Value Of Freedom Of Speech Essay

Our founding fathers thought highly of the idea of freedom of speech. They make it the first amendment. Why do we value this amendment? What is exactly freedom of speech and are we, as Americans, truly free to say what we want? What are the limitations if we do not have true freedom? Even though, we value freedom of speech for four main reasons, it is up to us how far should our freedom should extend and that there are a few limitations to our right to freedom of speech. Americans have appreciated the freedom of speech, since the founding fathers started this great nation. The United States, being a democracy, is a government where the people influence how the nation is run. You cannot expect to run a country when the voices of the people to not be heard or restricted, there would be no democracy if that were to happen. There are four main points why the founding fathers thought so greatly of the importance of freedom of speech: informed citizenry, regulator of the government, …show more content…
In 1798 they passed a law called the Alien and Sedition Act. The act outlawed “any false, scandalous writing against the government of the United States” (Keeping the Republic, Barbour, 2015). During World War I, the government tried to put a stop to people “promoting socialism, anarchism, revolution, and even labor unions” (Keeping the Republic, Barbour, 2015). The Supreme Court had no problem punishing those who criticized the government, but they had the tough job of figuring out what exactly was punishable and what was the proper punishment. The Supreme Court has three rules that they use to help aid them in this: the bad tendency test; words must have a tendency to have prohibited consequences, the clear and present danger test; when words present instant danger, and imminent lawless action test; when language is going to produce imminent lawless