While we declared our independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776, it took us more than nine years before we would sign the U.S. Constitution and another four years to put the Bill of Rights — the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution — into effect.
It is the First Amendment, written because America’s first citizens demanded a guarantee of their basic freedoms, that, in our view, provides us with what is the very best about being an American.
These 45 words, written by James Madison, say it all:
“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.”
Justice Robert Jackson, in W. Virginia v. Barnette in 1943, wrote that the First Amendment ensures that “if there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”
Just as American is our dispute over First Amendment rights. Our attitudes over our freedoms change depending on circumstance. We debate, we declare, we protest, and we picket.
All because we can.
The genius of the Founding Fathers was in providing us with the framework for a government where we can express those viewpoints. Even when there aren’t always as set of right or wrong answers.
Perhaps the greatest gift our forefathers gave us 233 years ago was the room to grow as a country. The simple fact is our government works, and it is by far the best system of government ever developed.
Happy birthday, America.
Opinion
In our view: Genius of Founding Fathers
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Beth Meeker, guest columnist: Same-sex marriage battle a quest for equal rights
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