Heghine Grigoryan
Professor Armour
Political Science 01
10.02.2012
The First Amendment to the Constitution—Always with You In 1791 the Congress of the United States was held by founding fathers. On December 15th of the same year, they adapted and ratified the Bill of Rights, which are the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution of the US. The Bill of Rights was written by a statesmen and political theorist, also known as “Father of Constitution”, James Madison. Owing to him and to Anti-Federalists, who criticized the Constitution of the US due to absence of the human rights, the Bill of Rights was drafted. So it was written to protect the individual rights of citizens. For any citizen of America the most important and valuable document in the Bill of Rights is the 1st Amendment to the Constitution because it influences everyone’s everyday life. The 1st 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.” This amendment permits and protects freedom of speech, gives the right to secure and practice any religion, assembly, press, and petition. In other words, the 1st Amendment means that no private institution or government has the right to silence anybody; also, they don’t hold the right to inhibit rights of people in order to express and benefit themselves, that is their interests. Moreover, this act allows its citizens to question the government for change freely, i.e. to influence the government’s decision. Its high purpose is the protection of political dissent and unpopular ideas. Thus, the 1st Amendment to the Constitution is the most important and acknowledged right for all the US citizens. The 1st Amendment to the Constitution permitted to the United States to prosper and to become a great nation as it is today. This invaluable act allows the US to differ from many countries because a sufficient number of countries simply do not have the basic human rights. For example, Iran and North Korea don’t have freedom of speech (violation of this law is punishable by death); Muslim counties don’t allow and endure derogatory words towards Islam, these countries also don’t have freedom of religion; Somalia and Cuba don’t have freedom of press, and so on. So even in some countries, such as China, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, people don’t have freedom of expression and press, can’t speak out against their government or question it because they fear to lose their life. According to the Freedom House’s yearly survey of civil liberties and political rights, Executive Director of Freedom House, Jennifer Windsor, argues: “In 2009, we saw a disturbing erosion of some of the most fundamental freedoms—freedom of expression and association—and an increase in attacks on frontline activists in these areas. From the brutal repression on the streets of Iran, to the sweeping detention of Charter 08 members in China and murders of journalists and human rights activists in Russia, we have seen a worldwide crackdown against individuals asserting their universally accepted rights over the last five years.” Owing to the 1st Amendment, which allows citizens to speak and express their view-points without being punished by the government, citizens of the US today can freely disagree with the elected officials and express their views and ideas while citizens of other countries suffer deprivation of liberty, solicitation, and may frequently undergo mental or physical abuse. The Worst of the Worst 2012 report of Freedom House allowed to define the countries that abuse human rights: “Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tibet and Western Sahara.” Thanks to the conducted surveys by the Freedom House society of the US can realize the importance and the value