Do You Know Your Rights? An AC Experiment on the First Amendment

Many students and even teachers in the United States cannot answer basic questions about the freedoms protected by the First Amendment in the United States Constitution. Even those who are knowledgeable about the First Amendment often cannot clearly articulate their personal views about the freedoms granted by the amendment. A political science professor at Park University once told me that the first right most Americans can identify with and feel most strongly about is the freedom of religion; however, the second right they claim as one of the most important rights is the right to travel. Coincidentally, the right to travel is not guaranteed anywhere within the Constitution, including the First Amendment.

The First Amendment reads as follows: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." The part of the First Amendment most open to interpretation and constantly under judicial review is the Establishment Clause, the first part of the First Amendment regarding an establishment or exercise of religion.

To provide you with further background information and so that you can identify from the beginning any bias I may hold with regards to the First Amendment, here is my own interpretation of these freedoms: the U.S. government can establish a particular national religion or prevent anyone from participating in a certain religion (or, not participating in any religion); in most cases, the U.S. government cannot restrict free speech of the freedom of newspapers and other publications to publish any type of story (notwithstanding libel laws), even if those stories are in direct disagreement with the actions of the U.S. government; Americans have the right to gather peacefully in protest as well as the right to due process under the court system. In addition, I am a journalist, which obviously means that the freedoms I consider to be the most important in my life are the freedoms of press and speech.

A little more than five years ago, shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, most Americans (49%) agreed that "the First Amendment went too far in the rights it guarantees," according to a report released by the First Amendment Center. Each year, the number has gone down, and with the release of the results from the latest State of the First Amendment Survey, you can see that these numbers have steadily dropped each year. Today, only 18% of Americans think that the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees.

Even I, a die-hard liberal who believes so strongly in First Amendment freedoms that she plans to specialize in constitutional law so that she can become a First Amendment lawyer after law school, have struggled with some of the events in our nation that can be traced directly to First Amendment freedoms. For example, consider Fred Phelps, the "minister" of a "church" in Kansas that pickets funerals of fallen American soldiers and protests performances of The Laramie Project because, in their opinion, "God hates fags." I absolutely hate the message these people try to get across every day, and it fills me with such rage and sadness that all I have been able to do on certain occurrences is cry. However, I have to remember that the First Amendment protects the rights of these people to say what they want, even if it is so vile and morally reprehensible that I wonder how they can look at themselves in the mirror.

In light of the knowledge that so many American citizens are ignorant of their freedoms protected by the First Amendment, I took advantage of Associated Content to publish the findings of an informal survey I conducted of 10 friends and family members of varying ages, races, sexual orientations, religions and political persuasions. I wanted to get a well-rounded group of individuals for the survey, whose basic premise was to gauge personal knowledge of First Amendment rights and their individual opinions about them.

Here are some of the findings from this experiment on the state of the First Amendment:

1. Surprisingly, 6 of 10 individuals surveyed named the freedom of speech first when asked about the rights protected under the First Amendment. Six of 10 could name two freedoms, four of 10 could name three freedoms, and only one individual could name all five freedoms guaranteed under the First Amendment. The least-known of all the freedoms was the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.

2. Only two of 10 individuals think the First Amendment goes too far in the freedoms it grants Americans, which is comparable to the results of the State of the First Amendment Survey that said 18% of Americans believe the same thing.

3. Sadly, seven of 10 individuals surveyed believe that the press in the United States has too much freedom. The rest of the individuals thought the press has about the right amount of freedom. Further, eight of 10 individuals thought that the press should only be allowed to publish classified information when it exposes government corruption. The same amount of people thought it was OK to imprison journalists for failing to reveal sources when publishing such classified information.

4. Half of the individuals surveyed think Americans do not have the right to burn an American flag in protest. (U.S. citizens do have that right.)

5. More than half (seven out of 10) individuals think that a public school does not have the right to prevent certain extracurricular groups (such as gay and lesbian support groups) from being formed. (Schools do have that right, and it is protected by the First Amendment.)

6. Finally, half of the individuals surveyed believe that religion can and should be taught in public schools. The other half said it was OK as long as the school presented other forms of religion and other theories of creation, such as evolution. The majority of people surveyed (eight out of 10) believe that the freedom of religion protected by the First Amendment is the most important freedom they will embrace in their lifetime.

Could you name all five freedoms protected by the First Amendment before reading this article? More importantly, what do you believe is the most important freedom and why?