Kenneth C. Davis's Blog, page 114

Today In History: Don't Ride the Bus

Fifty-five years ago, on December 1, 1955, an African-American seamstress would not budge. And all America shook.

At the top of my short list of alternative national holidays, I would propose December 1st as Rosa Parks Day.

History is taught as the record of presidents, kings and generals. But sometimes it is the extraordinary story of an "ordinary" person that history must tell. On December 1, 1955, one woman's act of defiance changed history. But it wouldn't be fair to call Rosa Parks, who was born in 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama and died October 24, 2005 at age 92, an "ordinary person." What do you know about this courageous woman who helped spark the civil rights movement that transformed America? (Answers below)

1. Where and why was Rosa Parks arrested?

2. Before her arrest, was Rosa Parks involved in the civil rights movement?

3. How much education did Rosa Parks, the descendant of slaves, receive?

4. What action did her arrest trigger?

5. Who was elected president of the organization that ran the boycott?

There is a wealth of resources about Rosa Parks from the Library of Congress.

Answers

1. She refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. A city law required that whites and blacks sit in separate rows. The law also required blacks to leave their seats to make room for white passengers.

2. Yes. Rosa Parks had become one of the first women to join the Montgomery Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1943, serving as its secretary until 1956. Employed as a seamstress, she lost her job as a result of the boycott and later moved to Detroit.

3. She attended Alabama State Teachers College.

4. Her arrest triggered a boycott of the city's segregated bus system that had been planned by local civil rights leaders who were awaiting the right moment. The arrest of Rosa Parks was that moment. For 382 days, thousands of blacks refused to ride Montgomery's buses and the boycott ended when the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregated seating on the city's buses unconstitutional.

5. A young and unknown Martin Luther King, Jr. –then a Baptist minister in Montgomery– was chosen as president, providing his first national stage.

Quiz adapted from Don't Know Much About Anything

Read more about Rosa Parks in Don't Know Much About History and my biography for young readers, Don't Know Much About Rosa Parks

Why we "Hide" our History: A videoblog

People ask me two questions all the time: Why don't we know much about History?

And why is so much of America's History Hidden?

To the first the answer is simple. It was boring.

And to the second, we lie.

Sometimes these lies are little white lies –like Washington and the Cherry Tree. But sometimes they are Big Lies.

Let me give you an example of a BIG LIE. I was in a wonderful historical village in Florida, doing some research. A Spanish mission, with a neighboring Indian village, it featured an enthusiastic, well-versed staff in period costume. It was exactly the kind of place I like to suggest to parents and teachers to take their kids to get them excited about history.

Then I went into their "educational center." On the wall was a time chart of Florida's history and under the date 1565, I saw this legend: "The French are banished from Florida."

Not so fast… The French Protestants, or Huguenots who were America's real first pilgrims, were not "banished." They were massacred by the Spanish. And not because they were French but because they were Protestants–"heretics." It happened in September and October 1565.

October is also the month in which those folks who brought you the Salem Witch Trials executed a couple of Quakers –who had been banned from Boston and the Bay Colony in October 1656. A year later, another Quaker named Mary Dyer was executed and a fourth was hung in 1661 –simply for the crime of being a Quaker.

They left that part out of the Thanksgiving Story, didn't they? These are some of the "hidden history" moments that we don't talk about when we discuss America as a so-called "Christian nation" and the Puritans coming for freedom of religion. That meant their religion not anyone else's.

We hide our history when the truth is ugly. We like to paint a picture of that that makes history tidy and acceptable. But our history isn't tidy or bloodless. And it certainly isn't boring as these stories prove.

You can read more about the French Pilgrims and the Quakers in America's Hidden History

Here is a link the national monument at Fort Matanzas, site of the Massacre:

http://www.nps.gov/foma/index.htm

This is a brief biography of Mary Dyer from the Massachusetts state website:

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=mg2terminal&L=6&L0=Home&L1=State+Government&L2=About+Massachusetts&L3=Interactive+State+House&L4=Inside+the+State+House&L5=Statues+in+Bronze&sid=massgov2&b=terminalcontent&f=interactive_statehouse_statue_dyer&csid=massgov2

Thanksgiving Myths- A Videoblog

With Thanksgiving around the corner, cutouts of Pilgrims in black clothes and clunky shoes are sprouting all over the place. You may know that the Pilgrims sailed aboard the Mayflower and arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. But did you know their first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three whole days? What else do you know about these early settlers of America? Don't be a turkey. Try this True-False quiz.

True or False? (Answers below)

1. Pilgrims always wore stiff black clothes and shoes with silver buckles.

2. The Pilgrims came to America in search of religious freedom.

3. Everyone on the Mayflower was a Pilgrim.

4. The Pilgrims were saved from starvation by a native American friend named Squanto.

5. The Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving in America.

Read more about the Mayflower and its passengers with your children in Don't Know Much About the Pilgrims.

And read about America's real "first Pilgrims" in America's Hidden History

Here is a link to the site of Plimouth Plantation, definitely worth a visit:

http://www.plimoth.org/

Answers

1. False. Pilgrims wore blue, green, purple and brownish clothing for everyday. Those who had good black clothes saved them for the Sabbath. No Pilgrims had buckles– artists made that up later!

2. True. The Pilgrims were a group of radical Puritans who had broken away from the Church of England. After 11 years of "exile" in Holland, they decided to come to America.

3. False. Only about half of the 102 people on the Mayflower were what William Bradford later called "Pilgrims." The others, called "Strangers" just wanted to come to the New World.

4. True. Squanto, or Tisquantum, helped teach the Pilgrims to hunt, farm and fish. He learned English after being taken as a slave aboard an English ship.

5. False. The Indians had been having similar harvest feasts for years. So did the English settlers in Virginia and Spanish settlers in the southwest before the Pilgrims even got to America. And teh Mayflower weren't even the "first Pilgrims." That honor goes to French Huguenots who settled inFlorida more than 50 years before the Mayflower sailed.

Don't Know Much About Veterans Day–The Forgotten Meaning

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

That was the moment at which World War I largely came to end in 1918. One of the most tragically senseless and destructive periods in all history came to a close in Western Europe with the Armistice –or end of hostilities between Germany and the Allied nations — that began at that moment. Some 20 million people had died in the fighting that raged for more than four years since August 1914. The complete end of the war came with the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919.

The date of November 11th became a national holiday of remembrance in many of the victorious allied nations –a day to commemorate the loss of so many lives in the war. And in the United States, President Wilson proclaimed the first Armistice Day on November 11, 1919. A few years later, in 1926, Congress passed a resolution calling on the President to observe each November 11th as a day of remembrance:

Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and

Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and

Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.

Of course, the hopes that "the war to end all wars" would bring peace were short-lived. By 1939, Europe was again at war and what was once called "the Great War" would become World War I.  With the end of World War II, there was a movement in America to rename Armistice Day and create a holiday that recognized the veterans of all of America's conflicts. President Eisenhower signed that law in 1954. (In 1971, Veterans Day began to be marked as a Monday holiday on the third Monday in November,  but in 1978, the holiday was returned to the traditional November 11th date).

Today, Veterans Day honors the duty, sacrifice and service of America's nearly 25 million veterans of all wars. We should remember and celebrate those men and women. But lost in that worthy goal is the forgotten meaning of this day in history –the meaning which Congress gave to Armistice Day in 1926:

to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations …

inviting the people of the United States to observe the day … with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.

The Veterans Administration website offers more resources on teaching about Veterans Day

You can read more about World War I history in Don't Know Much About History

Debs Day? Socialist, Convict, Presidential Candidate

We like to celebrate heroes of conscience, like Thoreau, Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Unless they might be a "Socialist troublemaker" –like Eugene V. Debs, born this date in 1855.

The epithet "Socialist" seems to be one of the worst things a politician can be called these days. In the early 20th century, Eugene V. Debs staked a proud claim to it. And in 1920, running for President from a federal penitentiary, he won nearly one million votes as an American Socialist.

Born in Terre Haute, Indiana on November 5, 1855, Eugene V. Debs is a name left out of many schoolbooks. That's too bad. If you are looking for a profile in American courage, you might want to know his name. He was a fearless defender of the rights of workers and the poor and a champion of free speech.

A high school dropout, Debs went to business school at night while he worked days. He became a labor organizer and eventually helped found some of the first labor organizations in America, including the International Workers of the World (or "Wobblies").

In 1894, Debs initially opposed a strike against the Pullman Car Company, then one of America's largest and most powerful companies. He later helped lead the strike. After President Grover Cleveland sent in troops to break the Pullman strike, killing thirteen workers, Debs was arrested for his failure to obey an injunction against the strike and was sent to federal prison. His case eventually went to the Supreme Court and Debs was represented by noted attorney Clarence Darrow, who had left his position as a railroad lawyer to defend Debs. The court upheld the right of the federal government to issue the injunction. While in jail, Debs read the works of Karl Marx and became a Socialist. He ran for President as the Socialist candidate five times –winning about 6% of the vote in 1912.

His final candidacy came in 1920, while he was once more in jail. During World War I, Debs became a passionate and vocal opponent of the war and urged resistance to the draft, earning the wrath of  President Woodrow Wilson. He was convicted of sedition and sentenced to ten years in prison. The Supreme Court again ruled on his case, once more confirming his sentence. While in jail, Debs received more than 900,000 write-in votes for President (about 3 % of the popular vote).

Among his supporters was Helen Keller. She wrote a letter to Eugene V. Debs, whom she addressed as "Dear Comrade"  (March 11, 1919) while he was in prison. She wrote:

I write because I want you to now that I should be proud if the Supreme Court convicted me of abhorring war, and doing all in my power to oppose it. When I think of the millions who have suffered in all the wicked wars of the past, I am shaken with the anguish of a great impatience. I want to fling myself against all brute powers that destroy the life, and break the spirit of man.

. . .  We were driven onto war for liberty, democracy and humanity. Behold what is happening all over the world today! Oh where is the swift vengeance of Jehovah that it does not fall upon the hosts of those who are marshalling machine-guns against hungry-stricken peoples? It is the complacency of madness to call such acts "preserving law and order." What oceans of blood and tears are shed in their name! I have come to loathe traditions and institutions that take away the rights of the poor and protect the wicked against judgment.

Following the election of 1920, President Harding commuted Debs' sentence to time served on Christmas 1921. After making a visit to Harding at the White House, Debs returned to cheering crowds in Indiana. In poor health attributed to his imprisonment, Debs died five years later on October 20, 1926 at age 70.

A somewhat reluctant leader, he once said:

Too long have the workers of the world waited for some Moses to lead them out of bondage. I would not lead you out if I could; for if you could be led out, you could be led back again. I would have you make up your minds there is nothing that you cannot do for yourselves.    (From an address on Industrial Unionism delivered in New York City, Dec. 18,1905)

A good overview of Debs' life and times can be found at the Eugene V. Debs Foundation

You can read more about Eugene V. Debs and the early labor movement in

Why we "Hide" our History: A videoblog

People ask me two questions all the time: Why don't we know much about History?

And why is so much of America's History Hidden?

To the first the answer is simple. It was boring.

And to the second, we lie.

Sometimes these lies are little white lies –like Washington and the Cherry Tree. But sometimes they are Big Lies.

Let me give you an example of a BIG LIE. I was in a wonderful historical village in Florida, doing some research. A Spanish mission, with a neighboring Indian village, it featured an enthusiastic, well-versed staff in period costume. It was exactly the kind of place I like to suggest to parents and teachers to take their kids to get them excited about history.

Then I went into their "educational center." On the wall was a time chart of Florida's history and under the date 1565, I saw this legend: "The French are banished from Florida."

Not so fast… The French Protestants, or Huguenots who were America's real first pilgrims, were not "banished." They were massacred by the Spanish. And not because they were French but because they were Protestants–"heretics." It happened in September and October 1565.

October is also the month in which those folks who brought you the Salem Witch Trials executed a couple of Quakers –who had been banned from Boston and the Bay Colony in October 1656. A year later, another Quaker named Mary Dyer was executed and a fourth was hung in 1661 –simply for the crime of being a Quaker.

They left that part out of the Thanksgiving Story, didn't they? These are some of the "hidden history" moments that we don't talk about when we discuss America as a so-called "Christian nation" and the Puritans coming for freedom of religion. That meant their religion not anyone else's.

We hide our history when the truth is ugly. We like to paint a picture of that that makes history tidy and acceptable. But our history isn't tidy or bloodless. And it certainly isn't boring as these stories prove.

You can read more about the French Pilgrims and the Quakers in America's Hidden History

Here is a link the national monument at Fort Matanzas, site of the Massacre:

http://www.nps.gov/foma/index.htm

This is a brief biography of Mary Dyer from teh Masschusetts stae website:

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=mg2terminal&L=6&L0=Home&L1=State+Government&L2=About+Massachusetts&L3=Interactive+State+House&L4=Inside+the+State+House&L5=Statues+in+Bronze&sid=massgov2&b=terminalcontent&f=interactive_statehouse_statue_dyer&csid=massgov2

Civics Primer #6: Another Quiz and Two Bedrock Rights

As we head into tomorrow's election, I finish my brief Civics Refresher Course with five more questions from the Naturalization Test given by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.

1. What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful? (Two officially acceptable answers)

2. Under the U.S. Constitution, some powers belong to the states. Name one. (At least five officially acceptable answers)

3. When was the Constitution written?

4.  Name four of the wars fought by the United States in the 1800s. (The test asks for one of four wars; there are others).

5. What is the supreme law of the land?

Whether you have done well or poorly, I hope this series has spurred a little more curiosity about our fundamental rights under the American Constitution and the history behind those rights.

Now, for the last two of the Amendments in the Bill of Rights. Although most people would be hard-pressed to name or describe them, both are fundamental to individual rights and our system of government.

Amendment Nine

Establishes the rule of the construction of the Constitution.

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

This amendment is at the heart of the Constitution, and it is based on the idea that all human beings have certain fundamental rights. Some of these rights are specifically mentioned ("enumerated") in the Constitution, but others are not. Alexander Hamilton and James Madison responded to criticism that the Bill of Rights was flawed because it listed certain rights that gave specific protections, but left the government free to act on any that had not been specifically set down. To protect those rights, including those that were expressed in the Declaration of Independence as "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," this amendment covers fundamental rights not set forth in the Constitution.

Still controversial and debated, this interpretation  of the ninth Amendment is at the heart of the debate over the right of privacy. That concept, never specifically mentioned in the Constitution, was first established in 1965 by the Supreme Court in Griswold v Connecticut, a case involving Connecticut's ban on the use of contraceptive devices, and added to in several later cases. But most people know it as the underpinning of what is still the most controversial and divisive ruling in recent history, Roe v. Wade (1973), which legalized abortion. The Court also recognized that a woman's right to choose contraception or abortion is "central to personal dignity and autonomy."

Amendment Ten

Lays out the rights of states under the Constitution.

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.

This amendment was a sort of additional "fail safe" designed to allay fears that a central national government might someday exceed its proper powers. It has been the cornerstone of the states' rights philosophy, but does not diminish or add to the authority of the federal government.

The Cornell University Law School offers an annotated guide to the Tenth Amendment and the rest of the Constitution.

Pop Quiz Answers

1. The system of checks and balances; the separation of powers

2. Provide schooling and education; provide protection (police, state militias); provide safety (fire departments and state militias); give a driver's license; approve zoning and land use.

3. 1787

4. The four wars listed in the Naturalization exam are the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. This list does not include any of the wars fought against Native-American nations such as the Creek War or the Seminole War, among others.

5. The U.S. Constitution

DKMA Minute #17 William Weatherford: An American "Braveheart"

Do you know the name William Weatherford? You should. He was a charismatic leader of his people who wanted freedom and to protect his land. Just like "Braveheart," or William Wallace of Mel Gibson fame.

Only William Weatherford, also known as Red Eagle, wasn't fighting a cruel King. He was at war with the United States government.

William Weatherford's story is one of six pieces of Hidden History I recount in my new book, A NATION RISING

Here is a link to my page about A NATION RISING coming on May 11, 2010

http://www.dontknowmuch.com/about-the-series/a-nation-rising/

"An informative and enjoyable book," says Booklist (May 2010)

Davis is a widely read author and a contributor to National Public Radio. He has made a career out of writing about the supposedly "hidden" truths that transcend the mythology about American history. Here, he offers a series of essays that covers the period from 1800 to 1850, which witnessed massive territorial expansion, controversy over slavery, and efforts to forge a national identity. Incidents covered include the trial of Aaron Burr for treason, the Seminole War in Florida, a slave uprising in Louisiana, and anti-Catholic riots in Philadelphia. Professional historians may cringe at Davis' claims of revealing hidden truths, given that virtually all of these topics are familiar to scholars. Still, Davis is a fine writer who uses a fast-moving narrative to tell these stories well. He knows his facts, and his assertions and speculations are generally credible. For general readers who wish to expand their knowledge of the period, this is an informative and enjoyable work.— Jay Freeman

Cruel and Unusual- (Civics Primer Part 5)

No, learning about Civics and American History is not the Cruel and Unusual part. Actually, when done properly, this stuff can be fun and interesting.

Following up on my earlier lessons about the Bill of Rights, today's focus is on two more of the fundamental rights of the accused found in the Seventh and Eighth Amendments. And that's where "cruel and unusual" comes in. You don't need to be a law student or a lawyer to know that phrase: it was invoked by the Supreme Court to regulate capital punishment. And it is clearly a subjective standard that is often revised and otherwise fine-tuned.

But first, this wouldn't be a proper Civics Lesson without a Pop Quiz: Here are five more of the questions regarding things you need to know to become an American citizen.

1. What did the Declaration of Independence do? (in nine words or less)

2. What is the economic system of the United States? (Two officially acceptable answers, subject to debate.)

3. Name four states that border Mexico. (Citizen applicants only have to provide one. But I'm the mean teacher.)

4. Name three of the five U.S. territories. (Applicants need only know one.)

5. Who did the United States fight in World War II? (All three main opponents, please)

Now, for more of your basic rights…

Amendment Seven

Guarantees the right of trial by jury in federal civil cases.

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 re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

This amendment gives a right to a trial by jury for monetary damages in federal court. The Constitution does not require a jury in civil cases in state courts.

Amendment Eight

Protects from excessive bail or fines; cruel and unusual punishment.

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

Another of the amendments that protect the rights of the accused, it allows the accused to post bail, a guarantee that he will return for trial, in order to be free from detention to prepare his defense. A judge can determine that factors such as the gravity of the offense and previous record weigh against bail.

More controversial is the "cruel and unusual punishment" line, which has been used to argue against the death penalty. In 1972, the Furman v Georgia decision essentially ended all capital punishment. In 1976, the decision Gregg v Georgia opened the way for executions. Under current Court rulings, the death penalty is not considered cruel and unusual, although the United States is one of the few industrialized nations that permits the death penalty.

One widely accepted argument has been that the death penalty acts as a deterrent, preventing further murders. Statistically speaking, there is no evidence to support that idea. In fact, some statistics suggest that the opposite is true. Over the last twenty years, the homicide rates in states with the death penalty has been 50 to 100 percent higher than the rate in states without it, a 2000 New York Times study found.  FBI crime statistics in 2009, according the the Death Penalty Information Center, show southern states with the highest rates of execution also have the highest homicide rates, while northern states with no death penalty have substantially  lower murder rates.  (Link below)

The fact is that homicide rates are often determined by many other factors, including demographics, unemployment, and poverty.

The execution of convicted terrorist bomber Timothy McVeigh in 2001 came at a time when the country was reexamining its attitudes about the death penalty. The governor of Illinois, a conservative Republican who previously supported capital punishment, and the governor of Maryland, a Democrat, both announced a moratorium on executions when a significant number of death row convictions were overturned in their states. In some of these cases, new DNA evidence proved a convicted person's innocence; other convictions had been found to be based on tainted evidence or misconduct by police investigators, technicians, or prosecutors.

In 2002, the Supreme Court issued two rulings that also reflected changing attitudes toward the death penalty. In the first case, the Court ruled that the execution of the mentally retarded qualified as cruel and unusual punishment. In another case, the Court held that juries rather than judges must determine if the death penalty is to be used.

The Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group, offers a history of the death penalty and other valuable information and resources on the issues relating to the death penalty.

Pop Quiz Answers:

1. Acceptable answer are: Announced our independence (from Great Britain); or declared our independence (from Great Britain); or said that the United is free (from Great Britain).

2. Capitalist economy or free market economy.

3. California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas.

4. Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Northen Mariana Islands, Guam.

5. Germany, Japan and Italy.

Pleading the Fifth (Civics Primer Part 4)

My Civics Primer has been focusing on the Bill of Rights and continues with two more Amendments that deal with the rights of the accused –including perhaps the most famous of all, the Fifth Amendment.

But first, the pop quiz portion of the class continues. These five questions are  drawn from the Naturalization Test given to applicants for U.S. Citizenship. Surely any native American citizen can get all of them right. Surely.

1. How many Amendments does the Constitution have?

2. What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?

3.  Name three of the original thirteen states.

4. What territory did the United States buy in 1803? (And who sold it?)

5. Who was President during World War I?

In the previous post, I highlighted the Fourth Amendment. That is the first of four of the articles in the Bill of Rights that deal with the rights of the accused. The Framers were men who had lived under a monarch with nearly unlimited powers. It is no accident that four of the ten Amendments in the Bill of Rights were clearly designed to protect the innocent and curb the power of the government in accusing and trying the people.

Amendment Five

Guarantees provisions for prosecution and due process of law. Double jeopardy restriction. Protects against self-incrimination. Safeguards due process. Private property not to be taken without compensation.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

"Pleading the Fifth" has acquired the connotation of "He must be hiding something" for many people. If you have nothing to hide, they reason, you would tell the truth. But the idea behind protection from self-incrimination is part of a tradition of reasoning that begins with the presumption of innocence and was designed to check the power of the government. Written by men who knew the unlimited power of a monarch or church to compel evidence, the Bill of Rights placed the interest of the individual above that of the state. Under this amendment, the Constitution requires the state to establish guilt by independent evidence, protecting everyone from a potentially abusive government.

Amendment Six

Guarantees the right to a speedy trial, witnesses, counsel.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining Witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

This amendment also protects the individual's rights in criminal proceedings. Having seen people taken to jail under a monarchy, never to be seen again, the authors of the Bill of Rights wrote specific protections against that possibility. Speedy trials, public trials instead of secret inquisitions, jury trials in the district where the crime is committed, the right to confront accusers, and the guarantee of legal representation are all bedrock rights in the American system of justice.

Answers

1. 27

2. Life. Liberty. The Pursuit of happiness.

3. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia.

4. Louisiana Territory (from France)

5. Woodrow Wilson