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Chapter 17-The 9th Amendment

The 9th Amendment is arguably the most misunderstood and least quoted amendment in the Bill of Rights; however, it was one of the most discussed and most argued about before its inclusion in the Constitution. 
   
The amendment simply states:
   
Basically this amendment states that the citizens of the United States have more rights than just those enumerated in the Constitution, and the government is forbidden to deny us those rights.
   
There are those that would argue that you cannot defend this position, because you cannot identify what rights were being stipulated.  I disagree; any “freedom” enjoyed by the people and those upheld by the Supreme Court, such as privacy, travel, presumption of innocence, etc., are all rights not enumerated.  Remember, the Constitution was created to “define” the government and the “limits” of the government.  Any powers not enumerated to the government, remained with the states or to the people.  So I would say it is much easier to argue how small the government should be and thereby show the expanse of the citizen’s rights.
   
Still a harder question is; do we have the “right” to be free from federal harassment?   When our country was first started, and for nearly a century thereafter, the Federal government had virtually NO dealings with the average citizen.  It was not until the civil war that the government started creating statues that affected the population and which directly affected the states’ sovereignty.  Now there is nearly no aspect in which the government is not involved, from the bedroom, to birth, to the boardroom, and to the grave.  This is not how this republic is supposed to operate.