• In this essay, I will present 3 or more reasons, citing textual evidence that answers the essential question, “How much power should the government have?”, and close with how it relates to today.

     

    First, each of the ten amendments, of the Bill of Rights, protects individual rights in their ways. To show what I mean, on page 539, the tenth amendment, it says “The power not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the State, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” The Tenth Amendment is saying that whatever powers, rights, responsibilities, or liberties that are not declared or described in the Constitution of the United States, are given to the people of the United States. Because of this amendment many of our unspoken rights are safe and secure. But it's not just the Tenth Amendment that helps. There are many other amendments, such as the first, second, and fourth. The First Amendment talks about keeping the freedom of speech, religion, and press. All of these freedoms allow us citizens of the United States to express ourselves in unrestricted ways without the fear of being apprehended by the government. But luckily with some other amendments in place, the government's power is limited. Representing one of the seven basic principles of the United States of America, limited government.  The Second Amendment allows for the right to own and bear arms. This amendment allows us to feel protected in the event of an attack or robbery. However the Second Amendment also allows criminals to own guns meaning it still doesn’t make you completely safer, it makes it seem that you are safer. The Fourth Amendment talks about the safety of citizens and not allowing police officers to invade houses without a probable cause or search warrant. All of these amendments help keep our rights safe and secure, but they all need each other, to be useful.

     

    Second, amendments 11-27 fortify rights not clearly stated in the Constitution of the United States of America, just like amendment 19. To further explain, on page 542, amendment 19, it says, “The right of citizens of the United States, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” The nineteenth amendment was produced to allow voting rights to all genders. At first, it was made so that only males could vote, which was sexist and Congress knew that was wrong, so they fixed it. Imagine if only males could vote. About half of the population would not have a say in our government. The government could do things disregarding women and just completely ignoring them. Thankfully, we have the nineteenth amendment to save us from sexism. Imagine a United States of America without the Nineteenth Amendment. Us citizens would most likely be suffering because around half of the population would not be getting any representation. Many women would probably become depressed because they would not be getting equal rights and they would have to work twice as hard. However, most women still have to work twice as hard. They have to do this to overcome the stereotypes of women. Many men and sometimes government officials stereotype women as working behind kitchen counters and just being housewives. In contrast, most women are much more capable of doing all those things. A lot of wars were won by women helping behind the scenes and in front of them. This is why we needed to have the nineteenth amendment to help fortify this right that was not clearly stated in the Constitution of the United States of America.

     

    Third, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, allowing slaves to be free from unjust slave owners and extreme levels of racism. To propel my point even further, on page 540, the thirteenth amendment, states, “This amendment forbids slavery in the United States and any area under it's control.” The thirteenth amendment was very important as it allowed many African Americans to be free from unjust slavery, and racism, and most importantly they were able to have a complete life. At first, African Americans were seen as tools to get work done. During that time, they had no life, no freedom, and no pursuit of happiness. African Americans did not have any hint of individual rights. They were treated like garbage. But now, thanks to the thirteenth amendment, they now are treated equally as everybody else. Imagine a United States without equality. Well, it would be pretty bad. People would fall into depression, racism would increase ten-fold, and many riots would start targeting a specific group of citizens. Luckily the thirteenth amendment is there. However, the thirteenth amendment only stopped slavery, it didn’t give them voting rights. That is why the Fifteenth Amendment was created. The Fifteenth Amendment gave all rights to all citizens of the United States of America, no matter their race, religion, or color. This was very important as everyone was able to be treated fairly, and equally, and are now able to be treated like people. This is why both the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were very important.

     

    In conclusion, the amount of power the government should have been given by the people, as the people elect who is in office and the office votes on amendments and bills. Each of the ten amendments protecting individual rights in their own way relates to the amount of power the government should have. It relates because if all amendments were protecting the rights one way it would be easy to find a way to bypass them because there are now multiple ways. However, since they protect in different ways it is harder because there are fewer ways to bypass the laws. Amendments 11-27 fortifying rights not clearly stated in the constitution relates to the amount of power the government should have. It relates because the amendments make sure to give the maximum amount of power to the people and the minimum amount of power to the government to ensure the safety of the people. Abolishing slavery relates to the amount of power the government should have. It relates because slavery restricted the rights of many citizens of the states. However, this amendment gave more power to the citizens of the states as now there are more citizens in America. This relates to today because North Korea does not have any rights for its citizens. Its citizens starve and suffer because their government is unjust and unfair. All people, except for many government officials, have no rights because they don’t have any amendments that can protect their rights. And because of this, it is very easy to take control of the government and the entire country. North Korea doesn’t even have a First Amendment, which protects their freedom of religion, press, or speech. Thankfully, our government thought of this and made these amendments to make sure we do not become like North Korea.