Freedom of Religion, December 7, 2017 

https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/freedom-of-religion
Other:
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/98us145
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1962/526

Freedom of Religion is significant in that it protected the beliefs of people who had different religions or beliefs or even no faith at all. For example in Reynolds v. United States (1878) case, there was a violation of religious practices since the court forbid him from marrying a women while still engaged to his previous wife. However, his religion had allowed bigamy and therefore it was unconstitutional to charge him since this denied him the freedom to exercise his religion. Another case was the Sherbert v. Verner (1963), which violated Sherbert religious freedom to not work on Saturdays since it was the Sabbath Day of her Faith. She had brought it up in court and was able to gain justice in which the court had gave exceptions to those who weren’t able to work a certain day due to religious reasons. The freedom of religion is extremely significant because it allowed all those who were of different cultural backgrounds and beliefs to exercise their rights to believe in what they truly honored in religion.

                                                                      #believeinwhatyoufeelisright       #fearnotjustbelieve

Freedom of Speech, December 4, 2017
 https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/freedom-of-speech

The Freedom of Speech gave Americans unlimited freedom to speak or believe in what they felt truly defined their resolve however, the government also established the Espionage Act to restrict a person’s ability to interfere with the military. Charles Schenck was arrested for spreading fear by telling men to avoid being drafted for the war, this had violated the act which interfered with military recruitment. Speech was highly encouraged and allowed Americans to show artistic expression without being restricted by the government, such as students wearing black armbands to show that they silently disapproved of the Vietnam War. They were later suspended however, the court decided it was the freedom of expression and therefore cannot be silenced. Without freedom of speech, there are also restrictions that didn’t allow people to use their speech to carelessly cause harm or danger to others. In the end, the Freedom of Speech is important because we are allowed to express our opinions without worrying that the government would silence or harm our beliefs. 

                                                                         #neverstaysilent       #speakforyourselfandothers

With the freedom of press, medias were able to portray their beliefs in a more public way to show their disapproval of certain acts. John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon had written an essay under the name, Cato to allow the world to know of the British government’s corruption and the way they were defiling the country with it’s greed. This amendment had given the press the ability to be honest with its citizens without being restrained by the authoritative government. Around 2017, the freedom of press had given security to all journalists and publishers who had confidence that their works wouldn’t be censored or hidden to the eyes of the public. Having the ability to speak and believe in a certain subject is admirable but being allowed to write our own perspective of the story and how the world should be better through that piece is even more significant. 

                                             #writethetruth #neverfalterpresson

The freedom to assemble and protest our beliefs on a controversial matter is never thought to be possible since it was public disturbance. However, the freedom to assemble is a part of the amendment which gave Americans the freedom and power to assemble in rallies, marches, protests or demonstrations without being hoarded away by the police or authority for causing a riot. An assembly could be just being involved and participating in meetings or sit-ins for a subject you find disagreeable. For the assembly to occur, there are a few states obligation stating that there couldn’t be loud public disruptions and road blockage because it would prevent regular people from their regular activities.

It is significant that the assembly is peaceful while protesting for their rights on a certain topic because disruptions or riots would cause police force intervention. Having the freedom to assemble allows differences and diversity to correlate in the country. The public should each have their own beliefs or perspectives that they find arguable and worthy of assembling. Having the access of assembly shows how many of the population finds a law or person to be disagreeable and there could possibly be a change or fix to the situation. If everyone kept silent, there would be totalitarianism instead of democracy. When citizens assemble, they have something in which inquired them to speak, if we denied their thoughts or opinions, we are also denying their freedom of belief. 

                           
                                           #assembletoprovejustice                   #marchforyouropiniontobeheard

Although our state revolves around democracy, the power in which resides in the citizens and the government must abide, however, with the freedom of petition, Americans are able to stand up for their cause. Not only would they be voicing their beliefs but possibly being able to change it if under the circumstances, it was arguable and logical. In history, there were many occurrences in which brought the freedom of petition to it’s best, this could be found in the civil rights movement where segregation was demolished to show that each cultural background was unique and having separation showed denial of diversity. If we did not have the ability to petition, many would have to remain silent to this injustice of separation in race, genders and cultural background. In the article, it had used the example of Oceana, who created a petition to cease the act of long hook fishing to save endangered species from being killed more regularly due to accidents. If they had not ability to petition and prove the government that endangered species were being harmed, we would slowly lose our natural environment and it’s species which we rely on on an everyday basis.

#speakforjustice #opinionsmeansknowledge

Sources:
British Library. The Text of the Magna Carta. http://www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/translation.html.

Copley First Amendment Center. (1).  Court Cases. http://www.illinoisfirstamendmentcenter.com/Main.asp?
SectionID=8.

Copley First Amendment Center.  (2). History of the First Amendment.  Accessed 14
October 2004. http://www.illinoisfirstamendmentcenter.com/Main.asp?
SectionID=16.

Environmental Defense Organization. Environmental Defense Organization. http://www.environmentaldefense.org/home.cfm.

First Amendment Center. Petition Overview. http://www.fac.org/petition/overview.aspx.

First Amendment Center. Petition FAQs. http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/Petition/FAQs.aspx.

History Central. U.S. Civic Terms. http://www.multied.com/Civics/f.html.

Oceana. Success Stories. http://www.oceana.org/index.cfm?sectionID=2.

This paper was developed by a student taking a Philanthropic Studies course taught at Grand Valley State University. It is offered by Learning To Give and Grand Valley State University.