The First Amendment
Freedom of Speech
Olivia
The first Amendment of the Us constitution
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The First Amendment protects the law and right to freedom of speech, of the press, freedom of religion, freedom to peacefully assemble, and the right to petition the government.
History
The First Amendment was proposed by James Madison and was created so people can stand up to the government, and feel free to express themselves. The first Amendment to free speech might even be the most important amendment considering without it we wouldn't even have the constitution and the ability to add new amendments.
Freedom of speech gives you the right to say whatever you want, anywhere you want.
Story(a true story)
Saudi Arabian Raif Badawi got punished for speaking out against his government after he “liked” an Arab Christian page and started a blog on a website that went against his government's beliefs. His blog, the Saudi Free Liberals Forum, was shut down after his arrest in 2012 because his government disagreed with what he was saying.
For speaking out, Badawi was punished with 10
years in prison, 1000 lashes, and possibly the
death sentence.
Without the right to free speech, we could also
be punished for speaking out and expressing our
selves.
Modern Day/ Example
Freedom of speech gives us the right to express ourselves and to say what we want but also gives us the right to listen to what we want, and to read what we want.
Recently there has been a lot of libraries and school libraries that
have been banning books from students to read. By banning books, they have been putting age limits on books or taking them out of the library as a whole. Tying into freedom of the press is freedom to read. Students have the right to learn but teachers have the right to teach, if they choose not to give the assignment of reading a book as a class based on their personal values then they have the right to that, but to put an age limit on the book should be based on the values of the family. Putting restrictions and banning books is censorship and is unconstitutional.
Bibliography
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=13
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/about-the-first-amendment
http://firstclass.rfsd.k12.co.us/~mschneiter/Fad/amendment_one_created.htm
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/10/book-banning-and-education-standards
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/about-the-first-amendment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_United_States
https://cpj.org/reports/2006/05/10-most-censored-countries.php