Comparing The Declaration of Independence with The 10 Amendments [Bill of Rights];Why is this important? Because they both focus on over reaching state tyranny. The common features of these two documents are::Common Features in a Brief Tutorial. by HISways USA, Inc.
1. They were written about the same time, by the same "people" i.e. our 1776 Founding Fathers.
2. They were both targeted at similar government 'usurpations' and 'absolute Tyranny'.
3. They were designed for the protection of the people from government excesses.
4. They both identify a people void of class or privilege yet demanding righteous human treatment.
Without being overly analytical, the itemized 'Tyranny' on the left is annotated with red protections from the Bill of Rights on the right. The point of the exercise is to note the current tyranny and the destruction of our rights and powers, i.e. our 10 Amendments. This destruction has been joined by enemies inside and out, by presidents, congresses and the courts both national, state and local. This destruction is identified by those enemies of the USA that lobby, judge and campaign for restraints on and or the elimination of one or all of the Ten Amendments.
Teachers you may print out the whole source page (Hisways.org/about/2007Dec-Independence-10Amendments5000.html) or ( PDF) and use it for a homework assignment as an essay with explanations or as a short answer quiz indicating whether the authors "Amendment assignments" are True/False and why.
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Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , 12/06, //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ United_States_Declaration_of_Independence . . . The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let the Facts be submitted to a candid world. 1. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.[ 5th, 9th, 10th Amendment] 2. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. [ 5th, 9th, 10th Amendment] 3. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. [ 5th, 9th, 10th Amendment] 4. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. [ 1st, 5th, 9th, 10th Amendment] 5. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. [ 1st, 5th, 9th, 10th Amendment] 6. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. [ 9th, 10th Amendment] 7. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. [ 5th Amendment] 8. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. [ 6th, 7th, 8th Amendment] 9. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. [ 6th, 7th, 8th Amendment] 10. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. 11. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.[ 2nd, 3rd Amendment] 12. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.[ 2nd Amendment] 13. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:[ 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Amendment] 14. For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: [ 3rd Amendment] 15. For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: [ 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Amendment] 16. For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: [ 9th, 10th Amendment] 17. For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: [ 9th, 10th Amendment] 18. For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury: [ 6th Amendment] 19. For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: [ 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Amendment] 20. For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies [ 9th, 10th Amendment] 21. For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: [ 9th, 10th Amendment] 22. For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.: [ 9th, 10th Amendment] 23. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.[ 2nd, 9th, 10th Amendment] 24. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 25. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. [ 2nd, 8th Amendment] 26. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. [ 2nd Amendment] 27. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. [ 2nd, 4th Amendment] 28. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.[ 1st Amendment] |
Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , 12/06, //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights The Bill of Rights * First Amendment – Freedom of speech, press, religion, peaceable assembly, and to petition the government. 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. * Second Amendment – Right for the people to keep and bear arms, as well as to maintain a militia. A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State; * Third Amendment – Protection from quartering of troops. 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. * Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure. 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 Warrants 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. * Fifth Amendment – Due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, private property. No person shall be held to answer for any 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 offence 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. * Sixth Amendment – Trial by jury and other rights of the accused. 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 where in 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 against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense. * Seventh Amendment – Civil trial by jury. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. * Eighth Amendment – Prohibition of excessive bail, as well as cruel and unusual punishment. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. * Ninth Amendment – Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Bill of Rights. The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. * Tenth Amendment – Powers of states and people The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
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The 10 Amendments are the 10 courses of the 'wall of separation' that were designed to contain state tyranny! Let's rebuild the wall!
Even though the above comparison is important, one should not overlook The Vision of The Declaration of Independence's Mission Statement that describes our enduring domestic purpose:
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- 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.'
- We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, chief among these are all Human Life, all Moral Liberties, and only Lawful, non victimizing pursuits.
So in one document we have the 'People's' Mission Statement and the 'People's' 'wall of separation' against state tyranny.