Education
Know Your Rights

The Bill of Rights—What is it? 1

Click here to read a complete transcript of the Bill of Rights.

I. Bill of Rights

a. Became a permanent addition to the U.S. Constitution in 1791. When the Constitution, essentially the blueprint for the structure of our nation, was established in 1788, people were angry that it contained none of the individual rights that had spurred our separation from England in the first place. The Bill of Rights were added to guarantee individual rights considered too vital for the government to ever have the power to take away.

Question: what are some of these rights—these individual liberties?

a. Speech, assembly, freedom of the press, equal treatment for all people under the law, the right to privacy, due process of law

b. Now when we think of the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, we tend to think about them in a very dry way. The urgency, the passion that first accompanied the creation of these civil liberties is missing now —we think of them as merely facts, pieces of history—the Bill of Rights is something we take for granted as if it’s just always been there and it will never go away.

c. The ACLU exists because the Bill of Rights is in need of our constant protection. In truth, there is nothing natural or innate about these civil liberties—they didn’t just happen. People fought, died, and faced persecution to found a nation that abided by such principles. The ACLU exists to make sure our civil liberties are never taken for granted—not by our government or by our own selves.

a. If we really think about the Bill of Rights and what this document means, it springs to life, tearing itself from the dry pages of history books. When we remember what the Bill of Rights meant—to deliberately limit the power of the government and give that power instead to the people—we realize that the creation of this set of rights was completely radical and risky. The Bill of Rights defined our nation over 200 years ago.

b. Many people agree that the Bill of Rights is what America is all about and that it is an act of patriotism to use our civil liberties - to speak out about what you feel is right, to attend a rally, to cast a vote. This is what it means to be American. This is what sets the U.S.A. apart from other countries.

a. Just because the Bill of Rights is written down on paper, it doesn’t mean that these rights are always applied evenly to all people. If we look back to the time when the Bill of Rights was established, we see that there were severe flaws in this aspect from the very founding of our nation. Namely, we recall that the authors of our nation’s foundation were all wealthy, all white, and all men. These men had many dangerous personal limitations of their time, namely racism, sexism and elitism. This prejudice, which was deeply entrenched in the culture at this time, led to the severe abuses of the human and civil rights of certain groups of people, including Native Americans, African Americans, and women.

b. In the early 20th century, around the time of the ACLU’s founding, the government severely abused the rights of Japanese-Americans and labor workers. It was not until the 1960s and 70s that these violated groups were able to exercise fully their individual rights—the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, and similar movements by groups such as gays and lesbians and disabled people harnessed enough energy to make great changes in our nation. The Bill of Rights is easily described on paper, but not always enforced fully and equally. This is why the ACLU is so vital today: to make sure that American civil liberties are upheld for all Americans.

IV. Civil liberties today
Question: Where do you see a need for the ACLU today? What are some
examples of civil liberties abuses in the present?

a. Examples of ACLU issues

i. Free speech—including working against censorship and promoting artistic expression. The ACLU annually celebrates “Banned Book Week” to draw attention to the regular banning of literature in the U.S. The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling are among the most popularly censored books today. In Norwood, Colorado the book, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya was burned in 2005.

ii. Racial & Ethnic Equality—including fighting to end racial & ethnic profiling, upholding necessary affirmative action policies, fair housing, and voting rights for all.

iii. Students’ rights—including action taken to fight against drug testing policies that violate students’ right to privacy, by promoting freedom of expression, by working to preserve the separation of church and state in our public schools, and ending racist “tracking” policies.

iv. A host of other issues tackled with the intent of preserving our civil liberties as defined in the Bill of Rights.

1 Written by Dana Textoris, Education Coordinator, ACLU of Ohio