The Constitution of the United States is one of the most important documents in the country's history to this day. The document was to have a structure for America to be run on. A bunch of the ideas that are in the Constitution were inspired by Enlightened philosophers. Some of these philosophers that many know of are Charles De Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Cesare Bonesana Beccaria, the list goes on… The relationship between the Enlightened philosophers and the United States Constitution is that the Enlightenment is all over the Constitution. For example, Charles De Montesquieu believed in the separation of power with checks and balances. Checks and balances are put in place to ensure that no one branch of government has too much power. This is very well known and still used in today's government, it gives the people a sense of mind that the power is not given to just one person, in America's case that would be our president, it makes sure the power is being distributed. He always prompted the inclusion of separation of powers. Separation of powers divides the government into three independent branches which are accountable to each other. It is to prevent the concentration of power and provide for checks and balances, which is still very important to America. Another Enlightened philosopher who influenced the U.S constitution is Voltaire also known as (Francois Marie Arouet), Voltaire believed in religious freedom which is practiced in the US today. He was also an advocate for freedom of speech which everyone knows the freedom of religion and speech is a key part of the First Amendment of the U.S Constitution. Speaking of the amendments, the last philosopher I am talking about influenced the 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments of the United States Constitution. This philosopher is Cesare Bonesana Beccari, he argued in favor of fair trials and against the use of torture, this comes in the form of the 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments.
The 5th amendment is 'No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury” This is an example of Beccari's fair trial because if the people being accused of a crime didn't have someone present for them, the prosecutor or police officer could lie and affect the accused person freedom. The 6th Amendment is the same thing that allows a person to have a fair trial and this is where the saying “innocence until proven guilty comes in”. The 8th Amendment makes sure no cruel or unusual punishment happens to people and that's where Beccari's argument against the use of torture comes into play with the U.S Constitution. As you can see the enlightened philosopher made a big impact on making the United States Constitution, many things that they preached and argued for were and still are in the Constitution that we still use today.
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The first ten amendments to the Constitution are extremely essential to the democracy we have today. I believe the most essential amendment to democracy is the First Amendment. The First Amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
This means that the government cannot make a law or take away the basic right to freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition. The reason I feel that the First Amendment is essential to democracy is that, in a democracy, you give the people the power to elect their representatives. The reason that democracy works in the United States is that if the representatives that the citizens have elected try to take away their rights granted to them in the First Amendment, the citizens then have the power to elect someone new. This is where freedom of speech and press comes in because now the citizens can speak up and voice their opinions when they disagree with something. They can also voice their opinions in peaceful protests like we have seen with the two previous presidential elections. If the First Amendment did not exist, this would be similar to living in Russia under President Putin, the people of Russia are not allowed to voice their opinions, and if they do they are thrown in jail, or worse. As human beings, we all have different beliefs, religions, and opinions. We should have the right to express what we think should be done. This is why the First Amendment is essential to democracy, it gives the people the freedom to follow their conscience and express their views; without these fundamental freedoms, they would never be able to enact the changes they want to see in society.
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