Final Blog Post!!

What is the First Amendment? The First Amendment quotes, "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 of the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." A lot of times when people talk about the First Amendment it is taken out of place or only half of it talked about it. The amendment plays a crucial dependent role in the United States of America's constitutional democracy. There are events all throughout history that help reveals the First Amendment's central role in creating social and political change. 

Regarding the whole Civil Rights Era there were a lot of events that help form the social change during that time period. Some specific ones were the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1961 Albany Movement, 1963 Birmingham Campaign, 1963 March on Washington, 1965 Bloody Sunday, 1967 Vietnam War Opposition, 1968 Poor People's Campaign, and so much more. With a few events previously mentioned, there was a man behind it, Martin Luther King Jr. He was an influential person regarding the Civil Rights Movement. He helped advocate peacefully with some of the most controversial problems regarding civil rights. He also helped keep organized the marches and protests like the Memphis sanitation workers' strike, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the March on Washington. King was also an inspiration to others all over the world. He inspired them with the peaceful messages of resistance and racial equality. A famous speech that stroke the idea of change and more civil rights for people was 'I HAVE A DREAM." So Martin Luther King Jr. along with many others helped pave a pathway for Civil Rights Movement and also correlated the First Amendment with is applying to everyone. 

The First Amendment is very significant to the development of American democracy because it helps citizens to the right to keep the government accountable. There were historical events and documents that helped with creating the First Amendment. For example, the Magna Carta in 1215, the Petition of Rights in 1628, the Ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791, and so on. Through creating the First Amendment there was an impact on public policy because it helped with protecting the people and society from the government who tried to suppress ideas and information.

As previously stated the First Amendment can be taken out of context. People think that the First Amendment does not guarantee you all the rights you think it does. When looking at the First Amendment there is a lot going on in that small paragraph and people can always know when and how it applies in common situations. The bottom line about the First Amendment is that it protects you from the government punishing or censoring or oppressing your speech. So there was discussion about the First Amendment as a whole, certain events during the Civil Rights Era, background, but we have never thought what if we did not have the first amendment. What would it look like and how would it affect the common person? 

If there was no First Amendment, protests and marches could possibly be prohibited according to the law. There possibly could be threats with the right to petition the government and a form of censorship. All of our "freedoms" would be taken away, and people would just be in life not having any form of expression. Personally, I think that the events taken place to have us be able to use properly our rights all had a purpose and made the United States of America what it is today. 

If there was no First Amendment, protests and marches could possibly be prohibited according to the law. There possibly could be threats with the right to petition the government and a form of censorship. All of our "freedoms" would be taken away, and people would just be in life not having any form of expression. Personally, I think that the events taken place to have us be able to use properly our rights all had a purpose and made the United States of America what it is today 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -sources:

https://law.tamu.libguides.com/c.php?g=513907&p=3510957

https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/page/what-if-there-were-no-first-amendment

https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/history/info-2018/civil-rights-events-fd.html

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther-King-Jr