were special circumstances or it is a capital offense. Fortunately for Gideon after he appealed to the Supreme Court through a Writ of Habeas Corpus with a petition for Certiorari, a higher court reviews the decision of a lower one. This ruling overturned and today all defendants are granted counsel in all cases except for minor offenses, such as traffic tickets.
He began studying the law to learn about his constitutional rights during his court trial. Gideon discovered that his rights had been violated under the sixth amendment denying him an attorney. Upon his research, he found out he could file an appeal to get his sentence overturned if he took the necessary steps and turned to the Supreme
The US Constitution Our nation was anxious and ready for complete freedom. When the final signature was done our nation was finally by itself. 1787 was the end of something dreadful and the beginning of something great. In the summer of 1787 the delegates from every state gathered in Philadelphia to sign the US Constitution. What did the US Constitution create in means of principles for the US government?
After the Revolutionary War, the 13 colonies found themselves in a bind. With a weak national government and no way to impose taxes under the Articles of Confederation, the burden of war debt seemed insurmountable. For the four years between the end of the war and the ratification of the Constitution in 1788, debate raged on between the Anti-Federalists, who supported the Articles of Confederation, and the Federalists, who desired to create a stronger federal government under the Constitution. Many subjects were hotly debated between the two groups, but two of the most important issues debated were the rights of the national and state governments and the Bill of Rights. While compromise on these issues eventually led to the ratification of
In the late 1700’s, James Madison wrote the first Ten Amendments that are listed in the United States Constitution. The Bill of Rights were written to ensure American citizens that they have freedoms and rights that the government can 't infringe. Out of the Ten Amendments, I believe that the First and Eighth Amendment are the most significant. The First Amendment grants us freedom of speech, religion, press, petition, and for people to assemble peaceably.
Wainwright illustrated the importance of personal rights guaranteed by the constitution. This case began when Clarence Gideon was denied a court appointed lawyer to represent him in a petty crime case. Gideon, unable to afford his own lawyer, was unable to adequately defend himself and consequently was convicted. However, he was undeterred. Gideon then wrote a letter to the Supreme Court to overturn this conviction with the 6th Amendment as his evidence of the court’s misconduct.
There he filed for suit agains the Secretary of the Florida Division of Corrections, who at the time was H. G. Cochran. Cochran retired and was replace by Louie Lee Wainright before the case was heard by the Supreme Court. Having studied in the prison library, Gideon argued in his appeal that he was denied council, and therefore his Sixth Amendment rights, as applied to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment, were violated. Issue: Whether the Sixth Amendment constitutional requirement that indigent defendants be appointed counsel
Should flag burning really be protected under the Freedom of Expression part of the Constitution? Many are here to argue that it should or should not be. The American Flag stands for the citizens of the United States, it represents all that we are as a nation. I feel that burning or destroying the flag in any way is very disrespectful towards the people who fight for this country. People are free to express themselves in many different ways, why does it have to be by burning the flag?