1、1,Chapter 3,The Amendments,2,3,A1. The Bill of Rights,Most of the Constitutions twenty-seven amendments were adopted to keep it abreast of changes in political thinking. As a matter of fact, the first ten amendments (the Bill of Rights) were the price of ratification. They refrain the national gover
2、nment from tampering with践踏 fundamental rights and civil liberties and emphasize the limited character of national power.,4,A1. The Bill of Rights,What is the Bill of Rights? The Bill of Rights is a series of constitutionally protected rights of citizens. The first 10 amendments to the Constitution,
3、 ratified by the required number of States on December 15, 1791, are commonly referred to as the Bill of Rights人权法案.,5,6,A1. The Bill of Rights,7,A1. The Bill of Rights,8,A1. The Bill of Rights,Freedom of ideas: The first Amendment protects against government suppression of the unrestricted exchange
4、 of ideas.The right to bear arms: The second amendment declares “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”. 纪律良好的民兵队伍，对于一个自由国家的安全实属必要；故人民持有和携带武器的权利，不得予以侵犯。 This has created a hornets nest of problem
5、s for gun-control advocates and their opponents.,9,A1. The Bill of Rights,Due Process of Law正当法律程序: The Fifth Amendment deserves an explanation. It focuses on individual rights in criminal cases and states that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. The
6、amendment also forbids the government to take a persons property for public use without just compensation.The Bill of Rights, however, applied only to the national government. It did not affect the actions of a state government.,10,A2. The Remaining Amendments,Amendments to the Constitution since th
7、e Bill of Rights: 11th Amendment27th AmendmentAmendments 14,15, and 24 all stem from legal concern for black civil rights. Amendment 14, passed in 1868, paved the way for a major expansion of rights by making former slaves citizens of both the United States and the state where they lived. Amendment
8、15 simply states that a voter cannot be denied the ballot投票权because of his race. Amendment 24 was ratified because some states once used poll taxes人头税(按人口而不是按财产征的一种税，常作为选举的需要)to keep poor people and blacks from voting.,11,A3. Amendment Proposal and Ratification,The following table displays the two s
9、tages in amending the Constitution.,12,A3. Amendment Proposal and Ratification,The Constitution sets no deadline before which the states must ratify a proposed amendment. But the courts have ruled that amendments must be ratified within a reasonable time and that Congress prescribes what is reasonab
10、le. Since the early 1900s, most proposed amendments have included a requirement that they be ratified within seven years. Since 1787, more than 9,000 amendments have been considered; only 34 have passed through the proposal stage, and 7 of them failed to be ratified.,13,A4. Illustrations of the Amen
11、dments,1) Freedom of Speech: Although the First Amendment is absolute in its wording (“Congress shall pass no lawabridging the freedom of speech”), the Supreme Court has never been ready to interpret this statement as a protection of all speech. What kinds of speech may be prohibited by the Constitu
12、tion?,14,A4. Illustrations of the Amendments,Clear and present Danger Doctrine“清楚而现实的危险”原则: This doctrine determines that a government may prevent speech that creates a serious and immediate danger to society. This doctrine involves two elements: a) the clearness or seriousness of the expression; an
13、d b) the immediacy of the danger flowing from the speech.,15,A4. Illustrations of the Amendments,Symbolic Speech象征性言论: The first Amendments guarantees of speech, the press, and assembly are broadly interpreted to mean freedom of expression. Political expression involves more than just words. For exa
14、mple, the Court held that wearing Ku Klux Klan hoods and gathering together to burn a cross or even burning an American flag are protected expression, they constitute symbolic speech, actions other than speech itself but protected by the First Amendment. The Court continues to wrestle with the issue
15、 of what kinds of conduct are symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment and what kinds of conduct are outside of this protection.,16,A4. Illustrations of the Amendments,2) The Right to Bear Arms: Many constitutional critics believe that the controversy over the nature of the Second Amendment
16、is unlikely to be resolved in the immediate future. Despite soaring statistics of gun-related crimes, lobbies for citizens right to arms remain strong.In the United States there are an estimated 60 million handguns in circulation. Murders by handguns occur at a very high annual rate.,17,Debate over
17、gun laws follows Virginia Tech shooting 2007-04-24 09:05 ,Friday(04-24-2007 ) was a statewide day of mourning for the thirty-two students and teachers shot to death Monday at Virginia Tech in Virginia. Some of the victims at the university in Blacksburg were from other countries. The attack by a stu
18、dent, who also killed himself, was the deadliest shooting in modern American history. The Virginia Tech Police Department identified him as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a senior in the English department.,赵承旭Cho Seung-hui,18,Debate over gun laws follows Virginia Tech shooting,The tragedy brought back memories
19、 of other school shootings. In fact, Friday was the eighth anniversary of the attack at Columbine High School in Colorado. Two young men killed twelve other students and one teacher, and themselves on April 20,1999. Often, when a shooting captures national attention, debate about gun control follows
20、.,19,Debate over gun laws follows Virginia Tech shooting,On Monday, a spokeswoman said the president believes that people have a right to arms, but all laws must be followed.Cho Seung-hui was born in South Korea but lived most of his life in the United States. He was known at Virginia Tech as a trou
21、bled person. He studied English and some of his writings were so violent they scared other students and his professors. The shooter was armed with two handguns that he recently bought after passing a criminal history check. There are federal laws but each state also has its own laws on buying and se
22、lling guns. Virginia is among the states with fewer restrictions than others.,20,Debate over gun laws follows Virginia Tech shooting,When interviewed, A Virginia gun-lover said “if any of the professors present had carried a legal gun, they might have been able to stop the tragedy”. And Americans ha
23、ve a few politically influential organizations and well-established laws to refer to when confronted with the questions about their rights to own firearms. Second Amendment of the US Constitution is one that is mentioned most often in such debates. All together, these facts seem to suggest one thing
24、, that is, the majority of the American citizens will continue to cling to their rights to own private firearms, and the lax 松驰的 control upon guns are not to be changed.,21,Debate over gun laws follows Virginia Tech shooting,The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says an estimated thirty-nine pe
25、rcent of American homes have a gun. The campaign points to national injury reports from 2004, the most recent year available. There were almost thirty thousand gun-related deaths. About forty percent were murders. Most of the others were suicides or accidents.,22,Another bloody shooting,Gunman Kills
26、 8 People, Then Himself at a Mall in Omaha奥马哈市Wednesday, December 5, 2007 The gunman was said by some witnesses to have fired about 20 shots into a crowd at a Von Maur department store. The police said that five other people had been injured in the shootings.,A member of the Omaha police stands outs
27、ide the Westroads Mall,23,The latest bloody shooting,24,A4. Illustrations of the Amendments,3) Rights of Criminal Defendants: The Fifth Amendment privileges (protects) one against self-incrimination:自证其罪 informing suspects of their constitutional rights. Ernesto Miranda was arrested in Arizona in co
28、nnection with the kidnapping and rape of an 18-year-old woman. After the police questioned him for 2 hours and the woman identified him, Miranda confessed to the crime.An Arizona court convicted him on the basis of that confessionalthough he was never told that he had the right to counsel咨询, that is
29、, an attorney, and the right not to incriminate指控有罪himself. Miranda appealed his conviction, which was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1966.,25,A4. Illustrations of the Amendments,The court ruled that the police had forced Miranda to confess during in-custody questioning with the coercion inheren
30、t固有的 in custodial interrogation without counsel辩护律师. The court said that warnings are necessary to dispel消除that coercion.,A mugshot面部照片of Ernesto Miranda, the plaintiff in the landmark 1966 Supreme Court decision in Miranda v. Arizona. As a direct result of the decision, police must inform criminal
31、suspects of their rights before they begin an interrogation.,26,A4. Illustrations of the Amendments,These warnings are known today as the Miranda warnings米兰达告诫 (源自厄内斯托A 米兰达 ，在 米兰达 与 亚利桑那 （1966年）一案中的原告): - You have the right to remain silent. - Anything you say can be used against you in court. - You
32、 have the right to talk to a lawyer of your own choice before questioning. - If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, a lawyer will be provided without charge. - If you decide to answer questions now without an attorney present you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk
33、 to an attorney. - Knowing and understanding your rights as I have explained them to you, are you willing to answer my questions without an attorney present?,27,A4. Illustrations of the Amendments,The result of the failure to give the Miranda warning does not automatically result in the defendant go
34、ing free. It only means that the confession cannot be used against the defendant. Ernesto Miranda was tried again without the confession. He was convicted and served 11 years before he was paroled 假释in 1972.,28,A4. Illustrations of the Amendments,4) State Interference vs. Personal Privacy:State inte
35、rference with personal privacy has come under public scrutiny since the 1960s. On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court struck down the State of Texass criminal abortion laws, finding裁决 that the right to decide whether to have a child is a fundamental right guaranteed by the U.S. Constit
36、ution. The 7-2 decision in Roe v. Wade would have an immediate and profound effect on the lives of American women.,29,A4. Illustrations of the Amendments,Roe v. Wade: Roe, a Texas resident, sought to terminate her pregnancy by abortion. Texas law prohibited abortions except to save the pregnant woma
37、ns life. Does the Constitution embrace a womans right to terminate her pregnancy by abortion?The Court held that a womans right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision gave a woman total autonomy over the pregnancy during the first trimeste
38、r 三个月. As a result, the laws of 46 states were affected by the Courts ruling.,30,A4. Illustrations of the Amendments,Before Roe, it is estimated that between 200,000 and 1.2 million illegally induced abortions occurred annually in the United States.“ As many as 5,000 to 10,000 women died per year fo
39、llowing illegal abortions and many others suffered severe physical and psychological injury. The Court and the public had been torn for decade over the breadth of constitutional protection for abortion. In 1992 the Court narrowly affirmed Roe v. Wade.,31,Uncle Sam,Who is Uncle Sam? Uncle Sam is a ta
40、ll, thin man. Hes an old man with white hair and a white beard. He often wears a tall hat, a bow tie, and the stars and stripes of the American flag. Why do people call the American government Uncle Sam? During the War of 1812(第二次英美战争), the U.S. government hired meat packers to provide meat to the a
41、rmy. One of these packers was a man named Samuel Wilson.,32,Uncle Sam,Everyone called him Uncle Sam. Sam Wilson stamped the boxes of meat for the army with a large U.S.for United States. Some government inspectors came to look over Sams company and asked a worker what the U.S. on the boxes stood for. As a joke, the worker answered that these letters stood for the name of his boss, Uncle Sam. The joke spread, and soldiers began saying that their food came from Uncle Sam. Before long, “Uncle Sam” became a nickname for the U.S. government.,
