Criminal Trials, Except Impeachment, To Be By Jury—Equal Rights—No Religious Test For Office

There are still three articles of the Constitution containing personal guaranties but the substance of these articles has been considered in connection with other articles already discussed. They are the following:

“The trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury, and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.”90

“The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.”91

“No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”92

Here again we see emphasized the right of trial by jury. I want you to give some thought to this particular right, because it applies not only to cases where persons are accused of a crime, but also to nearly all cases involving property rights.

The ordinary lawsuit, where one person is suing another to recover money, property, or damages, is triable by a jury. You understand of course the purpose of a trial. As already explained the main thing in every trial is to determine the truth as to the points in dispute, and the truth in such cases under our Constitution is determined, not by judges, but by jurors, men from the ordinary walks of life, your neighbors, men accustomed to dealing with ordinary human affairs. This right is important in aiding a person to have the truth [pg 161] properly established; but it is especially important, as I have heretofore explained, because it emphasizes the fact that this is a government by the people, and that in grave emergencies when life, liberty, or property, is in danger, the representatives of the common people, selected from the ranks of the common people, shall be the judges.

Of course I have fully explained to you, and I do not wish to have any confusion upon that point, that the judges themselves are also representatives of the people, because they are elected by the people, or appointed by those agents of the people who are elected by the people.

I have intentionally repeated, sometimes over and over, rules and reasons, because we must have them in our minds so that they will never be forgotten.

Now as above explained, the citizens of each State are guaranteed the right to go to another State, and exercise in that other State the same rights as the citizens of that State. This is in the spirit of America which gives us all equal opportunity. A citizen of Massachusetts going to the State of Minnesota has the same rights in Minnesota as the citizens of Minnesota have. Minnesota could not discriminate against him because he was a citizen of another State. Of course he could not exercise rights which the citizens of Minnesota were not entitled to, but all rights of the citizens of Minnesota are guaranteed to him while he is in that State.

Now as to the provision which forever bars any religious test as the qualification for any office or place of public trust under the United States. We have already given serious consideration to the great fundamental human privilege which the Constitution guards, the right to worship God according to the dictates of one's conscience. We have already found that regardless of church or creed each person stands before the law equal in our country. The older you grow, the more fully you realize what religion means to a great [pg 162] many people in this world, the more fully you will appreciate the blessing which came to humanity in these provisions of the Constitution. There are some of us who do not belong to any church organization, and yet we are intensely interested, because there was a time when every person was compelled by law to belong to a church organization, to the state church, the state religion. I have already explained that we find solemn statutes enacted by the British Parliament, as an illustration, which provided for a death penalty for those who did not believe in the religion of the state.

There is no religious test which can be made a qualification for any office under the United States; nor for any office for any State in the Union. There should be no individual discrimination in voting for public officials because of the religion or church to which a candidate for office may belong. These are sacred, individual rights. Men must be judged by their conduct, by their character, by their ability, by their capacity to serve the people and their country, not by the religion which one may profess.

We must cultivate the spirit of charity toward our neighbors, charity which means love, which enables us to maintain a proper spirit of toleration for those who differ from us in matters of belief.

[pg 164]

ELEMENTARY QUESTIONS

1. Does a citizen have the same rights in California that he does in New York?

2. Why is religious belief never made a qualification for office?

3. What is impeachment?

4. Are judges representatives of the people? Why?

5. Can the State of Nebraska enact a law imposing a tax upon merchandise shipped into Nebraska from any other State?

ADVANCED QUESTIONS

A. What is impeachment?

B. Describe the manner of trial before trial by jury. Compare the justice of the ordeal end wager of battle with the jury system.

C. Show how these provisions make for democracy.

D. Why is the spirit of charity necessary in a democracy?

E. Write a paper on the following:

The Ordeal

Wager of Battle

How Englishmen Won the Right to Trial by Jury

[pg 165]