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.