The First Amendment and Conservative Rulings of the Supreme Court

The First Amendment and Conservative Rulings of the Supreme Court

The authors of the Constitution of the United States created a

magnificent list of liberties which were, at the time ascribed, to most

people belonging to the United States. The main author, James Madison,

transported the previous ideas of fundamental liberties from the great

libertarians around the world, such as John Lilburne, John Locke, William

Walwyn and John Milton. Madison and other previous libertarians of his time

were transposed into seventeen different rights which were to be secured to

all those in the United States. These seventeen civil liberties were

compressed into ten different groupings which were designated as the "Bill

of Rights." In this document lay the First Amendment which stated that the

people of the United States had the "freedom of speech, or of the press;

or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the

Government..." The First Amendment was drafted by federalist Madison mainly

as a political tactic to abolish anti-federalist resistance to the

Constitution. After its passage in December of 1791, the First Amendment

remained more idealistic than realistic. The First Amendment remained a

set of ideals which were not to be carried out during its first century,

then progressed to more realistic terms during its latter half of

utilization.

During the first century of the First Amendment, the First

Amendment was paid a glance by all when it came to actually carrying out

the freedoms guaranteed by this amendment. For example, in 1794,

Pennsylvanian backcountry farmers protested a whiskey tax. The protesters

were not violent such as those of the previous Shay's Rebellion. George

Washington sent in a militia to crush the rebellion denying them of their

First Amendment right to "peaceably assemble." Later, in 1836, antiÄ sl

avery newspaper editor James G. Birney had been warned that his newspaper

"The Philanthropist" was not desirable in the city of Cincinatti. When

Birney refused to cooperate, mob action took rule and, "scattered the type

into the streets, tore down t he presses and completely dismantled the

office." This contradicted the First Amendment which stated that,

"freedom...of the press," is a constitutional right. The Supreme Court

could do nothing about these situations when in Barron v. Baltimore, t he

Court ruled that, "These amendments contain no expression indicating an

intention to apply them to state governments. This court cannot so apply

them." Thus, the Supreme Court could not interfere when First Amendments