Overview of the Concept of Freedom of Speech In the book Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment, the author Anthony Lewis gives us lots of law cases following by the timeline to state how the First Amendment developed and what its meaning in both law and society is. By reading this book after listening to lectures about free speech and reading A Gift of Fire written by Sara Baase, the textbook for the lecture, I have learned more detailed about the history and definition development of the freedom of speech and hence came up some new thoughts towards my life. Brief History While ruling by the England colonist, people living in the North America had little freedom of speech and of thought. The King had two methods to repress the free speech and thought. One is the “publication licensing system”, which prevented people from publish any negative or disrespectful information about their governors; another is the “seditious libel law”, making the behavior mentioned above a crime (Lewis, P.2). During this time, people had little tolerance of dissent. About two hundred years later from establishing the license system, in 1735, printer Zenger was sued because he printed a newspaper which attacked the governor. His lawyer argued the criticisms were not libel, which successfully persuaded the jury to decide Zenger was not guilty. This case impressed the colonies a lot. Soon in the late eighteen century, it led the governors to be afraid of the outrage from people and more and more people used truth to against the law of seditious libel. Under these circumstances, people came up an idea impelling government to add the freedom of press into their laws. In the 1787 federal Constitution, there was no per... ... middle of paper ... ...osal was truly useful, they got nothing in the end. The First Amendment does provide us a constitutional protection of our rights to freedom of speech, of thought and of press and also reminds us that there are some restrictions of the freedom. We have both the rights and responsibility: the right is to enjoy the freedom; the responsibility is to respect others’ rights and protect our rights by speaking out our thoughts! Works Cited Baase, Sara. A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing Technology. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2013. Print. Lewis, Anthony. Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment. New York: Basic Books, 2007. Print. New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated, Title LXII: Criminal Code, Section 631:7. New Hampshire General Court, 1 July 1993. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
The first amendment is being abused by more people now than ever before. People like to shout, “First Amendment” when they find themselves in a controversial situation because of certain things they wrote or spoke about. People are being less responsible for their actions and are blaming the constitution for their slip-ups. In “Free-Speech Follies” by Stanley Fish, Fish addresses the First Amendment issue. Fish claims that people use the First Amendment to try to get themselves out of trouble or criticism and that they need to start being responsible for their actions and need to start having a sense of judgment.
One key to the first amendment of the United states constitution is the right to free speech. Freedom of speech is what separates America than other countries around the world that forbid freedom of speech rights. Freedom of speech has been in our constitution since the year 1791. When James Madison “the father of the constitution” wrote the bill of rights he saw potential and that it would make the country more freedom filled than other countries. The land of the free is what the United States is nicknamed and it 's because of our rights to express ourselves as freely as we desire.
Freedom of speech has been a controversial issue throughout the world. Our ability to say whatever we want is very important to us as individuals and communities. Although freedom of speech and expression may sometimes be offensive to other people, it is still everyone’s right to express his/her opinion under the American constitution which 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 the press”. Although this amendment gave people the right express thier opinions, it still rests in one’s own hands as how far they will go to exercise that right of freedom of speech.
7.A Gift of Fire, A: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues in Computing, by Sara Baase
After the Revolutionary War in America, many states recommend that free speech be put in the United States Constitution. Nevertheless, freedom of speech was written into the Bill of Rights and was ratified in 1791. A few years after the First Amendment was ratified, the government passed the Sedition Act of 1798. This was to help prevent resistance or rebellion against the government. It also made it illegal to print, write or say “any false, scandalous and malicious” things against the government.
...ara Baase. A Gift of Fire. Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computers and the Internet. 2003. Pg 406.
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
The first amendment is the cornerstone of our American society founded years ago by our forefathers. Without the first amendment many ideas, beliefs, and groups could not exist today. The first amendment guaranteed the people of the United States the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom of petition. Although the first amendment guarantees us, Americans the freedom of speech, we cannot use it to cause others harm. This amendment has helped shaped Americans into what we are today, because of our right to assemble, speak freely, and worship as we please.
Hentoff, Nat. Free Speech for Me – But Not for Thee. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Print
Baase, Sara. A gift of fire: social, legal and ethical issues in computing. Upper Saddle River:
The right to freedom of speech is a cornerstone of the bill of rights and the American system of government, but this freedom is not without limits.
The First Amendment is arguably one of the most important and influential amendments that sustains the idea of a free society. This amendment focuses on the idea of freedom of speech. Founding father, Benjamin Franklin, once said, “freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government: when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved”. It can be very easy for a person to disagree with another person and want to deny free speech. One prime example of the First Amendment protecting freedom of speech is in the Supreme Court case Tinker vs. Des Moines of 1969. This case ruled that students wearing black arm bands to protest the Vietnam War was considered symbolic speech and protected by the First Amendment.
The right of freedom of speech in the first Amendment is really interesting because even that people who liberty to say anything what they want, but it is still in limitation; for example, they cannot use fighting words, and incitement to imminent violent action, such as threats to kill an
Freedom of speech is one of democracy’s pillars. Most democratic countries all over the world, also protect their citizens’ freedom of speech in their own ways. Should freedom of speech be restricted? Or does it only need to be protected? I personally believe that in a democratic country, freedom of speech should not be limited in any way. People should be free to express what they would like to express, if their freedom of speech has limitations, the power of the people might lose its power and the essence of democracy itself will vanish.
Freedom of speech cannot be considered an absolute freedom, and even society and the legal system recognize the boundaries or general situations where the speech should not be protected. Along with rights comes civil responsib...