Amendments 4-10

The Fourth Amendment
The right to be secure against unreasonable searches slightly existed before the American Revolution. This amendment came about from the American Revolution and the Magna Carta. "The Fourth Amendment emerged not only from the American Revolution; it was a constitutional embodiment of the extraordinary coupling of Magna Carta to the appealing fiction that "a man's house is his castle” (Levy 151). The Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures of their property. It also says that they may only search one's property with a Warrant. The only way to receive a Warrant is if there is probable cause. These warrants must be supported by oaths or affirmation.


The Fifth Amendment
This amendment is the right against self-incrimination amendment. It basically states that a person can only be charged for a federal crime if they have already been indicted by a grand jury. This is there to make sure that the courts go through all of the proper steps needed no matter how “infamous” the crime may be. A person also may not be tried for the same crime twice. This would be called Double Jeopardy and it is unconstitutional.

The Sixth Amendment
The sixth amendment gives right to a speedy trial without delay. The trial must be held in the place the crime took place. The defendant is entitled to be represented with an attorney present. This amendment also gives the right for cross-examination to be possible. When the trial is taking place, the court must specify why the defendant is present.

The Seventh Amendment
This gives right to a trial with a jury in a civil case. Both parties can agree to a bench trial and wave the fee if the money in the case exceeds twenty dollars. A bench trial is when no jury is present and it’s just the judge who is.

The Eighth Amendment
It does not allow for any outrageous bail fees to be part of the punishment. The punishment must fit the crime. This idea is also biblical. In Leviticus 24: 19-20 it states that, “If a man injures his neighbor, what he has done must be done to him: broken limb for broken limb, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As injury inflicted, so must be the injury suffered.” The punishment must be proportional to the crime. There will also be no cruel or inhumane punishments allowed to go on as part of the consequence.

The Ninth Amendment
This states that the laws in the Constitution may not be construed in order to deny or make more rights for themselves. They must interpret it how it was written. This amendment is very ambiguous on what its intent was. “The question whether the Ninth Amendment was intended to be a cornucopia of unenumerated rights produce as many answers as there are points of view” (Levy 242)

The Tenth Amendment
This amendment is very controversial. It can mean one of two things. The first is the person can do what he wants if the Constitution or State says nothing against it. Or it could mean that the state decides what to do when a something is not in the Constitution or its own guidelines.

Levy, Leonard. Origins of the Bill of Rights. Yale University Press: New Haven. 1999.

The Holy Bible. Zondervan Publishing House: Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1985.