The Bill of Rights.
They’re basically the ten commandments of the United States.
And just like the ten commandments, most Americans can only name three or four.
Let’s solve that problem today.
[Intro music]
So it's summer and it gets pretty warm here, so I took my ferret to the river for the first time the other day.
I very quickly learned that he actually likes to swim but he’s not very good at it.
So I decided to spend this weekend making him a life preserver.
And since I’ll be working with my hands during this video I figured I’d teach you
the Bill of Rights using just your hands as well.
Whether you’re trying to study for a test or you’re just looking for a quick and easy
way to remember all ten, I learned this trick from Keith Hughes, of Hip Hughes History a
few years ago.
His version didn’t have all ten so I’ve adapted them over the years.
This is just a broad overview of the Bill of Rights and does not include all the little
intricacies of each amendment.
Anyway, let’s go ahead and get started, predictably, with the first amendment.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The first amendment has five freedoms.
In fact that’s pretty important.
The first amendment has five freedoms.
Speech.
Press.
Religion.
Petition.
Assembly.
I discussed freedom of speech in great detail in my last video, so I won’t repeat too
much of it here.
But the main point is freedom of speech protects you from the government in most cases.
It does not protect you from losing your job, being kicked off of a team, or being banned
from a website.
But for the most part you’re ok.
The second freedom, press, is pretty straight forward.
Here in the United States we have no state-run news agency.
Hmm this seems pretty safe, right?
I’m not going to cut into the leather or anything.
[Styrofoam popping] Anyway, even free countries in Europe have
channels that are controlled by the government – most famously the BBC.
They’re still granted a wide berth when it comes to their freedom of what they can
report.
But here in the United States, the government is not allowed to dictate what is and is not
printed.
Measure once cut once.
There are very few examples of this but they usually relate to immediate national security.
The most recent example I can think of is the raid on the Osama bin Laden compound.
The media knew about the raid well before they broadcasted it but at the request of
the government they withheld that information since one of the helicopters had crashed and
broadcasting that might put the men on the ground in more danger.
This is typically called embargoing a news story.
This might end up being an entire video topic in itself but freedom of religion has two
parts, often forgotten by those who teach these rights.
The first part, freedom from religion, comes from the establishment clause, which is also
the basis for separation of church and state.
This is why hanging the ten commandments in your courthouse is usually looked down upon
and why having a nativity scene on your city hall lawn is usually protested.
It’s also why the United States is under no threat of sharia law…
[Styrofoam popping] The second part of the religious freedom section
is the free exercise clause.
This is the one that everyone remembers.
There’s no laws restricting what religion you can belong to or which one you practice.
But like speech, that doesn’t mean you can refuse to do your job or your homework because
it's against your religion.
It’s not some invincibility cloak you can cover yourself with whenever you have to do
something you don’t want to.
It’s also why a certain presidential candidate’s plan to ban an entire religion from entering
the country would be completely unconstitutional.
In Colonial America, if you didn’t like something the government was doing, you could
write a letter... that would probably be used as wadding in the next musket ball headed
your way.
But now with the first amendment, you are guaranteed the right to petition your government
when you think they are doing something you don’t like.
Excuse me.
I have some grievances I’d like to redress.
The final right, assembly, is pretty obvious.
You are allowed to publicly gather and protest whatever it is that you think the government
is doing wrong.
Unfortunately there are a lot of rules about when and where you’re allowed to do so…
which has led many police officers to get into their riot gear and some say abuse their
power.
Unfortunately there are way too many examples of this happening so I can’t really cover
it all in one video.
But please remember you’re allowed to peacefully assemble.
Looting and burning cars is not covered by the first amendment.
Alright.
So just to recap the first amendment has five freedoms.
Speech.
Press.
Religion.
Petition.
Assembly.
[Sweeping] Looks like craft day is turning into craft night.
Now onto the second amendment, the right to bear arms, which can also be represented with
two fingers… one… two.
Get it?
Ok.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right
of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
The second amendment is another one that deserves a video entirely to itself.
But basically...
[Vacuuming] (words muffled by vacuum)
But really what’s most interesting is that the Supreme Court didn’t decide that the
second amendment applied to the individual for home defense until 2008.
Now to the third amendment.
Stick with me, this one gets a little weird.
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner,
nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
So back before independence, British soldiers didn’t really have barracks to live in so
they had to live in people’s homes.
This served a dual purpose, both saving the army money on building barracks, but also
keeping the locals in line by having a soldier live in your home.
So when it came time for the Americans to write their own rules, that one had to go.
But look at the wording of that amendment… no soldier shall be quartered in anyone's
house… unless we need to during war.
Why even have that part of the amendment?!
We’re not going to allow this to happen.
Unless we need it to happen.
What?!
Why does that make any sense?!
Fun side note, when the American soldiers were sent over to Britain in order to prepare
for the invasion of Europe, the UK had no rules like this so American soldiers were
regularly quartered with British families.
So, how do you remember this weird one?
Well it's pretty easy, the three-legged soldier.
Doesn’t matter how you look at it.
He’s a mutated Fallout soldier… or a soldier with a crutch… or you could just go with
the natural truth that is all soldiers are pretty well-endowed.
No matter how you do it, I guarantee you’re never going to forget it.
So we’ve got the vest part that I made and modified yesterday and now we’ve got the
three flotation devices that we’ve made that will be sewn in.
So naturally it's time to move on to the fourth amendment.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue,
but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing
the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
The fourth amendment is your protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
A lot of people interpret this as your right to privacy, however nowhere is that actually
written.
This protects you against police entering your house or searching your car unless they
have a warrant or probable cause.
What is probable cause?
Someone screaming in the bedroom… or something visible through the window.
And I know I’ll get a lot of flak from the pothead community but your drug of choice
is very pungent and can be easily detected when you roll your window down.
That’s also probable cause.
The fourth amendment has been in the news a lot recently because of the patriot act
and because of Edward Snowden’s exposure of the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program.
Not to mention the countless cases across the country of police officers searching and
arresting people without probable cause.
So it's getting pretty late so I’m just going to finish up by putting the flotation
devices into the slots that I’ve created.
And then I’ll sew these up and add some snaps and stuff to it.
And you’ll get to see it in action next week when I finish the Bill of Rights.
[Outro music]