English as the Official Language of the U. S. A.

Whose English?

Appalachian English - close to the way that the Colonists spoke

English as the Official Language of the U. S. A.

Whose English?

Map of American English dialects - Transcript Linguists draw their own maps of North America to mark different dialect areas. To use their terms, we've started in eastern New England ...

Amendment X

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Comments by Nate Segal

The Tenth Amendment has become known as the "reserved powers clause" of the Constitution.

Although the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, it establishes a government of limited rule and power. This Amendment balances the wording of Article VI:

"This Constitution ... shall be the supreme Law of the Land."

These words from Article VI are called the "supremacy clause."

The Framers intended that our country have a federal system. They disagreed over how strong the federal government should be. The Tenth Amendment prevents the federal government from grabbing too much power from the states.

Some Americans today argue that the federal government has become too strong. They may be right in principle. Nonetheless, many of us have benefitted from the federal programs of healthcare for the elderly and indigent — Medicare and Medicaid. Often, these "entitlements" place burdens on states that seem unfair. So I see merit in the argument that the federal government has been growing at the expense of the states.

(In the case of Medicare, for example, the federal government has entered what some would say is the arena of businesses. I'm not addressing this issue here with the Tenth Amendment.)

Many of us have benefitted from civil rights legislation which is arguably but deliberately intrusive into the purview of the states. Keep in mind, though, that the earliest civil rights legislation dates back to the administration of President Abraham Lincoln. So the issue of states' rights has been vexing our nation since the time of log cabins and mules pulling plows.

Amendment IX

"The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

Comments by Nate Segal

The Ninth Amendment lets us citizens know that we have additional civil liberties although the Constitution does not enumerate what they are.

One classmate mentioned that the decision to have children is not an enumerated right, but we all recognize that we possess this liberty.

(I am not addressing the issue of birth control. The Shakers, for example, created a social experiment and decided that they would not bear children. They refrained from sex altogether. They, and we also, are free to decide not to have sex although the Constitution is silent, not enumerating a civil liberty to decide and act accordingly.)

Amendment VIII

"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

Comments by Nate Segal

The Eighth Amendment further limits the power of the Judiciary:

• Bail must be reasonable,
• Fines must be reasonable, and
• Cruel and unusual punishments are proscribed.

The Amendment does not tell us what is reasonable or what is meant by cruel and unusual, though.

This amendment concerns due process of law like the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments. According to Ginsburg, et al. (2009), "The purpose of due process is to equalize the playing field between the accused individual and the all-powerful state" ( p. 154).

It seems to me that this Amendment prevents the federal government from becoming all-powerful first of all. Also, I'm not comfortable with using an analogy of a playing field. The government is not one team pitted against another, here the accused individual. Due process of law is predictable and objective. The accused individual acquires a defense lawyer who can explain and predict the general processes that this individual will experience.

I would say that the playing team analogy is faulty for another reason. The Framers of the Constitution did not intend for the government to be an adversary of its citizens. That is tyranny, and that describes King George's relationship with the Colonies and their citizens.

Amendment VII

"In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law."

Comments by Nate Segal

The Seventh Amendment establishes a citizen's rights in civil suits. Until now the Bill of Rights addressed criminal cases.

If a person is called into federal court with a civil case against them, judges must allow the case to be presented before a jury if the person wishes.  Americans had enjoyed this right during colonial days (O'Connor & Sabato, p. 81).

When Article III of the Constitution established the federal judiciary, jury trials were specified for criminal cases. "The Trial of all Crimes ... shall be by Jury." The Constitution is silent on civil cases, so the Seventh Amendment preserves and affirms trials by jury for civil cases.

Once a judge and jury have issued a judgment — "fact" — the ruling stands in all federal courts.

Common law allows for appeals of judgments, which is addressed in Article III of the constitution itself. An appeal is an attempt to change the verdict — "fact" — of the case.

Congress changed the threshold from $20 to $75,000. Perhaps this higher threshold keeps case loads in our federal courts manageable. Would we want to lower this current threshold? Would we want to hire more judges and staff and also build larger court facilities? These expenses would come from our pockets as higher taxes. No thanks. It's not broken, so don't fix it.