Opinions and why they matter

Our Founding Fathers worked to establish common ground on the freedoms they wished to see flourish in the colonization of a new nation. 

The lack of a Bill of Rights that would provide basic rights and protections for citizens was one of many points of contention at this time between Federalists and Anti-Federalists.

The earliest newspapers published in colonial America brought debate to and contributed to this common ground.

Ratified Dec. 15, 1791, simplified are the 10 amendments listed at ushistory.org:

• Amendment 1: freedoms, petitions, assembly

• Amendment 2: right to bear arms 

• Amendment 3: quartering of soldiers

• Amendment 4: search and arrest

• Amendment 5: rights in criminal cases

• Amendment 6: right to a fair trial

• Amendment 7: rights in civil cases

• Amendment 8: bail, fines, punish ments

• Amendment 9: rights retained by the People

• Amendment 10: states’ rights

The very First Amendment protects freedom of speech, press, assembly and the right to petition the government. The first of 10 amendments also prohibits Congress from making laws that establish a religion or prohibit its free exercise.

Without open debate, without opinion, we would not have the freedoms founded upon this great nation we all so love and dearly believe in. Many countries’ citizens cannot exercise these freedoms without threat of imprisonment or even death. 

The Bill of Rights or the 10 amendments to the constitution our forefathers worked out, were influenced and contributed to by the debate that flourished and were published in the nation’s earliest newspapers.

John Adams and Alexander Hamilton were participants in this debate. While Adams is generally credited with the results of the 10 basic freedoms established during this period of history, it is difficult to refute the importance of debate and opinion through freedom of speech that truly established individual citizens’ rights and freedoms.

The infringement of providing these established freedoms to any one individual is a threat to all individuals. No citizen should feel as though a right, an individual’s decision that is important and impacts them directly and does not infringe on another citizen’s rights, should be endangered by another.

Our nation unfortunately has a history of witch burning and racial hangings. How far have we come? How far have we to go? Without the recognition that a free society cannot restrict an individual’s freedom nor perform heinous acts against its citizens, we are not a free nation.

Whoever believes they are greater an individual than another, does not abide by the United States Constitution nor the protections established by the Bill of Rights that give us guidance on how great a nation we can be.

It is the safeguarding and balance of this precious act that make us true Americans. We are not right to believe we are a parent that needs to step into another’s life with only the understanding of what we believe or know.

Knowledge is an ongoing pursuit in understanding the decisions we make individually. An individual’s responsibility to continue to grow and learn what freedom means for each citizen is a lifelong pursuit. 

Since the founding and establishment of the 10 Amendments that provide the freedoms to protect all citizens, the exchange of debate through a free people’s opinions is what sets our country apart from others. Every American citizen is entitled to an opinion and to a place where it is recognized to express one. 

Let us believe and continue to trust that the knowledge a community, national or international news organization can contribute to open debate and opinion will survive any threats, internally or externally, to the protection of a truly free people.

Righteousness by an individual or an organization can have no place in the equality we seek for all in these United States.

Remember we are a nation of newspapers. No other nation can say this. The Call is proud to provide an opinion page that welcomes readers’ opinions. The opinion page is the people’s page and encourages open debate. 

The Bill of Rights does not exist without this framework.