Importance Of The First Amendment Essay Research

Importance Of The First Amendment Essay, Research Paper

The Importance of the First Amendment

The First Amendment of the Constitution written during the summer of 1789 was the first added to The Bill of Rights. Although they were not a part of the original Constitution they came as the first addition. The Bill of Rights came about mainly as a result of Antifederalists who had criticized the Constitution for its lack of individual rights. When some states refused to approve the Constitution the Bill of Rights were adopted in order to ensure a number of personal freedoms to the people of the United States.

A congressional committee along with James Madison recorded and discussed the conditions that would become the Bill of Rights. By holding a convention of the States, an agreement of two-thirds of the states or two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress would be the only way amendments could be proposed. Realizing that this would be an insufficient if not impossible way to create the Bill of Rights, James Madison decided to draft the amendments himself by submitting them to Congress.

In 1791, the first ten amendments to the Constitution were accepted and called the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights generally states the rights of the people, of those the First Amendment is often considered the most important. The First Amendment 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, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

This basically means that no government or private institution has the right to silence anyone, nor do they hold the right to suppress a person’s right to express themselves. This amendment is possibly the most important, by restraining the government from suppressing voices that they may not like the First Amendment helps to work for a fair and honest nation. Without the freedom of speech it is very possible that the government could quickly take over the nation, before the public even realizes what has happened. The evils that come as a result of a lack of free speech are clearly illustrated as national history is looked upon, and a number of cases have been brought to the Supreme Court in the name of free speech.

One of the first violations of free speech and quite possibly the most obscene display of governmental power (in the United States) of all time dates back to 1798 as the Federalists dominated the government by passing The Sedition Act of 1798. This act punished people with fines and imprisonment for those with intent to oppose any measure or measure of the government of the United States. Or counseling or advising such opposition, or writing, printing, uttering, or publishing any false, scandalous, or malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or the President of the United States, with intent to defame or to bring them to either of them, into contempt or disrepute. Although the Republicans debated against the bill for over a month, the Federalist had numbers needed to win the vote.

The Sedition act was so blatantly oppressive it was described as the most repressive measure ever directed against political activity in the United States (Blum 169). As if the act itself were not bad enough the Federalists did not even make an effort to conceal their intentions as they set the date it for which it was to expire; March 3, 1801, when the next president would be inaugurated. By setting this date the act would last long enough to gag Republican criticism of the federalist administration, until it was far too late to have an influence. Plus it would expire soon enough to allow the Federalists to criticize the Republicans in case the election overturned the Federalist rule.

The first victim of the Sedition act was Matthew Lyon, a republican representative from Vermont. Prior to the Sedition act Lyon had built up an angry rivalry with Connecticut Federalist Roger Griswold. When Lyon was up for reelection in the fall following the Sedition act he blatantly directed his campaign against the Federalist Party and their outrageous conduct. Despite the fact that his arguments were met and countered almost word for word by the Federalists, Lyon was indicted, convicted, and sentenced (by a Federalist Judge) to four months in jail and a 1,000-dollar fine. Fortunately the people of Vermont were bright enough to recognize this outrage, and reelected him while serving his jail sentence.

Actions such as these caused great Republican alarm, and rightly so. The Federalists’ actions showed that they were ready to dismiss the principles of the Revolution, the Constitution, and the standards that the country was founded upon. The whole ordeal served as a dark harbinger of the politics in America’s future. This specific detriment came to an end however when the people elected Jefferson to be president, and he did not reinstate sedition acts when they ran out.

A background of fear helped keep the public silent and perhaps somewhat approving to the loss of some personal freedoms, as nobody wanted to be accused sedition. In May of 1778, President Adams declared a day of prayer and fasting. Many people thought that protestors were going to use that day to rise up in insurrec