Fourth Amendment & Writs of Assistance

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized,” the Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights.

                Why would our Founding Fathers want to guarantee this right for the American people? To understand the reason why, we need to understand how this right was violated during our colonial period before the revolution.

                The British had fought a long and costly war against the French, what was known in the colonies as the “French and Indian War.” England needed to raise money to pay off the debt they incurred during the war and decided to tax her British subjects in the colonies. On March 22, 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act.

                What was the Stamp Act? It was a new tax that required American colonists to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. This tax was on such items as newspapers, legal documents, posters, ship’s papers, even playing cards.  

The Stamp Act represented the first direct tax on the American colonies. British subjects in the colonies were used to taxes and duties imposed on their trade to regulate their commerce, but not to raise money. Colonists like Patrick Henry objected to this tax on the ground that the colonists were not being represented in London. This objection led to the well-known battle cry, “No Taxation without Representation!”

                However, London wanted more than to raise money through a direct tax on its British subjects residing in the American colonies, they were also looking to curb their subject’s trade with the French and the Dutch (Danish West Indies). American colonists were trading with these foreigners because they could obtain many goods, like molasses and sugar, for a cheaper price than the British brands. These cheaper prices and expensive British duties led to smuggling in the colonies.

                Writs of assistance were issued to customs officers to ensure that paper goods were stamped according to the Stamp Act guidelines and those homes and businesses in the colonies were free from smuggled goods. These search warrants authorized the holder to search any house for smuggled goods without specifying either the house or the goods. It was easy for a custom officer to be issued a writ of assistance, since the royal governor would legally pocket a third of all the fines imposed on the smugglers that were unlucky enough to get caught.

                Attorney James Otis Jr. argued against the legality of these search warrants in a legal dispute in 1761. Otis contended that the “writ is against the fundamental principles of laws…[and] destructive to English liberty.” A young man by the name of John Adams was in that Massachusetts courtroom that day and wrote in his diary: “Every man appeared to me to go away, as I did, ready to take arms against writs of assistance.”

                What of today? Are we asked to pay for our nation’s wars? Are there taxes imposed on us to pay for such things? Are there duties and taxes imposed on us to regulate our trade today?  Yes, there are such taxes.

                Is there evidence of illegal searches being conducting in our homes, places of business, or even in our correspondence with each other? Do we have a reemergence of those unlawful writs of assistance in our day and age? Is the Fourth Amendment under attack today?

What of the searching of our internet communications? 

"A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever," John Adams in a Letter to Abigail Adams (July 7, 1775).

We cannot afford to let our liberties slip away from us. We cannot afford to forget the past. We cannot be made to believe that which took place over 200 years ago has nothing to do with us today. We must spread the message of liberty to our fellow Americans. We must defend those rights and liberties that so many bled and died for. Protect the Fourth Amendment America. Protect your rights.