Chapter 2 Blog Assignment

1.) How important was the shift from the Article of Confederation to the Constitution we now have?

     The Articles of Confederation were put in place at the beginning as the United States of America became a nation. These articles were very limited in the power they gave congress, due to the belief that Great Britain had violate the rights of the people. They express freedom over order. It gave congress the power to decide boundaries, coin money, establish post offices, but no order to regulate commerce, or it didn't give any authority over the citizens over the United States. Congress could not tax citizens or states; therefore the country had an insufficient amount of money to pay the nations debts. There wasn't any military power, which left America vulnerable to attacks from other countries and chaos from within. The shift of the constitution made the national government work much more effectively and still protect the rights of the citizens.

2.) How critical and important are The Bill of Rights?

     The Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791, it has secured the freedom of the American citizen's for over 200 years. The federalist argued that The Bill of Rights was not necessary because congress had only the power granted by the Constitution. The Anti-federalist were concerned about excessive national power, they believed the amendments should be part of the Constitution, to protect the rights of the people. They didn't want the the United States of America to have a national religion, as Great Britain did. They wanted the people to have free exercise of  religion. They also wanted the Right to Bear Arms, The Right to a Trial by Jury and the assistance of an attorney to be part of the Constitution, so that these rights could never be taken away.

3.) How do you view capital punishment?

     I believe capital punishment is appropriate in certain cases. For example: Murder, Kidnapping, and Treason. If you look at the 8th amendment it seems to go against the death penalty on the cruel and unusual punishment wording, but the 14th amendment seems to support the death penalty. I do believe it should only be used when it is beyond a shadow of a doubt the individual is guilty. I believe all DNA evidence should be present at trial, if found guilty I believe the person should be allowed the due process of law, however i do not not believe waiting 20 years to follow through with the punishment.