Essay --

What if people were punished, put in jail, or even killed, just for expressing their opinions? Freedom of Speech means that everyone is entitled to having an opinion , and they are able to share this opinion in any way that they would like to - online on Facebook, in public on a street corner, or even just in a face-to-face conversation with someone else. There are many different kinds of people, all with their own opinions, beliefs, and ideas and in the United states, citizens are fortunate enough to be able to share these thoughts with anybody they want to, without fear of major repercussions. The First Amendment states ( U.S Constitution ,1787) "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise there of, 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." So in other words, the government is not allowed to deny us our freedom of speech and religion. I agree with the First Amendment. The government should not be allowed to control what we have to say. It would be like them controlling our thoughts. The government would then be able to control everything and that would be dangerous. The founding fathers knew that so they put the first amendment in place for that very reason. We are all individuals with our own thoughts and opinions and it should stay that way. What would happen if there was no freedom of speech? People would not be able to say what was on their mind. The government would have too much power and everyone would be the same. Basically we would be who the government wanted us to be. There would be riots an... ...es for punishment would indicate hostility toward their religion and violate the basic first amendment principle that the government may not punish a particular viewpoint. Some people do not go by the First Amendment though. They think there should be limitations to what others say because words can hurt someone, be insulting, and misunderstood. I understand that people should not say words that can be disrespectful to others, but with the first amendment they have the right to speak freely. I understand that there should be a limit to what can be said over the internet and what people say in general but they cannot stop the thoughts of other people. People should be respectful and considerate about what they are saying and respect others and what they too have to say otherwise we would have no freedom of speech. In my opinion one of our most important rights.