The eight amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the United States Bill of Rights, which took effect on December 15, 1791, after a three fourths of the states ratified the bill. This amendment prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishment. It is almost identical to a provision in the English Bill of Rights of 1689, in which parliament declared that excessive bail ought not be required, nor excessive fines imposed , nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. The state of Virginia had adopted this section of the English Bill of Rights in the VIrginia Declaration of rights of 1776, and the Virginia convention that ratified the US Constitution recommended in 1778 that this language also be included in the federal constitution. On September 25, 1789, James Madison proposed this amendment to Congress thus creating our eight amendment.
The excessive bail provision of the eight amendment to the united......

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Title: Eight Amendment
Approximate Word Count: 1918
Approximate Pages: 8 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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