First Amendment – Freedom of Speech Clause

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The Freedom of Speech Clause is found in the First Amendment and has been highly important since it was ratified in 1791, and continues to be relevant in the present day. The first amendment was created with the original intent to protect each individual’s values and their right to expression. The Freedom of Speech clause prevents the government from ridding the people of their own opinions and from having total control over the way the people are able to interact with others.

It is primarily to state the allowance for people to criticize their own government without retribution. In many countries people face severe repercussions for presenting judgment to their government but this clause enforces the people’s abilities to speak their mind. This amendment was first put in place because the people wanted a written document stating their rights. The Freedom of Speech Clause is commonly understood as the law that gives all people the right to express any idea or opinion they possess openly without any risk of punishment, no matter what the view may be.

Additionally, that they can display these thoughts freely in any manner of expression. But, what a lot of people don’t realize, is the specificity of the amendment and the limitations within it that it holds. This clause presents the right for all people to publicly share their ideas freely without the fear of being punished by the government.  However, the Freedom of Speech Clause does not just give all people the right to say whatever they please to whomever.

The limitation is that people are solely protected from consequences being given from the government, and not others. For example, people can still legally be fired from a job as a result of expressing an opinion unless they are government employees. Freedom of Speech is highly debated as it is disagreeable among many whether or not any ideas should be acceptable to be expressed. This clause has been and continues to be controversial with the argument over making exceptions for what cannot be said publicly.

Most can agree that hate speech and words evoking violence shouldn’t be presented. But it gets difficult to incorporate that message into a law as it is difficult to create the limitation as all people have different views and different definitions of what they find offensive or politically correct. With this clause, the speech that gets the strongest protection is political speech. Praise or criticism of any political happenings are almost always protected by the First Amendment.

It has what is classified as ‘Preferred Position’ which is that all regulations, laws, and executive acts that will limit political speech are almost always shut down by the courts. A very impactful court case on the freedom of speech was Brandenburg v. Ohio in 1968. A Ku Klux Klan leader was delivering speeches that were extremely offensive and could be considered threatening to many people. Since it was political, the court ruled that it was protected by the First Amendment.

Something we also studied this year that can relate to the Freedom of Speech Clause is John Locke and his enlightenment ideas. Both were formed with the intention of giving more rights to the people. John Locke argued that people have the right to life, liberty, and property. The first amendment and John Locke’s enlightenment ideas share similar roots as they both allow people to have more agency and ability to express themselves. The Freedom of Speech Clause has impacted history greatly and continues to be relevant in the present day. 

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