The History of the First Amendment

Thomas Jefferson once claimed, A democracy cannot be both ignorant and free. This was the commonly held attitude of the enlightened men who settled the United States. The framers of the Constitution believed that if the new U.S. citizens failed to take care to share information completely among themselves, they would be worse off than they had been as subjects of the British monarchy they fled. The new American settlers brought with them a desire for democracy and openness. They left behind a history of tyranny and official control of information. Using this experience as their guide, the constitutional fathers wrote into their new Constitution a Bill of Rights, which contained the First Amendment. The Bill of Rights consists of the first ten amendments, which contain procedural and substantive guarantees of individual liberties and limits upon government control and intervention. The First Amendment, perhaps the best known of these freedoms and protections, prohibits the establishment of a state-supported church, requires the separation of church and state, and guarantees freedom of worship, of speech and the press, the rights of peaceable assembly, association and petition. While some Supreme Court justices have declared that First Amendment freedoms are absolute or occupy a preferred position, the Court has routinely held they may be limited so as to protect the rights of others (e.g. libel, privacy), or to guard against subversion of the government and the spreading of dissension in wartime. Thus, the Courts majority has remained firm the First Amendment rights are not absolute. Only two Supreme Court justices, Justice Hugo Black and Justice William O. Douglas, insisted the First Amendment rights are absolute and their dissenting opinions fell to the wayside. Most court cases involving the First Amendment involve weighing two concerns: public vs. private. Also, the Supreme Court has often defined certain speech, also known as at risk speech, as being unprotected by the First Amendment: Burning draft cards to protest draft prohibited because of superior governmental interest. Words likely to incite imminent violence, termed fighting words. Words immediately jeopardizing national security. Newspaper publishing false and defamatory material libel.

Freedom of speech and expression is not a luxury of democracy, but it should be recognized as a necessity. In order for a democratic form of government to function and continue to exist, it must have free expression and educated criticism. Most of the development of the United States free society has come about because of public debate and disclosure, in both oratory and written form. It has also been continuously recognized by the leaders of the United States that the minority view can also hold truths. This is how our nation was able to sever ties to Great Britain, by a minority group speaking out against the tyranny. - From the Illinois First Amendment Center