The genius of the First Amendment is why you are reading this article right now. The founding fathers came together and spent months planning, writing and revising the documents we now know as the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. These men created a type of government unlike any ever seen in a country before, and it was nothing but a huge experiment formed out of an understanding of natural human rights.
As we celebrate Constitution Day today, I would like to reflect back on the document that made this nation the greatness that it is today. A country that is always open to grow as populations change is something infinitely more powerful than many understand. The founding fathers, wise beyond their time, understood this simple fact. They needed to create a country that gave its people a voice, a country in which the American Dream was attainable and a country that would never be forced to be stuck in the past. They knew the Constitution was an important document and worth protecting. That’s why many of the founding fathers, one of the most famous of which being Alexander Hamilton, worked so tirelessly to defend it when the public began to doubt.
The facts of its creation are crystal clear, but what exactly in the Constitution is worth fighting for?
The First Amendment must be protected. It is the amendment that I, as a student journalist, am personally most grateful for. Within the act, it is stated that all citizens of the United States of America are granted the unalienable rights to the freedoms of assembly, petition, religion, speech and press.
The freedoms of assembly and petition have many parallels and are both incredibly important. The freedom of assembly grants the ability for people to group together for nearly any reason, be it in petition or for another, less dire purpose. The freedom of petition allows for citizens to come together in a peaceful assembly to advocate for a change to be made within the government, based on anything the group sees as an infringement upon their freedom. Many other countries would subject petitioning citizens, no matter how peaceful, to punishment. The Constitution, however, prohibits the government of the USA from doing so.
The freedom of religion states two important factors, one of which is that the government cannot be run by a religion and cannot force any religion upon its citizens. The other is that all citizens are able to have faith in whatever religion, or no religion, that they believe in. Religious expression is seen as an uninfringeable human right by the Constitution and, therefore, is provided to American citizens.
Most important to a student journalist like myself, however, are the freedoms of speech and press.
The freedom of speech allows Americans to say nearly anything they want. The only exceptions to this rule are those who attempt to create chaos, such as spreading word of an untrue threat. This is illegal. However, citizens are able to speak of pretty much anything else without consequence by law. Few other countries in the world grant its citizens the ability to openly criticize their own government, but that is a right the Constitution bestows. While some use this freedom to spread hate, it can’t be denied that the ability to do so is incredibly important to individuals.
The freedom of press is the most important part of the First Amendment for journalists like myself. This freedom allows reporters to collect nearly all information without fearing government censorship. Through writing, this information is also fully accessible to the people of the USA. The importance of this freedom is in the ability to know complete information on what’s happening in one’s own country and the world itself, rather than a censored, inaccurate version that those in many other countries are given instead. It’s a form of protection for American citizens to know what their country is doing.
The Student Press Freedom Initiative was passed as law in West Virginia in March 2023, allowing for student journalists in the state to have a voice, just as adult journalists already enjoy. This is incredibly important, as it means students of PHS will never be subject to censored information.
It’s important that on Constitution Day, we reflect on the importance of the documents granting our freedoms as Americans. I am very thankful for the country I’ve been born in, the First Amendment, and the other laws of our Constitution I haven’t covered that are equally important to our “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
