Government by the People: Rights to Life, Liberty and Property video

Video title: Rights to Life Liberty and Property

Use this American Government by the People video entitled Rights to Life, Liberty and Property to understand how government works and to study how One of the basic distinctions between a free society and a police state is that in a free society there are effective restraints on the way public officials, especially law-enforcement officials, perform their duties. Learn how in the United States the courts enforce these constitutional restraints. Discover how the Constitution protects the acquisition and retention of citizenship, how it protects the basic liberties of citizens as well as aliens, and how the Constitution protects our property from arbitrary governmental interference, although debates about which interferences are reasonable and which are arbitrary are not easily settled. Learn how The Constitution imposes limits not only on the procedures the government must follow but also on the ends it may pursue. Some actions are out of bounds no matter what procedures are followed. Legislatures have the primary role in determining what is reasonable and what is unreasonable. However, the Supreme Court continues to exercise its own independent and final review of legislative determinations of reasonableness, especially on matters affecting civil liberties and civil rights. 

Learn about Rights to Life Liberty and Property.