An expression of American Liberty and how it relates to the founding principles.
The first
amendment grants Americans freedom of speech. It states that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting…or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press’. It allows
American citizens the liberty of being able to express criticism of the
government, whilst protecting them to an extent. Within this broad term, it
includes the freedom not to speak, to use offensive language for a political
message, contributing money to political campaigns and symbolic speech to name
but a few.
Whilst it
does prevent government intervention on your speech to an extent, it does not
protect you from others acting against you. A historic case in regards to the
first amendment includes the 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District.
The case went to the Supreme Court as some students believed their school
breached their first amendment rights, by not allowing them to wear armbands in
protest of the Vietnam War.
Here, this
video depicts a variety of ways people were using their freedom of speech against
the announcement of 2016 President Elect, Donald J Trump. What is interesting
about the source is that it is taken from the ‘CBS This Morning’ news. With the
broadcasting of real footage, it emphasises the huge impact a group of ordinary
American citizens can have when they believe their rights are at risk. The
widespread protesting was suggested to be in at least 38 different cities in
America. Their bold signs of ‘Not my President’, ‘What have we done?’ and ‘Love
Trump hate’ particularly stand out during the video and convey their political
message. The video also shows Americans using their rights by burning effigies
of Trump, marching in protest and chanting.
While the
escalation of these actions can be a negative expression of liberty, it does
present very clearly how Americans can exercise their rights when they feel
they are at risk. This can also relate to the foundations of American Liberty,
when the colonists had just won the revolution against what they saw as a
tyrannical sovereign government. Therefore, the protection of these rights
remains vital to Americans to this day.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWpYHtLTNnc
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment
http://www.hrcr.org/safrica/expression/tinker_des_moines.html
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