Aspects of the first amendment
...ve since been known as the Bill of Rights. What events influenced the thinking of the right of free speech? Well Although First Amendment is almost entirely a creation that began in the 20th century, common law protection for free speech began much earlier, in the 18th and 19th centuries. Madison's original draft of the Bill of Rights contained two proposed amendments dealing with freedom of speech. One proposed amendment said “The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.” The other proposed amendment of Madison read: “No state shall violate the equal rights of conscience, or of the press.” Congress, however, did not support Madison's efforts to apply free speech protections against the states, even though Madison called that amendment the “most valuable amendment on the whole list.” Just seven years after adoption of the First Amendment, Congress passed the Sedition Act of 1798. Jefferson won anyway, and the Sedition Act expired by its own terms in 1801, without ever being tested by the Supreme Court. The Act did, however, start a debate on free speech issues and said both Madison and Jefferson to write on freedom of speech and the press. The final wording was accepted by the House of Representatives on 1789-SEP-24; and by the Senate on sep 25th 1978. It was ratified by the States in 1791. In the United States it is one of the most important thing that makes it the great country to live in. Americans have the freedom to say what their opinion is, but only to a certain point, there are some limitations to the meaning of freedom of speech. In a election race between presidents, say they are giving fact about the other runner, they can say anything they would like because there is freedom of speech even in elections. But if any if the runners say anything that is false about the other runner he can be prosecuted for saying false information. So as you see freedom of speech only goes so far, you can say anything you like but it has to be true about that person. This also goes for many different subjects such as commercials for business, they may say what they like just as long as it is credible information, news reports, and news papers. In the first amendment it also states that government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, except as provided in subsection. The only exception to that is the government may substantially burden a person's exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that ...