1. The United States Constitution
The United States Constitution is rather unique in the world. Formerly enacted in 1789 is one of the oldest, if not the oldest constitution’s in the world (Perry). Many nations have ratified many Constitutions, many of them in the Twentieth and Twenty-first centuries even (Perry). Yet, for over 200 years the United States and its laws, have relied entirely on a document written long before much of the technology, social concerns, social beliefs, and realities of the world as we know it today were even imagined (Perry).
The Constitution is the key legal document in America and all American laws must follow the requirements of the Constitution to be enacted and considered Constitutional (Perry). As stated in the Constitution it is the job of the legislature, Congress, to write the laws, but it is the job of the judiciary, chiefly the Supreme Court, to determine the constitutionality of the laws written by Congress and to interpret what the Constitution requires or forbids (Perry).
Perry, S. (2007). Constitution Guides our Country, but how Many of us Really Knows What it Says? Bluefield Daily Telegraph. Retrieved September 4, 2008, from

2. The United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights
The first ten Amendments to the United States Constitution form what is referred to as the Bill of Rights (De Young). It is interesting to note that it was this very Bill of Rights that may have kept the Constitution from being enacted in 1789 (De Young). For many years the Federalists, who believed the nation needed a strong central government and feared that a Bill of Rights would lessen the rights of people because only those listed would be granted argued against it (De Young). The Anti-federalists, who believed in strong state governments wanted a Bill of Rights to expressly provide for the rights of the people in the country (De Young). In the end, they compromised and the Bill of Rights was added (De Young).
Among the rights protected are those that keep government from stopping, arresting, or taking away the life, liberty, and property of people simply because the government has that power unless the government has legal cause or reason, which it can prove, referred to as probable cause, or which it can get a warrant to investigate (ACLU: BoR). This right, part of the Fourth Amendment, was important to the former Colonists because England’s soldiers had simply taken houses, tried Colonists on whims, and other wise used the power of England to terrorize the Colonists (ACLU: BoR). It is because of this fear of the abuse of governmental power that several debates regarding many rights and freedoms have continued in America.
De Young, R. (2005). The Supreme Court, Constitution & Bill of Rights of The United States - What History Says. American Chronicle. Retrieved September 4, 2008, from
The Bill of Rights: A Brief History. (2002). American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved September 4, 2008 from

3. The Constitution, America and September 11
On the morning of September 11, 2001 Americans saw a horror not seen since the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Foreign terrorists successfully attacked the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon, and caused many airplanes full of people to crash. The death toll was in the thousands and those in the Arab/Muslim world seemed overjoyed at the death toll and destruction, vowing to cause more.
The response to this terror was almost immediate. Forty-five days later the United States Congress passed the United States Patriot Act which gave the American government the very rights which the Anti-federalists so feared the government would have (ACLU:PA). Under the Patriot Act the government no longer had to obtain a warrant or have “probable cause” to conduct a search, to stop persons, or to take their homes, computers, cars, or other property away from them if the government thought, believed, or suspected a person may, somehow, no matter how remotely, possibly be involved or leaning toward being involved in terrorist activities (ACLU:PA). In fact, what terrorist activities are can include simply researching library books on Muslims or matters that the government deems to be a threat, and librarians were required to report to the federal government on anything library patrons did that they felt was “suspicious” (ACLU: PA). In short, the Patriot Act threatened, and threatens the loss of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, the one that was supposed to protect the rights of Americans from the dangerous power of a government run amok with its own power (ACLU: BoR). Yes, the Patriot Act can destroy American civil liberties, particularly because under common law systems, like that of the U.S. when a court decides a government can do something, it is almost impossible to argue later that it cannot because that first case creates a precedent.
USA Patriot Act. (2003). American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved September 4, 2008 from

4. The Constitution, America and Guns
The meaning of the Second Amendment has been debated endlessly for generations. Some say the Amendment only granted the right to bear arms for the purpose of forming a militia. Some argued that the words “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state,” played no role in the Amendment and that people had a blank right to own and carry weapons. In 2008 the Supreme Court of the United States announced that it agreed with those who said that the words “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state,” had no meaning and, in effect, did not exist (UM-KCSL). The court decided that the government of the District of Columbia, a federally government location, could not pass any laws preventing any gun ownership at all (UM-KCSL). While the decision does not speak about state’s rights to do the same, particularly under their “police power” to regulate to protect the safety of their citizens, the decision does finally interpret the meaning of the Second Amendment and, thereby, provides a precedent which will affect the interpretation of the Second Amendment by every other court in the land, which cannot disagree with the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the amendment, even if many legal scholars still do (UM-KCSL).
A Right to Bear Arms? (NA). University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Retrieved September 4, 2008, from
The Second Amendment A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

5. The United States Constitution
The Constitution has allowed a great nation to flourish and it has provided its citizens with many protections, arguments, and matters to consider and ponder. Regardless of how one views the Constitution, it cannot be denied that the Constitution remains as uniting and divisive a document as it was in 1789.