Tug of War: The State and the Citizen. This is an essay about the first amendment with regards to protest.

Essay by blue_eys686College, UndergraduateA+, April 2004

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"The first bad feeling I got was when we were walking by one of the lines of officers and I saw a tank. A real tank! It was scary. I never thought practicing free speech would be so intimidating."--Tiffany Williams, protester. The United States of America is a country renowned globally for its many freedoms. According to the U.S. Constitutions, Americans have rights on top of rights. However, do Americans always have rights to their rights? Does the Constitution really have any value--or is it just words that look good on paper? To what degree are the Constitution and its amendments just a propaganda tool for the congress and branches of government to control Americans? Indeed, a dualism exists between the representation of the law by state and freedoms for its citizens. Through examination of the First Amendment to the Constitution with focus on the right of freedom of speech and right to peaceably assemble in relation to protesting and the events surrounding the recent FTAA protest in Miami, Florida, an argument in favor of protest in correlation with the First Amendment will be formed.

The First Amendment is by far the most popular of all amendments to the Constitution. Ask any American and he or she can answer he or she has the right to free speech. However, there is more to the First Amendment than freedom of speech. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof: or abridging the freedom of speech, of the press: or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances." In other words congress has no right to make any law that opposes the right of an individual to speak out or the right of the people...