The Rights of Citizens
• Bill of Rights
– 10 amendments that describe the
freedoms that the government cannot
take away, or actions they cannot do.
• Freedom of speech, press, religion, and
gather in groups.
Due Process
• What is Due Process?
• Limitation on laws, government must
respect all citizens and follow the guide
lines of the laws to be treated fairly.
Responsibilities of Citizens
• Are not written in Constitiution.
– Voting
• Do have responsibilies we MUST do:
– Jury duty
– Pay taxes
– Follow the laws
Active Citizens
• What can you do to be an Active
citizen?
– Be aware of what is going on in local
government.
• Building a stadium in Franklin County, Ohio
– Make a petition
– Volunteer for a political campaign
– Be a “good” and patriotic citizen
Vocab. Cont.
• Register: To sign up
• Responsibility: a duty
• Informed citizen: one who knows what is
happening in the community
• Jury: A group of citizens who decide a
case in court
• Petition: request for actions
• Volunteers: people who work without pay
• Patriotism: a love for our country.
Review
• What are the first ten amendments to the
Constitution called?
– The Bill of Rights
• What are the main rights and responsibilities of
American citizens?
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Vote
Being informed
Being an active citizen
Jury duty
Obeying laws
What is the Constitution?
• The Constitution is the highest law in the United States. All other laws
come from the Constitution. It says how the government works. It
creates the Presidency. It creates the Congress. It creates the Supreme
Court. Each state also has a constitution. The constitutions of the
states are their highest law for that state — but the United States
Constitution is higher.
• The Constitution can be changed. The Constitution is changed by an
"amendment." Among the amendments is a list of the rights of the
people. By listing these rights, they are made special. It is illegal for
the government to violate those rights. As of 2013, there are 27
amendments. Not all of them involve rights, but many do. The first
ten amendments are special. They are called the Bill of Rights. The
Bill of Rights explain the due process rights of citizens.
• When the Constitution was written, the Framers knewthat other
people would have good ideas for the Constitution. They wanted to
be sure that it wasn't too hard to make changes or too easy.
• The Framers added an amendment process. An amendment to the
Constitution is a change that can add to the Constitution or change an
older part of it.
• Originally, some people did not want to ratify the Constitution. One
big reason was that it did not have a bill of rights, a list of rights that
belong to the people. The government is not allowed to break these
rights. Some of these rights might sound familiar: the right of free
speech; the right to practice your own religion; the right to be silent
if you are arrested. The original Constitution had no bill of rights, so,
promises were made to add one, using the amendment process.
• The ten changes were added to the Constitution. These ten changes
are called the "Bill of Rights."
First Amendment
Freedom of Religion - Congress can't make any law
about your religion, or stop you from practicing your
religion
Freedom of Speech – The government can’t keep
you from saying what you think, or publishing what
you want (like in a newspaper or a book).
Freedom of Assembly - Congress can't stop you from
meeting peacefully for a demonstration to ask the
government to change something.
Second Amendment
The Right to Bear Arms - Congress can't stop people
from having and carrying weapons to be able to
defend ourselves.
Third Amendment
Quartering Soldiers- You don't have to let soldiers
live in your house, except if there is a war, and even
then only if Congress has passed a law about it.
Fourth Amendment
Property Rights - Nobody can search your body, or
your house, or your papers and things, unless they
can prove to a judge that they have a good reason to
think you have committed a crime..
Fifth Amendment
Due Process Rights if you are Accused of a Crime You can't be tried for any serious crime without a
Grand Jury meeting first to decide whether there's
enough evidence for a trial. If the jury decides you
are innocent, the government can't try again with
another jury (double jeopardy). You don't have to say
anything at your trial. You can't be killed, or put in
jail, or fined, unless you were convicted of a crime
by a jury. The government can't take your house or
your farm or anything that is yours, unless the
government pays for it.
Sixth Amendment
Due Process Rights if you are on Trial - If you're
arrested, you have a right to have your trial soon, and
the government can't keep you in jail without trying
you. The trial has to be public, so everyone knows
what is happening. The case has to be decided by a
jury of ordinary people from your area. You have the
right to know what you are accused of, to see and
hear the people who are witnesses against you, to
have the government help you get witnesses on your
side, and you have the right to a lawyer to help you.
Seventh Amendment
Due Process Rights for a Civil Trial - You also have
the right to a jury when it is a civil case (a law case
between two people rather than between you and the
government).
Eighth Amendment
More Due Process Rights- The government can't
make you pay more than is reasonable in bail or in
fines, and the government can't order you to have
cruel or unusual punishments (like torture) even if
you are convicted of a crime.
Ninth Amendment
Rights not listed in Constitution - Just because these
rights are listed in the Constitution doesn't mean that
you don't have other rights too.
Tenth Amendment
States’ Rights - Anything that the Constitution
doesn't say that Congress can do should be left up to
the states, or to the people.
How can the Constitution be
changed or amended?
It takes two steps to add an amendment to the Constitution:
Step 1: Proposal - An amendment can be proposed by either a
two-thirds vote in Congress, including both the House of
Representatives and the Senate, or a national convention made
up of two-thirds of the states. All our current amendments
were proposed by Congress.
How can the Constitution be
changed or amended?
Step 2: Ratification - Next, the amendment has to be ratified.
It can be ratified by either three-fourths of the state legislatures
or by state conventions in three-fourths of the states. Only the
21st amendment used the state convention method.
Only used once
Amendments from fifth grade standards
• 12: Election of President and Vice
President- voting process
• 13: End of Slavery
• 14: Rights of Citizens
• 15: Voting Rights for all men
Amendments continued….
• 17: Direct elections of senators
• 19: Women voting rights
• 23: Numbers of electors- according to
number of people in the state.
• 24: Ban on poll taxes- don’t have to pay to
vote.
• 26: Voting age-18