No other democratic society in the world
permits personal freedoms to the degree of the United States of America. Within the last sixty years, American courts,
especially the Supreme Court, have developed a set of legal doctrines that
thoroughly protect all forms of the freedom of expression. When it comes to evaluating the degree to
which we take advantage of the opportunity to express our opinions, some
members of society may be guilty of violating the bounds of the First Amendment
by publicly offending others through obscenity or racism. Americans have developed a distinct
disposition toward the freedom of expression throughout history.
The First Amendment clearly voices a
great American respect toward the freedom of religion. It also prevents the government from
"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." Since the early
history of our country, the protection of basic freedoms has been of the utmost
importance to Americans.
In Langston Hughes' poem,
"Freedom," he emphasizes the struggle to enjoy the freedoms that he
knows are rightfully his. He reflects
the American desire for freedom now when he says, "I do not need my
freedom when I'm dead. I cannot live on
tomorrow's bread." He recognizes
the need for freedom in its entirety without compromise or fear.
I think Langston Hughes captures the
essence of the American immigrants' quest for freedom in his poem,
"Freedom's Plow." He
accurately describes American's as arriving with nothing but dreams and
building America with the hopes of finding greater freedom or freedom for the
first time. He depicts how people of all
backgrounds worked together for one cause:
freedom.
I selected Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit
451 as a fictitious example of the evils of censorship in a world that is
becoming illiterate. In this book, the
government convinces the public that book reading is evil because it spreads
harmful opinions and agitates people against the government. The vast majority of people accept this
censorship of expression without question and are content to see and hear only
the government's propaganda. I found
this disturbing yet realistic. Bradbury's
hidden opposition to this form of censorship was apparent throughout the book
and finally prevailed in the end when his main character rebelled against the
practice of burning books.
Among the many forms of protests are
pickets, strikes, public speeches and rallies.
Recently in New Jersey, more than a thousand community activists rallied
to draft a "human" budget that puts the needs of the poor and
handicapped as a top priority. Rallies
are an effective means for people to use their freedoms effectively to bring
about change from the government.
Freedom of speech is constantly being
challenged as is evidenced in a recent court case where a Gloucester County
school district censored reviews of two R-rated movies from a school newspaper. Superior Court Judge, Robert E. Francis ruled
that the student's rights were violated under the state Constitution. I feel this is a major break through for
students' rights because it limits editorial control of school newspapers by
educators and allows students to print what they feel is important.
A newly proposed bill (A-557) would
prevent school officials from controlling the content of student publications.
Critics of the bill feel that "student journalists may be too young
to understand the responsibilities that come with free speech." This is a valid point; however, it would
provide an excellent opportunity for them to learn about their First Amendment
rights that guarantees free speech and freedom of the press.
In his commencement address to Monmouth
College graduates, Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School defended the
broad right to free speech. He stated,
"My message to you graduates is to assert your rights, to use them
responsibly and boldly, to oppose racism, to oppose sexism, to oppose
homophobia and bigotry of all kinds and to do so within the spirit of the First
Amendment, not by creating an exception to it." I agree that one should feel free to speak
openly as long as it does not directly or indirectly lead to the harm of
others.
One of the more controversial issues
was the recent 2 Live Crew incident involving obscenity in rap music. Their record, "As Nasty as They Wanna
Be," was ruled obscene in federal court.
They were acquitted of the charges and quickly became a free speech
martyr. Although many stores pulled the
album, over two million copies sold as a result of the incident. I feel that in this case the principles of
free speech have been abused because young children can purchase and listen to
this obscene music.
The American flag, symbol of our
country's history and patriotism, has also become a topic of controversy. The controversy was over the right to burn
the flag without punishment. Supreme
Court Justice William Brennan
offered the response that "if there is a bedrock principle underlying the
First Amendment, it is that the Government may not prohibit the expression of
an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or
disagreeable." Burning the flag is
considered a form of symbolic speech and therefore is protected under the First
Amendment. As in the 2 Live Crew case, I
feel that we are protecting the wrong people in this case. The minority is given precedence at the
sacrifice of the majority.
The book, American Voices, is a collection of essays on the freedom of
speech and censorship. I chose to put
this collection of essays into my book because they represent the strong
central theme of freedom of expression as the cornerstone of American
government, culture and life. Each essay
strongly defends a case for free commercial speech. Each was generally in favor of fewer
limitations on freedom of expression.
The American voice on freedom has been
shaped throughout the course of history by the initial democratic notions of
the immigrants to the same desire for greater freedom that we have today. The freedom of speech has constantly been
challenged and will continue to be challenged in the future. It is important that we learn from the
precedented cases of the past of our constitutionally protected rights so that
in the future authority will not violate our freedoms or oppress our
liberty.
Ever since colonial times, the
protection of personal freedoms in the United States has been significantly
important. Even in the early stages of
American history there was an urge to put legally protected freedoms into
written government documents. The result
was the drafting of the first ten amendments to the Constitution, the Bill of
Rights, by James Madison. The
applications of the personal freedoms described in the Bill of Rights,
particularly the freedom of speech, have been challenged repeatedly in American
courts of law and elsewhere. These
incidents and challenges of authority reflect the defensive American attitude
toward the ever important freedom of expression and the growing significance of
personal rights throughout American history.
In Colonial America, members of diverse
nationalities had opposing views on government, religion, and other subjects of
interest. Serious confrontations were
prevented because of the vast lands that separated groups of varying
opinions. A person could easily settle
in with other like believers and be untouched by the prejudices and oppression
of others. For this reason, Unitarians
avoided Anglican or Puritan communities.
Quakers and Anabaptists were confined to Pennsylvania and Rhode Island
while Catholics were mainly concentrated in Maryland. As the United States grew larger and larger,
these diverse groups were forced to live together. This may have caused individual liberties to
be violated because of the distrust and hostile feelings between ethnic and
religious groups.
Most of the initial assemblies among
the colonies considered themselves immune from criticism. They actually issued warrants of arrest,
interrogated, fined, and imprisoned anyone accused of libeling the assembly as
a whole or any of its members. Many
people were tracked down for writing or speaking works of offense.
The first assembly to meet in America,
the Virginia House of Burgesses, stripped Captain Henry Spellman of his rank
when he was found guilty of "treasonable words." Even in the most tolerant colonies, printing
was strictly regulated. The press of
William Bradford was seized by the government when he printed up a copy of the
colony's charter. He was charged with
seditious libel and spent more than a year in prison.
A more famous incident was the trial of
John Peter Zenger which established the principle of a free press. In his newspaper he published satirical
ballads regarding William Cosby, the unpopular governor, and his council. His media was described "as having in
them many things tending to raise seditions and tumults among the people of
this province, and to fill their minds with a contempt for his majesty's
government." The grand jury did not
indict Zenger and the General Assembly refused to take action. The defendant was acquitted on the basis that
in cases of libel the jury should judge both law and the facts.
James Alexander was the first colonial
writer to develop a philosophy on the freedom of speech. He founded the American Philosophical Society
and masterminded the Zenger defense.
Alexander's chief conviction was "Freedom of speech is a principal
pillar in a free government: when this
support is taken away, the constitution is dissolved and tyranny is erected on
its ruins."
The original Constitution did not
contain a bill of rights because the convention delegates felt that individual
rights were in no danger and would be protected by the states. However, the lack of a bill of rights was the
strongest objection to the ratification of the Constitution.
Less than a decade after the Bill of
Rights had been adopted it met its first serious challenge. In 1798, there was a threat of war with
France and thousands of French refugees were living in the United States. Many radicals supported the French cause and
were considered "incompatible with social order." This hysteria led Congress to enact several
alien and sedition laws. One law forbade
the publication of false, scandalous or malicious writing against the
government, Congress or the President.
The penalty for this crime was a $2,000 fine and two years in prison.
The public was enraged at these
laws. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
pleaded for freedom of speech and the press.
The alien and sedition laws became a prime issue in the presidential
election of 1800. Soon after Jefferson
was elected, the Sedition Act expired and those who had been convicted under it
were immediately pardoned.
The next attack on the First Amendment
occurred in 1835. President Andrew
Jackson proposed a law that would prohibit the use of mail for "incendiary
publications intended to instigate the slaves to insurrection." John C. Calhoun of South Carolina led a
special committee that opposed the proposal on grounds that it conflicted with
the First Amendment. The proposal was
defeated because it was a form of censorship.
The next violation of the principles
contained in the First Amendment came on January 2, 1920. Under the direction of A. Mitchell Palmer,
Woodrow Wilson's Attorney General, about 500 FBI agents and police raided 3,000
Russians and other European immigrants, looking for Communists to deport. The victims were arrested without warrants,
homes were ransacked, personal property was seized, and they were hauled off to
jail.
An even more vicious episode was known
as "McCarthyism," an incident in the 1950's when Senator Joseph R.
McCarthy of Wisconsin proclaimed that the federal government had been
thoroughly infiltrated by Communist agents.
His attacks on United States information libraries abroad led to the
burning of some books accused of being Communist propaganda. Reduced congressional support caused many
librarians to resign and the closing of libraries.
On the morning of December 16, 1965,
thirteen year old Mary Beth Tinker went to school in Des Moines, Iowa. She and her fifteen year old brother, John,
had decided to wear black armbands as a protest to the Vietnam War. In advance to their arrival, the principal
had decided that any student wearing an arm- band would be told to remove it,
stating that, "The schools are no place for demonstrations." If the student refused, he would be suspended
until the armband was permanently removed.
On December 16, the Tinkers refused to remove their armbands. They were suspended and did not return to
school until after January 1, when by a previous decision the protest had
ended.
The students brought suit in federal
court to confirm their First Amendment right to wear the black armbands. They lost in The Federal District Court on
grounds that this type of symbolic expression might disturb school
discipline. The United States Court of
Appeals for the Eighth Circuit was divided equally (4 4) so the decision remained
unchanged.
On February 24, 1969, the United States
Supreme Court decided in the students' favor by a vote of 7 to 2. The Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School
District decision was a landmark case for students' rights and liberties. Speaking for the majority of the Court,
Justice Abe Fortas wrote, "It can hardly be argued that either students or
teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at
the schoolhouse gate."
During the sixties and early seventies
a new wave of court battles for First Amendment freedoms emerged. The freedom of speech was recognized as a
vital element in a democratic society.
Censorship and the infringement of First Amendment rights, especially
among students and their newspapers, could not and would not be tolerated. American citizens took a firm stand against
the government and authority at important times when they could have yielded to
the oppressive violations of their rights.
ENDNOTES
"Amendments to the
Constitution." Collier's
Encyclopedia, 1965 ed.
Langston Hughes, The Panther and the
Lash (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.,
1967), 55.
Langston Hughes, Selected Poems (New
York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1981),
291-293.
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (New
York: Ballantine Books, 1973).
Donna Leusner, "Social Services
Advocates Rally for 'Human' Touch in State Budget," The Star Ledger, 9 April 1991: A-3.
"Student Wins Freedom of Speech
Case," Daily Record, 24 April 1991:
A-2.
Bob McHugh, "'Free Speech' Moves
for School Newspapers," The Star Ledger, 4 May 1991: A-3.
Cathy Bugman, "Monmouth Grads Hear
Top Lawyer Defend Broad Right to Free Speech," The Star Ledger, 27 May 1991:
A-9.
David Gates, "The Importance of
Being Nasty," Newsweek, 2 July 1990:
52.
Walter Isaacson, "O'er the Land of
the Free," Time, 3 July 1989:
14-15.
American Voices (New York: Phillip Morris, 1987).
The First Freedom Today (Chicago: American Library, 1984), 3.
The First Freedom Today, 4.
The First Freedom Today.
The First Freedom Today, 5.
The First Freedom Today.
American Voices (New York: Phillip Morris, 1987), 292.
The First Freedom Today, 5.
The First Freedom Today, 7.
Nat Hentoff, The First Freedom (New
York: Dell Publishing Co., 1980), 4.
Hentoff, 5.
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