Lawrence High School - Lawrencian Yearbook (Falmouth, MA)

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Lawrence High School 9 be twenty-one, be a resident in the state, and in that particular part of it where he intends to vote. Some states require that a voter pay a certain tax, or be able to read and write, or both. These are sometimes considered unjust, but there are some cases in which the right to make them is very plain; for instance, convicted criminals cannot vote, nor can persons who are insane. Another great privilege is the right of a trial by jury. According to this law, no person may be judged guilty of a crime, except in minor cases, until a body of men or women who are not in any way prejudiced have concluded that facts show him to be guilty. The advantages and justice of this law are very clear. For instance, a man of low position cannot be ac- cused by someone high in author- ity, secretly tried by prejudiced per- sons, and unjustly condemned. On the other hand, an official cannot be tried by those under him, who perhaps hate him and want to get rid of him. People in the United States have the right to be secure in their per- sons, houses, property, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures. That is to say, “every man’s house is his castle,” and no one may interfere with him in it. Should a man use this right as a cover for violating the law, officers, armed with a proper warrant, may enter a suspected house, search for, and arrest a criminal or seize stolen or contraband goods hidden there. The Constitution specifically pro- vides that “the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privi- leges and immunities of citizens in the several States.” This means that a citizen of one State may go to another State and there enjoy the same civil rights that citizens of the latter State enjoy, and like- wise be subject to the same restric- tions. The topic of Constitutional rights covers a vast and complete field. In this short essay I have brought out only a few of the more import- ant rights which we as American citizens are fortunate enough to en- joy. Stephen Papp. THE INFLUENCE OF THE SUPREME COURT ON THE CONSTITUTION In the beginning of its career the Supreme Court was fortunate in having on its bench a group of not- ably brilliant judges, whose fore- sight has had much to do with the present success of the Constitution. Constitutional law, as we know it today, is strongly flavored by the early decisions of the Supreme Court. All in all, it is generally agreed that John Marshall headed the bench during the most critical years the Constitution has yet witnessed. Under his jurisdiction came many of the most important cases in the history of the Court. When Marshall succeeded John Jay as Chief Justice he changed the procedure of the Court and did away with much of the formality copied by John Jay from the court of England. At this time Marshall became spokesman for the Court. His interpretations

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8 The Lawrencian weaknesses of the plan was illus- trated. In reality, the Articles betrayed the frantic way in which they had been compiled. They contained many weak points, two of which subse- quently caused the Confederation’s downfall. First, the Articles failed to grant the central government any power of direct taxation, forcing it to depend, for its revenue, entirely on the good graces of the States to collect the taxes that Congress demanded. Under the Articles, Con- gress alone had the power to de- mand the States to pay such taxes, but no one had the power to force them to do so. This fact was due to the second defect in the Articles. The government did not have the power to enforce the laws it passed, nor to demand obedience to them. The Articles provided for no judicial department to punish offenders of the law, and it may be believed that the States took advantage of this defect. It was a sad state of affairs. A heavy public debt had been incur- red by the recent war, but it was clear, from the beginning, that the obstinate States had no intention of helping to pay it. Delinquency in the payment of taxes became fash- ionable, and State Legislatures com- peted with one another to see which could pay the least amount of taxes. Out of this maze, political think- ers conceived one ray of hope — to dissolve the Articles and to call a convention for the purpose of halt- ing the increasing powers of the separate States by creating a strong- er central government. Accordingly, representatives of all but one State met at Philadelphia in May 1787, to draft the Constitution of the United States. Out of the wreckage, these men salvaged a democracy greater than any other in the world, and established for our ancestors, ourselves, and our posterity, a gov- ernment, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, “of the people, by the peo- ple, and for the people.” Phyllis Gould RIGHTS GRANTED BY THE CONSTITUTION It has been shown in what man- ner the nation is governed and how the Constitution guards the govern- ment itself, to make certain that it is, and will always remain, the gov- ernment of the people. On the other hand the Constitu- tion protects the citizen too and makes sure that he shall not be oppressed by that government. The citizens of the United States have many rights. Foremost among these is the power to vote. During the first century or two after the settling of America, voting was lim- ited to property owners. In 1870, th e Fifteenth Amendment was passed, stating that “the right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servi- tude.” This amendment, neverthe- less, did not extend the voting privilege to women. But in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment gave to them also the right to vote. The Constitution, with certain ex- ceptions, guarantees equal suffrage to every adult man and woman. The States require that the voter

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10 The Lawrencian of the Constitution were entirely free from personal opinions and were influenced only by the words con- tained in the Document. In the simplicity and clarity of his inter- pretations he convinced the Amer- ican people of the correctness of his deductions. He described the im- plications of the Constitution so completely and so forcefully that even today when lawyers desire to quote Constitutional law more often than not they will use the same w T ords that John Marshall used over one hundred and thirty years ago. The faith that many of us still have in the Constitution is perhaps made possible by these early interpreta- tions of Marshall. For the first eleven years after Marshall was ap- pointed Chief Justice his decisions were adopted by the Court in every important case. In those days the bench was composed, without ex- ception, of men with unquestioned ability, men with minds of their own, men who made their decisions and stuck by them. This acceptance of Marshall’s decisions was in itself a tribute to his great ability as an interpreter of the Constitution. The case of Dartmouth College against Woodward is typical of the way these first decisions of the Court built up around the Constitu- tion the code which is still followed today. Dartmouth College was foun- ded in 1739 under a charter givsn to its trustees by the King of England, but the people of the State of New Hampshire gave little thought to the college until after the Revolutionary War, when they realized that under the college charter, the State neither received taxes from the college nor did it have any control over the board of trustees. So, using its new legislative powers the State of New Hampshire passed a statute whereby the original charter of the college was revoked and a new board of trustees created by the State to take over the business of the college. However, in 1819 the members of the old board of trustees filed suit against Woodward, chairman of the new board, for the possession of the books and the papers of the school. After the case had been re- viewed by the lower courts, it was carried to the Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court passed down a decision favoring Dartmouth Col- lege, another step establishing the supremacy of the Constitution had been taken. The decision in this case did not, of course, come directly from the Constitution. It was based on that clause which has to do with contracts, stating that the violation of the sanctity of contracts is un- constitutional. The Constitution does not say definitely that a State Gov- ernment may not revoke a college charter, but it does say quite defin- itely that no State may violate the sanctity of contracts. Here it was up to the judges of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution. This case is but one of many in which situations not specifically mentioned in the Constitution have been inter- preted by the Supreme Court. Today, as in its infancy, the suc- cess of the Constitution depends more on the Judiciary than on either of the other two branches of our Government. The choosing of a new judge for the Supreme Court bench is still an extremely important step, for in the hands of these judges rests the very life of the Constitu- tion. If we are t o assure the fur- ther success of the Constitution, we must make sure that the Supreme Court has the best judges the United States has to offer. Phyllis Wood.