Writing Examples
With Liberty and Justice for All: Civil Liberties in America
This example was written as the final paper for my introductory Political Science class at Alma College. It is rather technical its discussion of the history of America's democratic system and serves as a strong contrast to the other examples in my portfolio.
With Liberty and Justice for All: Civil Liberties in America
by Kacie Schaeffer
For over two hundred years Americans have clung to the Constitution and its ideals, elevating it to the status of demigod. We have guarded our parchment deity with jealous ferocity, and two centuries' worth of war, political turmoil, economic hardship, and social unrest has done nothing to weaken our resolve. But what makes this inanimate, unfeeling document worth our protection? Why do countless men and women continue to sacrifice time and life to its service? The answer, perhaps, lies in the first ten amendments to the Constitution: the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is based on a set of intangible values and a sense of transcendental justice that has placed the individual in a unique position with respect to the government; the historical context of these guaranteed "civil liberties" has caught the attention of some of the greatest American minds to date, has sparked raging debates that continue to the present, and has ensured an equality and brotherhood such as the world has never seen before.
The Importance of Balance Between the Individual and the State
The Bill of Rights is the Great Equalizer; it appeals to most Americans because of the constraints it places on others who might infringe on individual rights. This freedom is guaranteed to every citizen of the United States today regardless of race, creed, gender, age, handicap, and sexual orientation due to the overwhelming effort of individual men and women to uphold the promise of these civil rights. The President's Committee on Civil Rights sums up the mentality that drives the American system of government with pride:
The central theme in our American heritage is the importance of the individual person. From the earliest moment of our history we have believed that every human being has an essential dignity and integrity which must be respected and safeguarded. Moreover, we believe that the welfare of the individual is the final goal of group life. Our American heritage further teaches that to be secure in the rights he wishes for himself, each man must be willing to respect the rights of other men. This is the conscious recognition of a basic moral principle: all men are created equal as well as free. (p. 4)
Thus the guiding principle that our forefathers used to create the foundation for our nation is apparent. However, the framers of the Constitution also realized that "...a democratic majority, left unrestrained, may be as ruthless and tyrannical as...earlier monarchs" (President's Committee, p. 5). To avoid tyranny by both an elite few and an uneducated multitude, the founding fathers bound our precious civil liberties in a Bill of Rights that permanently denies any government from legally interfering with the enumerated rights and freedoms. This gives the individual the ability to manage his affairs as he sees fit with the government acting as a sort of referee to sort out entanglements when one person's freedoms infringe on those of another. The true issue of the relationship between the state and the individual, then, is once again summarized best by the President's Committee on Civil Rights:
There is no essential conflict between freedom and government. Bills of rights restrain government from abridging individual civil liberties, while government itself by sound legislative policies protects citizens against the aggressions of others seeking to push their freedoms too far. (p. 5)
The History of Civil Liberty
The history of the civil liberties we enjoy today is infinitely more complex and varied than it seems. The Supreme Court's interpretations of the Bill of Rights created controversy long after the ratification of the Constitution and continue to do so even in the present day. Since the First Amendment to the Constitution is the only section of the Bill of Rights that explicitly limits the national government, many ask whether the other amendments limit only the national government or if they apply to state statues as well. The Supreme Court ruled on this question in 1833 in the case Barron v. Baltimore. Barron sued Baltimore when he found that the city had dumped so much earth in paving its streets into the water surrounding his wharf that his industry was all but destroyed. He pled that the city had unjustly and unconstitutionally deprived him of his property without compensation, but the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Marshall, disagreed, stating:
Each State established a constitution for itself, and in that constitution provided such limitations and restrictions on the power of its particular government as its judgment dictated...If these propositions be correct, the fifth amendment must be understood as restraining the power of the general government, not as applicable to the States. (Lowi & Ginsberg, p. 77)
This ruling confirmed the idea of dual citizenship, the fact that Americans were each a citizen of the national government as well as a separate citizen of his own particular state. This decree also undermined the authority of the Bill of Rights immensely and left individuals unprotected and at the mercy of state governments. The basis for this ruling was likely centered on the issue of slavery. By foregoing the opportunity to ban slavery in the United States, an act that would have angered the southern states and undoubtedly led to secession, the Supreme Court encouraged the states to benefit the nation as a whole by working cooperatively and seeking compromises. Whether this was worth the continued oppression of a minority is debatable, especially considering the fact that the Supreme Court refused to overturn Barron v. Baltimore long after those slain in the Civil War had turned to dust and the Fourteenth Amendment had been adopted. In fact, until the Supreme Court found state segregation laws unconstitutional in 1954 during the famous case of Brown v. Board of Education, the states enjoyed an immense amount of power to determine sets of laws that opposed the freedoms expressed in the Bill of Rights directly (Lowi & Ginsberg, p. 81). The Brown ruling began a Constitutional revolution in which the Supreme Court began to actively incorporate civil liberties into the Fourteenth Amendment, thereby providing Americans with a set of anti-discriminatory civil rights that will hopefully never be challenged again.
Louis Hartz on Liberal Society and its Relation to American Civil Liberties
Many great minds have analyzed the tumultuous history of civil liberties in the United States to predict the future stability of our country. Louis Hartz, a professor at Harvard University, is not the least of these analysts. In his famous book, The Liberal Tradition in America (1955), he discusses the implications of America's lack of a historical feudal system in terms of the country's unique liberal views. Hartz feels that America, having skipped the feudal stage of its history, is a great paradox of a nation:
Here is a Lockian doctrine which in the West as a whole is the symbol of rationalism, yet in America the devotion to it has been so irrational that it has not even been recognized for what it is: liberalism. There has never been a "liberal movement" or a real "liberal party" in America: we have only had the American Way of Life, a nationalist articulation of Locke which usually does not know that Locke himself is involved...Ironically, "liberalism" is a stranger in the land of its greatest realization and fulfillment. (Nivola & Rosenbloom, p. 13)
The professor also believes that this blind liberalism is the main threat against America, that "military and ideological pressure from without...transforms eccentricity into sin" (Nivola & Rosenbloom, p. 13) and creates a unique mass hysteria such as that during the Red Scare. He states that the United States has never had to overthrow an oppressive monarchy like many of its European counterparts and that this single fact has left a very distinct, very American way of viewing politics in its wake. Whereas Europeans are generally more concerned with debating and manipulating laws to attain a goal while retaining individual freedoms, Americans are more compromise-oriented and are willing to sacrifice some of their valuable civil liberties in order to achieve an ultimate national goal. Hartz wonders whether this sacrifice will undo the young, inexperienced nation and thus warns against unguarded liberalism.
Current Issues Regarding Civil Liberties
In the aftermath of the horrific terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the debate over civil liberties has become heated once again. In the midst of a de-nationalizing trend in which the Supreme Court has become more conservative in applications of its interpretive ability, the Court has been called upon to regulate trade more closely, tighten security at airports, and impose stricter controls on the number of people entering and leaving the country. Many are angered, for example, by the rigorous border checks between the United States and Canada or disheartened at the need to arrive hours before a flight to complete the necessary security checks. A small layer of our ability to travel freely has been stripped from us, and some wonder what other liberties we will sacrifice in order to ensure the safety of our countrymen. This mentality exemplifies Hartz' summation of our "Americanism," our willingness to forego some of our own rights so that our nation might protect itself as a whole. The question remains, however, as to just how many infringements individuals will endure.
In conclusion, civil liberties have always been and will seemingly forever be the subject of heated controversy. He who seeks to find balance between upholding American ideals and "Americanism" walks a fine line, and one that shifts depending on the country's demands as well. The struggles of those who battled for liberty and upheld the honor of American heritage must not be forgotten even as we seek to exist in a world that grows more malevolent each day. If we remember the promises given to us by a higher being and bound in our Constitution, the proud tradition of freedom that we inherited from those before us will always be a legacy worth dying for.
References
Lowi, T. & Ginsberg, B. (2000). American government: freedom and power. New York:
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Nivola, P. S. & Rosenbloom, D. H. (1999). Classic readings in american politics. New York:
Worth Publishers, Inc.
President's Committee on Civil Rights. (1947). To secure these rights: the report of the
president's committee on civil rights. New York: Simon and Schuster.