History Of The 4th Amendment

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History of the 4th Amendment The 4th Amendment is the product of a long history of British abuses dealing with a person’s property. The perception that a home was a man’s castle served as the foundational basis for this concern on the part of the founding father’s attitude toward government intrusion into their citizens lives. Back in the old country British agents were given plenary powers to search and seize in an effort to stop smuggling and prevent tax fraud. The warrants issued to British officers were valid for the life of the monarch so this ended up giving the officers for all intents and purposes unlimited authority. This outcry in large part fueled the Revolution and after Independence had been won the founding fathers, in particular James Madison and the Anti-Federalists were concerned about unreasonable searches. In fact, several state conventions in the course of ratifying the constitution demanded additional gurantees agains the prospective Federal government to conduct searches. The Federalist faction in an effort to to get the Constitution ratitfied and to prevent a second Constitutional convention aquiesed to the bill of rights and the 4th Amendment, was ratitified after a contentious ratification process on March 1, 1792. …show more content…
Warrants must be specific and they describe the place to be searched and the persons or things to be