Inequality in the Legal System of the United States Essay -- essays re

In the United States, true equality has never existed. From the Declaration of Independence to modern times, the U.S. legal system has failed in any attempt at equality. The ideology of "all [men] are equal but some [men] are more equal than others" has been present throughout the history of the U.S. (Orwell). Inequality has always existed in the United States legal system and continues to exist today; however, the inequality presently in the system is not as blatant as what it once was, but the system has come to depend on inequality. Since the very beginning of a legal system in the United States, there has been inequality. The Declaration of Independence declared that "†¦all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights†¦"(Jefferson). The reality of the Declaration of Independence was that all free, white, landowning men are created equal. Slavery continued in the U.S. for nearly ninety years after the Declaration, and black Americans still feel the sting of inequality. Women were also left out of "†¦all men are created equal†¦." The implied meaning of the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence is what the U.S. legal system has strived for and failed to grasp fully. After the establishment of independence in the United States, the development of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights ensued. The Bill of Rights was to establish the basic rights of every citizen of the United States, but failed to do so. The rights of white, male citizens were the only rights that were ensured by the Bill of Rights. The rights of blacks and the underprivileged were not even considered. The Fifth Amendment states, "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury†¦, 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" ("Constitution", Amendment V). These rights were often denied to those that were second class citizens or those people that were not even considered to be people, such as slaves. The rights ensured by the first ten amendments have been denied to some part of the population at any given time in American history. The denying of the basic rights established by the Bill of Rights is not limited to the any one amendment.... ...aration of Independence". Encyclopedia Britannica 1997-98. CD-ROM. Britannica. 1998. "Jim Crow Laws". Encyclopedia Britannica 1997-98. CD-ROM. Britannica. 1998. Kairys, David. "Unexplained on Grounds Other Than Race". American University Law Review. Volume 45, Book 3. 12 Dec. 1999. href="http://www.wcl.american.edu/pub/journals/lawrev/KAIRYS.HTM">http://www.wcl.american.edu/pub/journals/lawrev/KAIRYS.HTM Orwell, George. Animal Farm in The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations. CD-ROM. Microsoft. 1997. "Racial segregation" Encyclopedia Britannica 1997-98. CD-ROM. Britannica. 1998.United States Supreme Court. "Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)." Selected Historic Decisions of the US Supreme Court. Legal Information Institute, 1999. 12 Dec. 1999. href="http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/historic.htm">http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/historic.htm United States Supreme Court. "Brown v. Board of Education, 349 U.S. 294 (1955)." Selected Historic Decisions of the US Supreme Court. Legal Information Institute, 1999. 12 Dec. 1999. href="http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/historic.htm">http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/historic.htm