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Research Paper: The First Amendment

Jayla Parker

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

10/7/19

The Bill of Rights is a document that protects basic civil rights under the law. It was cre-

ated by a group of politicians who met up in Philadelphia. Well known men who were apart of

that group was James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. Within the Bill of Rights, the First

Amendment was created on December 15, 1791 in addition to the nine other amendments. The
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First Amendment states, “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.”

The purpose of this amendment is to protect the freedom of speech, religion, and the

press. In addition to that, it also protects the right to peaceful protest and to petition the govern-

ment. (History, 2017) The definition of having freedom of speech is to have the legal right to ex-

press one’s opinions freely. (Freedom Of Speech, 2019) Although this is the most basic piece of

freedom of expression, this is one of the biggest components that the U.S. Supreme Court strug-

gles with. It’s not easy for them to determine what types of speech is protected because the law

does have restrictions. An example of one of those restrictions is when speech provoking actions

offends or harm another person. The next component of the First Amendment is freedom of the

press. Freedom of the press expands the idea of freedom of speech. While freedom of speech de-

scribes what people say or do in person, freedom of the press is how people can express them-

selves through publication. Similar to freedom of speech, this part of the First Amendment also

has restrictions such as, publicizing false statements or accusations. Next is freedom of religion,

which is pretty self explanatory. Unlike most countries, in the United States of America, none of

the states are allowed to have a designated religion that all Americans must follow. Americans

are able to legally have any religion in which they choose to follow. This part of the First

Amendment separates the church and the state. Lastly the First Amendment gives the right to as-

semble and to petition. The right to assemble means that is it completely legal for a group of peo-

ple to peacefully get together for social, economic, political, or religious purposes. The key word
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in that definition is peacefully. Once that peaceful gathering is changed into a disturbance or vio-

lence, then it is automatically against the First Amendment. The right to petition simply makes it

legal to sign any petition or file a lawsuit against the government. (History, 2017)

The rights given to Americans in the First Amendment seems simple, but a lot of other

countries aren’t allowed to have as many freedom. Other countries include North Korea, the

United Kingdom, Afghanistan, China, and India. North Korea is known for being one of the

most heavily censored countries in the world. All the media in North Korea is state-owned with

the official Central Korean News Agency, so everyone is constantly watched. When North Kore-

ans go against those restrictions they are punished harshly. (Journalists, 2017) So basically, they

don’t have freedom of speech or freedom of the press. In the United Kingdom, they do not have

a clear document like the Bill of Rights. Citizens in the United Kingdom somewhat have the

freedom of expression and speech, but when it comes to those freedoms, they are stricter than the

United States to protect public interest. (Lib, 2019)

Afghanistan is a country that has been through a lot go problems when it comes to human

rights. The reason for all of their turmoil is due to the Taliban destroying their way of life. To de-

fine who exactly the Taliban were, britannica.com defines them as, “an ultraconservative politi-

cal and religious faction that emerged in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s following the withdrawal

of Soviet troops, the collapse of Afghanistan’s communist regime, and the subsequent break-

down in civil order.” The Taliban stripped away citizens of Afghanistan’s rights by their cruel

social policies. A few of those social policies can include the exclusion of women from all public

life, the destruction of non-islamic artistic relics, and the extremely harsh criminal punishments.

(Britannica, 2019) Fortunately, the Taliban were overthrown in December 2001 after America

led an invasion in Afghanistan. (Taliban, 2019) Since then, they have been trying to make things
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better by creating different organizations like the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commis-

sion. This organization was specifically made to protect the human rights that were once lost in

the country. (Britannica, 2019) Although the AIHRC, Afghan Independent Human Rights Com-

mission, have made progress with trying to protect citizens of Afghanistan’s rights, they still

have a very long way to go. Currently Afghanistan still struggles with having freedom of the

press and freedom of religion. Same as North Korea, their media is primarily government owned,

so any media is monitored. Due to the media restriction, a lot of attention that should be brought

to rebuilding Afghanistan isn’t. Also the people of Afghanistan technically aren’t required to

practice Islam, all of the laws must align with the Islamic religion. So in a way, they have a des-

ignated national religion. (Britannica, 2019)

Continuing on with examples of countries who aren’t as fortunate as the United States,

China has a government that lacks structure which explains why certain human rights are cen-

sored. Important rights that are censored are the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and

freedom of religion. The Chinese government is looked down upon so much that it has caught

the attention of organizations like the US State Department, Amnesty International, and the Hu-

man Rights Watch. All of those organizations and more have accused China of human rights vio-

lations. (Lib, 2019) In India, similar to America, there is actually a Constitution that lists the fun-

dament rights. The rights are freedom of religion, speech, and freedom of movement both do-

mestic and foreign. Out of all the countries named previously, India has the most in common

with the United States. The only real difference is that their constitution doesn’t say the word

“press.” They have it apart of freedom of speech. (Lib, 2019)

It’s obvious that Americans are blessed with many freedoms compared to other countries,

but sometimes those freedoms can be tested within the Supreme Court. Hearing court cases that
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the Supreme Court had to handle can give a better understanding about the first amendment. Vir-

ginia v. Black was a controversial case in which the First Amendment was tried to be used as de-

fense. Virginia v. Black was a case in 2003 that convicted Barry Black, Richard Elliott, and

Johnathan O’Mara for burning a cross in the state of Virginia. (Oyez, 2019) Cross burning origi-

nates from Medieval Europe. According to timeline.com, during that time period, Scottish clans-

men would set fire to hillsides as a statement of military defiance or call to action for soldiers

ahead of battle. The practice came back in the year of 1915 with the silent film by D.W. Griffith,

Birth of Nation. Birth of a Nation was based off a novel published in 1905 called The Clansman:

A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan. In both the film and book, Ku Klux Klan, KKK,

members were burning crosses, but more specifically in the film, KKK members were burning a

cross before the lynching a black man accused of murder. (Dundon, R. , 2017)

The KKK were an American white supremacist group who hated any other race or reli-

gion such as immigrants, Catholics, Jews, African Americans, and organized labor. They’re main

targeted race were African Americans. They began with former confederate veterans in Pulaski,

Tennessee in 1865 and expanded to almost every southern state by 1870. (History.com Editors,

2009) Not only for burning crosses, but they are also known for their thousands of lynchings,

bombings of churches and schools, terrorizing minority neighborhoods, and ending innocent

lives with their white robes and masks hiding their true identities. The coincidence is that their

true identities are our white doctors, judges, teachers, and policemen.

Knowing the KKK’s violent history, anyone burning a cross will automatically trigger

fear in a minorities’ eyes because that is clear symbol of hatred for other races. That is why

Barry Black, who tried to defend himself with the First Amendment, was found guilty. Oyez.org

says, “Ultimately, the Virginia Supreme Court held, among other things, that the cross-burning
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statute is unconstitutional on its face and that the prima facie evidence provision renders the stat-

ute overbroad because the probability of prosecution under the statute chills the expression of

protected speech.” (Oyez, 2019) In other words, the First Amendment strictly states that if some-

thing was said or did to provoke any action that offends or harm another person then it is illegal

and against the constitution. Once an action is offensive, then your First Amendment rights are

stripped away, and it can not be defended by the freedom of speech in the First Amendment. The

case concluded with The Supreme Court of the United States banning the act of cross burnin

with the intent to intimidate as the First Amendment permits content-based restriction of true

threats. All three of the defendants were convicted. (Virginia v. Black., 2014)

In conclusion, the First Amendment was and still is a very important part taken from the

Bill of Rights and put as the first amendment listed in our United States Constitution. These sim-

ple, yet necessary rights in the First Amendment, created in 1791, makes the United States differ-

ent from other countries around the world. Not saying that our government is perfect with all of

their decisions, but at least the First Amendment is there to add a little structure to our system

and way of life as Americans.

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References

(A) History.com Editors. (2017, December 4). First Amendment. Retrieved from

https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/first-amendment.

(B) Freedom Of Speech. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/diction-

ary/freedom of speech.

(C) Journalists, C. to P. (2017, April 25). North Korean censorship. Retrieved from

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/north-korean-censorship_b_58fe78afe4b086ce58981445.

(D) Lib.dr.iastate.edu. (2019). [online] Available at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcon-

tent.cgi?article=1022&context=uhuru [Accessed 10 Oct. 2019].

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(E) Britannica, T. E. of E. (2019, September 11). Taliban. Retrieved from https://www.britan-

nica.com/topic/Taliban.

(F) The Taliban in Afghanistan. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/tali-

ban-afghanistan.

(G) {meta.pageTitle}}. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/01-1107.

(H) Dundon, R. (2017, September 20). Why does the Ku Klux Klan burn crosses? They got the

idea from a movie. Retrieved from https://timeline.com/why-does-the-ku-klux-klan-burn-

crosses-they-got-the-idea-from-a-movie-75a70f7ab135.

(I) History.com Editors. (2009, October 29). Ku Klux Klan. Retrieved from https://www.his-

tory.com/topics/reconstruction/ku-klux-klan.

(J) Virginia v. Black. (2014, September 11). Retrieved from https://globalfreedomofexpres-

sion.columbia.edu/cases/virginia-v-black/.