The Evolution Of The First Amendment Essay -- essays research papers

The Evolution of the First Amendment     The startle amendment states, "Congress shall make no police force respecting anestablishment of religion, or prohibiting the forfeit exercise thereof orabridging the emancipation of speech, or of the press or the correctly of the peoplepeaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a slump ofgrievances.(encyclopedia)     The inhabitants of the North Ameri empennage colonies did not have a legalright to express opposition to the British government that ruled them.Nonetheless, throughout the modern 1700s, these primeval Americans did voice theirdis mental ability with the crown. For example they strongly denounced the Britishparliaments enactment of a series of tax levies to pay off a boastful nationaldebt that England incurred in its Seven Years War with France. In newsprintarticles, pamphlets and through boycotts, the colonists raised what would becometheir battle cry "No tax income without representation" And in 1773, thepeople of the Massachu constitutets Bay Colony demonstrate their outrage at the tax ontea in a dramatic act of civil disobedience, the Boston Tea Party.(Eldridge,15)     The stage was set for the birth of the First Amendment, which approach patternallyrecognized the natural and inalienable rights of Americans to judge and speak extraly. The first Amendments early years were not entirely auspicious.Although the early Americans enjoyed great freedom compared to citizens of othernations, even the Constitutions framer once in power, could differ the stringtemptation to circumvent the First Amendments clear mandate. Before the 1930s,we had no legally protected rights of free speech in anything like the form wenow know it. Critics of the government or government officials, calledseditious libel, was oftenly make a crime. Every state had a seditious libellaw when the Constitution was adopted. And within the deca de of the adoption ofthe First Amendment, the founding fathers in congress initiated and passed therepressive Alien and Sedition act (1798). This act was apply by the dominantFederalists party to prosecute a number of orotund Republican newspapereditors.(Kairys,3) When Thomas Jefferson was elected president in 1801 they likewiseprosecuted their critics. More than 2,000 people were prosecuted, and manyserved substantial prison te... ...o preserve freedom ofexpression have taught us anything, it is that the first target of government downsizing is never the last. Whenever government gains the power to decidewho can speak and what they can say, the first Amendment rights of all of us arein danger of universe violated. But when all people are allowed to express theirviews and ideas, the principles of democracy and indecency are enhanced. Americandemocracy should mean more than the right to lookout when you are really upset orpissed at the dodging and to vote every four years in elections devoid of contentor context. Change will require, as it has in the past, recognition that freespeech and democracy are political, not narrowly legal, issues. And it will as well as require an enlargement of our understanding of such rights to includepublic addition to the various mass media.BibliographyEldridge, Larry D. A Distant Heritage The Growth of issue Speech in EarlyAmerica. New York New York University Press, 1994.Kairys, David. The Politics of jurisprudence In These Times. New York. Patheon Press, 1991.McWhirter, Darien A. Freedom of Speech, Press, and Assembly, Phoenix AZ OryxPress, 1994.The land Book Encyclopedia.1995.