The History and Meaning of the ninth Amendment of U.S Constitution Term Paper

The History and Meaning of the ninth Amendment of U.S Constitution - Term Paper Example However, the history and a careful interpretation makes it clear that it was designed as a reminder to the government that it is not permitted to reduce the meaning of the people’s natural rights (Barnett 9). The Ninth Amendment was a result of a disagreement between the Federalists and the Anti-federalist on the importance of including the Bill of rights in the constitution. The Federalist opposed the inclusion of the bill of rights because they believed that enumeration of rights was dangerous and unnecessary. They argued that the constitution delegated limited powers to the Federal government. The powers that were not delegated to the Federal government were reserved for the people. The Constitution, according to the federalist, does not give the government the power to violate individual liberties. The Federalists were scared that inclusion of a Bill of Rights, which protects certain rights, would imply that the government had the power to regulate such rights (Ostler 65). Their argument, for example, follows that the protection of the freedom of the press is unnecessary if the Federal government does not have the power to regulate the press. Another concern by the Federalists was th at enumeration of rights might leave the implication that those rights which are not enumerated are surrendered to the government. In their view, an enumeration of rights would not be exhaustive and this would affect the rights that are not listed (Towe 2). The Anti-Federalist, on the other hand, supported the inclusion of the bill of rights to the constitution. Their argument was that the constitution conferred excessive power to the Federal government and the Bill of rights would act as a check on the excess power. The Anti-Federalists countered the concerns of the Federalists with three arguments. Their first argument was that some rights were guaranteed in the constitution even without the bill of rights. The