We the Terps
Wednesday, September 17, 2025, Prince Georges Room, University of Maryland:
Presenter: Dr. Holly Brewer
First Dr. Brewer explained the motivation for creating the Bill of Rights in the first place. She explained that after the failure of the first government in the new country, the Articles of Confederation, there was a desire by the Federalists to create a more powerful federal government. The Antifederalists were worried that this new government would quickly become as tyrannical and oppressive as the British King was. These concerns fueled the Antifederalists to draft the Bill of Rights as a way of ensuring personal freedoms under this new more powerful federal system. After explaining the motivation for the Bill of Rights Dr. Brewer explained each of the amendments in the Bill of Rights and discussed the founding ideas that they were based on. Each amendment matched relatively closely to a grievance in the Declaration of Independence and provided the rights for the people to not be oppressed by the new government in the same way King George did. This Bill of Rights established the government as a body specifically designed to help people and provide them these rights when other governments would instead oppress them. For instance the first amendment provided protection against government restriction of free speech and oppression. This explicit protection of their rights was radically different from the oppression under King George and comforted the people that their rights would be preserved even with increased federal power. After providing the historical context for the Bill of Rights Dr. Brewer went on to provide information about how the Bill of Rights can be applied in our current political situation. She explained how in recent times a certain political party has challenged some of these personal freedoms and began to threaten the rights promised to the people by these amendments. For instance, recently Trump has used the FCC to threaten and silence talk show hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and others, even going so far as to force them off the air. Dr. Brewer provided an empowering message that this Bill of Rights still very much applies today and that this document still stands strong as a paragon of individual rights in the face of government tyranny. She suggested that we should stand up for our rights in an age of authoritarianism and continue to fervently protect our rights guaranteed to us by the Bill of Rights.
I personally found Dr. Brewer’s points were very convincing. Her points about the origins of the individual amendments in the bill of rights all made sense when she contrasted them with policies under King George. She explained that the King used to have anyone who spoke out against him drawn and quartered, a brutal punishment for political expression. Her detailed expression of exactly how bad the situation was for people in the Colonies helped to justify both the Declaration of Independence and the later passage of the Bill of Rights. All of her other points were also very convincing, she explained in great detail the letters exchanged between Jefferson and Madison and how they debated over whether the Bill of Rights was actually an important document or just a piece of paper that could be set aside by tyrannical governments. They eventually arrived at the conclusion that the Bill of Rights is just a piece of paper but as long as it is interwoven into the fabric of the Federal government and people will stand up for it then the bill of rights will continue to persist through tyrannical governments and continue to provide protections for the people. Dr. Brewer then explained that a tyrannical government is what is going on right now in our country. She explained that now the Bill of Rights, the dedication of the people, and the protections built into the Federal government are being tested by the Trump administration. Her point is that the people must now more than ever stand up to the government and use the rights to freedom of speech and expression before they can be taken away. That point landed very strongly with me and I found her argument that this moment is what the Bill of Rights was built for to be very compelling. It was based in logic, the writings and ideologies of the founding fathers, current events, and historical facts. All together she built a very convincing argument around the Bill or Rights being very significant today, possibly more so than any time in US history.
I was aware before the talk that the Bill of Rights was derived from a fear of a tyrannical Federal government to arise that would oppress the people in the same way that King George did. I also knew that the Bill of Rights was created by the Antifederalists who wanted to ensure that the federal government could never oppress the people and that power in the government would always answer first and foremost to the liberties guaranteed to the people. She did explain something that I had never thought about or considered that the ideas of the founders were relatively rare in the world at that time. She explained that the founders of the US were the first to actually implement democracy and were creating a country that had freedom of speech and expression against the government that was unmatched in the world at that time. Dr. Brewer’s points about the Bill of Rights being important when it was written and being important to understand and enforce now were all logical and were free of any fallacies of thinking. In whole her talk was very well composed and inspired the viewer to continue to advocate for the rights expressed in the Bill of Rights. She very well expressed how important the ideas in the Bill of rights were and are, even going as far as to argue that the Bill or Rights is needed now more than ever.