The Freedom to Speak

1562 Words4 Pages

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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