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American History
Contents
The Electoral College
The Articles of Confederation
The 1787 Debate
The Branches of Government
The Bill of Rights
Amendments
Measure 11
Questions
John Brown
The U.S. Constitution Preamble
"We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense promote the general Welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
This tells me that the people of the United States gathered together and created this constitution which will ensure my well-being to the extent of it’s abilities.
The Electoral College
When the United Sates of America was a new country, the government needed an effective and fair way for the citizens to vote. The people of the U.S. did not travel much; many did not even leave their state. This caused a biased opinion toward their state’s candidate. The citizens also could not get enough information on the candidates because the only communication they had was through word of mouth, which resulted in an uneducated opinion. This meant that if the president were elected by the popular vote (if they simply chose whoever had the most votes that the population cast) then the state with the highest population would always win.
To make the election fair, the government introduced the Electoral College system. With this system, the people did not directly elect the presidents. Instead, they elect an elector who shares the same views as them. The electors then cast their votes (called electoral votes) and whichever president receives the most electoral votes wins. The people filled out their ballots, naming who they wanted to be president. The political parties that win each state then cast their votes for the president. Each state gets a certain amount of electoral votes equally proportionate to its population. The founding fathers of the U.S. believed that this system would make the votes of the little states count more, and would let the educated electors have more say.
The Articles of Confederation
In the 1700’s, the U.S. citizens found many problems with the government. The citizens were overly taxed, were only allowed to trade with England, and one of the many other problems was allowing searches without warrants. After the war against England, the U.S. established the Articles of Confederation, which were supposed to help with the government. Naturally there were flaws in the Articles, which is why we now follow the Constitution. Some of the major flaws of the Articles is that it gives the states too much power, and the government too little. It also states nothing about how the government was allowed to tax, and nothing about the leaders of presidents.
The 1787 Debate
In 1787, representatives from the thirteen colonies gathered together to discuss how to run the United States. Slavery, slave trade, and representation were the three main controversial issues they discussed. These topics were eventually resolved and put in the constitution. On the topic of slave trade, the founding fathers decided that this was a moot point until a country was actually established. They agreed to postpone any decisions until 1808. They did not decide anything about whether slavery would be allowed. The leaders decided that each state would have an equal number of representatives in the Senate, but the number of representatives in the House of Representatives would be proportionate to each states’ population. They also decided that slaves would count as 3/5 of a person in terms of how many representatives a state would get.
The Branches of Government
The government is divided into three branches: the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial Branch. The Legislative Branch is made up of the House of Representatives, which has the sole power to impeach federal officers, and the Senate, which has the sole power to try all impeachments. The Senate also has the power to make laws and declare war. The Executive Branch enforces the laws. The President is the Chief Executive officer and has the power to appoint the Supreme Court Justice. In time of war, the President acts as commander and chief of the armed forces. This means that the President has the sole power to bomb countries that the U.S. is at war with. The Judicial Branch interprets laws and judges criminals. There are several laws that protect criminals, for example, they have the right to request a jury trial. The judicial Branch also judges those accused of treason. One can be accused of treason if he or she makes war with the U.S. or assists the enemies of the U.S. One cannot be punished, however, for treasonous thoughts. One must make an overt action to be punished.
The Bill of Rights
After the founding fathers created the constitution, they realized there were still lots of holes. Several years later, they created the Bill of Rights, which are the first ten amendments. The Bill of rights deals with three main issues: protection of individual freedom, protection of abuses of power, and protection of the accused.
The first amendment, freedom of speech, is probably the most know and valued amendment. It falls of the category of individual freedom. This amendment gives the population the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition. It prohibits the government from censoring newspapers, establishing churches and prohibiting assembling and petition.
The fourth amendment, search and seizure, falls into the protection of abuses of power. This amendment requires officers to obtain a search warrant from a judge before searching a house. A search warrant will only be granted if the officer shows that it is likely that the search will produce evidence of a crime.
Amendment five, rights of the accused, obviously is in the protection of the accused category. This amendment prevents the government from prosecuting people with little or no evidence of guilt. It also prevents government from forcing people to testify against him or herself.
Amendments
After the Bill of Rights, Congress continued to add amendments to satisfy the population. The most important amendments after the first ten are the 14th, 15, 19th and the 26th
The 14th amendment is the rights of citizens. It was passed in 1868 and it extends citizenship to blacks. It also does not allow states to deny the rights of citizenship to citizens. Without this amendment, the states could take away my rights as a citizen.
The 15th amendment grants voting privileges to slaves or former slaves. It does not, however, allow women to vote. The 19th amendment, passed in 1920, and then extended the right of voting to women.
The 26th amendment lowers the voting from 21 to 18. The reason behind this being that some men could risk their lives for their country during war when they are 18, shouldn’t they be allowed to vote for their country?
Measure 11
Measure 11 forces judges to convict anyone who is 15 years or older of any measure 11 crime. People who are convicted of a measure 11 crimes must go to prison with no probation, bail, or parole. This is a real case:
A fifteen-year-old male shot his father in the head with a rifle. When his mother came home, he shot her six times with a pistol, killing her. The next morning, he went to school armed with three semi-automatic weapons. In the cafeteria, he shot two students in the head, killing them, and wounded 23 other students. He was eventually subdued and arrested after his guns were empty. He claimed that voices told him to kill the people. He was accused of four accounts of aggravated murder and 26 accounts of attempted murder. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 111 years 8 months in prison.
In this case, life imprisonment definitely seems right since the boy pleaded guilty. I would not want someone like this out in the world.
Questions
In court, lawyers use two types of questions to get information out of witnesses. When lawyers are questioning their own witness, they use the Direct Examination technique. These types of questions let the witness answer in sentences allowing the witness to tell the story
Direct Examination questions are worded like so: “When you got pulled over on the 14th, did the police officer ask you for insurance?” or “When you pulled her over, give the details of her reactions”. Cross Examination questions only let the witness answer yes or no. This type of questioning is used to lure witnesses into traps to prove that he/she is lying. These are worded like so: “When you were with Rooster, at any time, did he open up the glove compartment” or “Is it true that the police officer asked you for your insurance on the 14th or “Did you show the police officer the insurance for the car on the 14th?
John Brown
The prison cell stinks of sweat and flesh. Beyond the bars of the door are several guards, with many more nearby. I laugh and lean my head back on the dank pillow and close my eyes. They fear that the people from the north might attempt to rescue me. At least some of this nation shares my belief. I was perhaps the most wanted man in the United States.
I was fighting for freedom of blacks! An odd thing I suppose for a white man. I was brought up to hate slavery, and after seeing an African boy mistreated, I swore eternal war against it. Of course this is where I end up! In prison awaiting my execution tomorrow. I do not fear for my own life. Perhaps I deserve it for killing so many people. But those are the people who believe in the god-forsaken crime of slavery. So I am to be killed for attempting to put an end to a terrible injustice. I am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I led several raids against the armories of different towns. My dream was to establish a well-armed fugitive colony in the mountains that would be able to defend itself against an attack. I was finally captured in my last raid. The damn marines killed eight of my men and two of my sons. I suppose that it was my fault we were captured. I did not suspect that the citizens of Harpers Ferry would retaliate. On October 16th, 1859, myself, a few of my sons, and a band of other followers raided an arsenal in Harpers Ferry. In the dead of night we slipped to Harper’s Ferry and cut the telegraph wires. Through the silhouetted trees, we could see the watchman of the armory standing with his back to us with his musket in his right hand. I silently walked up behind him, club in hand, and hit him hard on the back of the head. He soundlessly crumpled to the ground, his face contorted in a snarl. I signaled to my accomplices and put out the lamp nearby. We entered the armory through the gate and established ourselves in the gatehouse, which contains the watchman’s quarters and a fire engine. I then sent out six men to capture the town’s most important citizens, including Col L.W. Washington.
I awoke the next morning to the rough shake of the mornings’ watchman. Apparently, the midnight train had left the town and the conductor had telegraphed a warning this morning. But that was not the pressing matter. The citizens were outside the armory demanding the release of the hostages. I quickly put on my clothes and headed out. On the outside of the gate stood fifty or so citizens, most of them armed. I refused their demand, and they promptly began shooting. I dove for cover behind a brick wall, bullets flying through the gate. My band returned fire killing a man in front. I pulled out my rifle and peered around the corner of the building, a bullet ricocheted off the brick wall sending tiny shards of brick into the left side of y face. I immediately lay down and again looked around the corner. The road outside the gate was deserted, most of the people has fled back to their homes, the rest had hid behind the wall and the trees by the road. I see half a body behind a tree and I cock my rifle and take careful aim. The bullet I fire lands home, ledged in the side of my victim. He falls over, his wound possibly being fatal. The firefight continues for half-an-hour with minor injuries on either side, that is, until the militia from Charles Town arrives. I see the soldiers round the bend in the road and immediately call my men back into the gatehouse. I order three of them to stand at the wall facing the gate and fire at any white man that comes into sight through the gaps in the walls. I order the other men to fortify the building and I help move the fire engine behind the door where we fasten it in place with ropes. I then ensure that the hostages are kept safe. We stay in the gatehouse for the night tending our injuries. The next morning, a letter is dropped at our doorstep saying that if we surrendered, we would be taken safely away to await orders from the President, but if we did not, we would be taken by force. I bluntly refuse this offer and shortly afterward, the marines approached the door with sledgehammers. We fired upon them but we inflicted no damage. The fire engine prevented the marines from breaking down the door with sledgehammers, but they soon returned with a heavy ladder which they used as a battering ram. When they broke own a portion of the door, the leading marine was shot down. The rest of the marines poured in bayoneting several of my men. Lieutenant Green charged at me and slashed me down with his sword. The next thing I knew, I was lying on a stretcher being carried to prison. I appeared in court shortly afterward, still lying on a stretcher. I refused to defend myself saying that I believe that to have interfered as I have done in behalf of His despised poor, I did no wrong, but right. I am ready for my fate. They later ruled me guilty on three counts: treason against Virginia, conspiracy with African Americans, and first-degree murder. My penalty is the death sentence, which I will face without fear, as is my duty.
Copyright © 2004 Daniel Parecki. All rights reserved.