“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of Religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,” this Amendment is the most important part of the constitution. Without free speech, we the people of the United States would not be able to speak openly and freely about issues that affect our everyday life. Had it not been for Katie Stanton and Susan B. Anthony exercising their first amendment right to free speech and peaceful assembly, and the press covering and catching the women’s suffrage movement it is possible that women may not have gained the legal right to vote until many years later. Many amendments to the Constitution were started by people exercising their first amendment rights, by utilizing the rights to free speech, peaceful assembly and freedom of press. When people use their first amendment rights effectively, they make people listen and when people listen, change occurs. Many of the laws we have in society today were passed in part by free speech. When people started pulling together to desegregate schools the government listened, it acted and passed laws against it. Due to people using their first amendment rights the Civil Rights Act was put into effect in 1964. DR. Martin Luther King Jr. used free speech and the right to public assembly when he spoke from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and people listened and change was brought about by his speech. If the first amendment right was never ratified, we might be living in a nation that separates us on our race, sex or age. Through this amendment, the people have caused such enormous changes that even other nations have taken notice and adopted similar laws and policies. There are also times when information is released to the public, which could be potentially harmful to our national security. Ultimately Freedom of the Press is an essential right. For the press, they feel the need to inform pe...
