American and her soldiers have fought bravely in countless wars. The freedom achieved through those wars has given and taken the rights of American citizens. Through these freedoms, the American people poses the freedom to express themselves, to make a stand for what they believe in, and the right to protect those freedoms. To help protect and to limit the American citizen’s freedoms, the American government has set up laws for its citizens to follow. However, has society begun to set up its own law according to the majority world view, and have these over-clouded world views begun to subdue other group’s voices? Society through these social “laws” has begun to contradict what they allow and don’t allow people to says; and some of their social laws have begun to subdue certain groups from having a voice. Social “laws” do provide some good boundaries that need protection, but society has begun to put up social laws that violate or contradict other freedom of speech laws. Although the Constitution gives all Americans the freedom of speech, freedom of speech does demand social boundaries.
Double standards in freedom of speech have changed throughout time. In history, society viewed slavery as acceptable. American society saw Africans as property, and they treated them as such. Some people saw the treatment of Africans as wrong, and although society tried to restrain their voice, they spoke out. Harriet Beecher Stowe played a major role in this, when she published her antislavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, in 1852. Through her story of Simon Legree and Uncle Tom, she exposed the horrors of slavery. Her story eventually caused awareness to a problem in society and the way they view Africans. Even Abraham Lincoln told about the impac...
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Saltonstall, Stephen L. “United States District Court for the District of Vermont.” Ed. Stephen l. Saltonstall and David J. Williams. N. Pag., May 2004. Yahoo.answers.com. Web. 18 Feb. 2014 [Government Publication: Direct Online Access, #53 on page 328]
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Styles, Nadia. “Testimony: Ex Porn Star Nadia Styles Became Christian.” CrossMap. The Christian Post, 27 Sep. 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. [Page from a Web Site, #79 on page 340]
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Fraga, Luis Ricardo. United States Government: Principles in Practice. Austin, TX: Holt McDougal, 2013. Print.
Light, Paul C., and Christine L. Nemacheck. "Chapter 7 Congress." Government by the People, Brief 2012 Election Edition, Books a La Carte New Mypoliscilab With Etext Access Card Package. By David B. Magleby. 2012 Election Edition ed. N.p.: Pearson College Div, 2013. N. pag. Print.
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Every great civilization or country has had at least one dirty little time in their history that all would rather forget. America knows this feeling well, especially within the 19th century, the slave era. America was divided, the North was generally against slavery and all for letting the African Americans roam free in a colony in Africa. The South on the other hand viewed African Americans as tools, essential to the economy and work, however still just tools. Tools to be bought a sold and driven until the breaking point just like every other implement in the shed. Fast-forward to the 21st century, slavery is gone from America and has become that dirty period of time that is spoken about in whispers. A question of immeasurable proportions arises, how were the incredibly difficult slave owners of the South get convinced that slavery was bad? The largest answer is the power of rhetoric, otherwise known as the written word. Two books played the largest role in molding of American society, Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas by none other than Frederick Douglas himself. Important stylistic and rhetorical choices made by Douglas and Stowe greatly affected change in the major political and moral issue of slavery in 19th century America in two different ways, through politics via the male society (Douglas) and through the home front via religious and moral cases made to women (Stowe).
Imagine a time when one could be fined, imprisoned and even killed for simply speaking one’s mind. Speech is the basic vehicle for communication of beliefs, thoughts and ideas. Without the right to speak one’s mind freely one would be forced to agree with everything society stated. With freedom of speech one’s own ideas can be expressed freely and the follower’s belief will be stronger. The words sound so simple, but without them the world would be a very different place.
Woll, Peter. American Government: Readings and Cases. Ninth Ed. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1987. Transcribed to HTML on 1997-09-29 by David Wallace Croft.
In the United States, free speech is protected by the First Amendment in which it states, “Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion … or abridging the freedom of speech.” Now, nearly 250 years into the future, the exact thing that the Founding Fathers were afraid of is starting to happen. Today, our freedom of speech is being threatened through different forces, such as the tyranny of the majority, the protection of the minority, and the stability of the society. Now, colleges and universities in the United States today are also trying to institute a code upon its students that would bar them from exercising their right to speak freely in the name of protecting minorities from getting bullied. This brings us into
Edward III, G., Wattenberg, M., & Lineberry, R. (2006). Government in America: People, Politics, and Policy (12th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education.
O’Connor, K., Sabato, L. J., Yanus, A. B, Gibson, Jr., L. T., & Robinson, C. (2011). American Government: Roots and Reform 2011 Texas Edition. United States: Pearson Education, Inc.
The First Amendment protects the right of freedom of speech, which gradually merges into the modern perspective of the public throughout the history and present. The restriction over the cable TV and broadcast media subjected by the Federal Communications Commission violates the freedom of speech, irritating the dissatisfied public by controlling over what can be said on the air. Should the FCC interfere with the free speech of media? The discretion of content being presented to the public should not be completely determined by the FCC, but the public in its entirety which enforces a self-regulation with freedom and justice, upholding and emphasizing the freedom of speech by abolishing the hindrance the FCC brought.
..., and Meena Bose. 2011. American Government: Institutions & Policies. Boston, Mass: Wadsworth Pub. Co.
Volkomer, Walter E. American Government, 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001 (spiral bound). ISBN 0131834991.
On December 15, 1791, Congress adopted the freedom of speech as a constitutional right under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as a law to protect all American citizens. The law clearly states that “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” (www.law.cornell.edu). Although this law is in effect, there are exceptions to policy and many other categories that are excluded from the freedom, in which the government may enact within a reasonable amount of time, place or manner restrictions on speech. According to the famous speech written by Raphael Cohen-Almagor, it states that freedom of speech is a guiding rule, one of the foundations of democracy, but at the same time, freedom does not imply anarchy, and the right to exercise free expression does not include the right to do unjustified harm to others.
Nathan, R. P. (2006, September 2). Updating theories of American federalism. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association. Retrieved June 20, 2011 from http://www.rockinst.org/pdf/federalism/2006-09-02-updating_theories_of_american_federalism.pdf
The accused is not compellable as a witness in his own defence but a decision not to testify is usually regarded as tactically astute. In certain situations, s35 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 permits the jury to draw “such interference as appear proper” from the accused’s failure to give evidence or his refusal to answer to a particular question put to him. Despite the fundamental nature of the rights involved in silence, very great public dissatisfaction arose at the ease with which many defendants appeared able to evade justice by resorting to silence in the knowledge that this could do their case no harm and might well allow their very silence as a right to inject reasonable doubt into the trial. There was also great unease at the idea of defendants being permitted to advance defences and matters at trial for the first time, long after any satisfactory investigations into the matter had ceased to be possible. The experience of Northern Ireland legislation, based on recommendations of the Criminal Law Revision Committee showed that there was a supportable case for allowing inferences to be drawn from silence.