Part B Consitution Work: Articles 4-7

Article IV: Paraphrase the “Full Faith & Credit” provision. What does that mean for gay marriage? Explain. Paraphrase the amended portion that begins, “No person held to … may be due.” Why does this matter?

"Full Faith & Credit" provision is stating that any laws written in a certain state has to be respected by all the other states. So if a gay couple gets married in a certain state, they will remain married even if they move to a different state. This provision has the potential to legalize gay marriage throughout the whole America, even if just one state allows gay marriages. Any gay couple can go to that one state to get married and then return to their home state.
In clause 3 of section 2, it states that slaves running away to another state does not free them. Any fugitives would have to return to their original states and continue working. The significance of this clause is that without it, there would probably be less of a difference in economical classes. If slavery could be abolished simply by the slaves running away, then the free labor that created the economical gap would disappear. This clause also reveals the dark side of the United States. America is supposed to be the country of freedom and equality, but then we had slavery in our country for centuries. And not only that, there was a part of our Constitution that prevented them from getting freedom. So not only did the slaves have to work without any wages, any chance of escaping and obtaining freedom was eliminated by a document that is suppose to be about the rights of "the people."


Article VI: What is the Supreme Law of the Land? What is the significance, in your opinion, of the “No religious test” clause?

The Supreme Law of the Land is just another name for the Constitution. It is referring to all the laws that everyone in the United States have to follow. In Article 6, Section 3 it states that "no religious test" is required. I believe that the significance of that is not to truly eliminate any sort of filtering in the government office because of one's religion. Instead I think it is used to promote a sense of equality. By including this "no religious test," it sends a message to the people, saying that everyone is welcomed and that no one will be discriminated based on their background (and this is true, but only to a certain extent). I think that this clause was written not to draw in people to create a diverse government but draw in the people and to gain their trust.


Amendment 4: Is the 4th Amendment contradicted by MTA, library, and/or airport searches?

I believe that it is. The fourth amendment states that the people have the rights to privacy and any evidence that was illegally obtained is not allowed to be used in a court against them. By having these searches, they are violating that amendment. The people doing the searches are invading the privacy of others. And even if they find evidence that they are holding something illegal, they are not supposed to use the found object as evidence. The searches may be necessary since it's there to prevent any attacks against the United states, but it does contradict the fourth amendment.


Amendment 9: What do the 9th remind us about where rights ultimately come from? Are they given by government? What are some of the “others retained by the people” in your opinion? Is abortion one of them?

Our rights stated in the first 10 amendments do not come from the government or the Constitution itself. It is just our rights as humans. By existing, we are supposed to have the right to do whatever we want. Society and forms of government were just created to limit those rights. So even though, we are given this "freedom" in America, we are really just being less restricted.
I think that the "others retained by the people" are rights of the people. For example, the freedom of speech or religion. I think that abortion is one of those rights. In the Constitution it does not mention anything about abortion therefore it is a right of the people, but yet it is still prohibited.