Bill of Amendments

Description

Assignment Guidelines and Instructions

The Bill of Rights Essay

This assignment will be uploaded to Canvas on the page where you found the assignment. If your work is not original, you will not receive credit and may incur other consequences as stated in our course syllabus.

Submit your paper to the submission portal by the due date.

To successfully complete this assignment, you are required to write a short paper succinctly stating which one of the first ten amendments, or the fourteenth amendment, to the U.S. Constitution do you personally think is THE most important and WHY? Do not simply state the obvious protections afforded by the Constitution. Informing me that “the 1st Amendment provides lots of freedom to say what I feel” will earn you little or no credit. You must specifically identify how this right affects YOU and the circumstances under which you have benefitted (or not) from your selected provision.

For example: Is your neighbor, or someone you know, from a country that has no rights of free speech, freedom of religion, or the right to peaceable assembly? You can give a very specific example of how those rights are involved. Perhaps you have had your locker or backpack searched in high school or your car searched while you were being detained by law enforcement? Perhaps you are concerned about warrantless intrusion into your text messages and emails by the NSA or other governmental agencies? Do you cherish your religious or artistic freedom? If so, in what respect? What specifically do you do that might not be permitted in another country for example? Are you passionate about being able to criticize or support the government without fear of repercussions? Do you believe certain rights are best left to the states to act on and regulate? Have you ever been affected by someone asserting their right not to incriminate themselves while testifying? Then tell me about that and what it meant to your personally.

Please check out this great interactive resource for a quick look at each amendment. (Use only 1-10 or 14 for this assignment.)

https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution# (Links to an external site.)

For a refresher video on the Bill of Rights – click here:

http://constitutioncenter.org/learn/hall-pass/the-bill-of-rights (Links to an external site.)

Why is the constitutional provision that you have chosen to write about important to you? How does it affect you personally?

At the very top of your paper, before you start the essay, re-state, verbatim, the amendment that you are writing about. HINT: If you do not know the meaning of the word “verbatim” click here: https://www.google.com/search?q=verbatim&oq=verbatim&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1523j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 (Links to an external site.)

Write your two-three, original paragraphs describing the personal importance of the constitutional amendment that you have chosen to discuss 1-10 or 14th.
If you are using the 14th Amendment – just excerpt the area that specific portion that relates to your essay – it is long and covers many points – not all of them need to be re-stated if you are not referencing that provision in your work.
Note the details:

Your response must be a minimum of 350 and a maximum of 400 words exclusive of the actual restated amendment (about two-three paragraphs).
Use MLA format https://www.saddleback.edu/tutoring/writing-resourcesLinks to an external site.
Please very carefully proofread your work before you finalize your document.
Consider reading it aloud to a friend, family member, Siri, Alexa, a pet, a neighbor, or voice notes recording device.
Succinct, neat, legible, intelligible, original work that is in compliance with the instructions is required to receive full credit for this assignment. Do you your best – it’s very rewarding.
If you are a strong writer, this is a great opportunity to show off your skills and earn points. If you need to sharpen your writing skills, now is your chance to practice, improve, and earn points! Make each word count – no filler and no rambling and no basic facts about the amendment. I am interested in YOUR perspective. You will be marked down for messy, incoherent, or typo-filled writing. HINT: Get to know a writing tutor in the LRC for proofreading and content guidance; online tutoring is available. https://www.saddleback.edu/tutoring/online-tutoring-paper-centerLinks to an external site.

Your paper will be graded as follows:

Following instructions (very important): 15%
Quality and thoroughness of response to the prompt: 75%
Grammar, neatness, spelling, and presentation: 10%
Also, see Grading Criteria for All Written Submissions
Submit your paper to the upload portal by the due date.

Reading and following instructions is critically important

to receive maximum points on all assignments in this class.

Still have questions? After you have read all of the instructions for this Bill of Rights Essay assignment, and you still have questions, please post in the Discussion Board in the Questions & Help Forum so your classmates and professor can join in the discussion and everyone will learn together.
End of instructions.