The Evolution Of The First Amendment Essay -- essays research papers

The Evolution of the First Amendment The first amendment states, "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.(encyclopedia) The inhabitants of the North American colonies did not have a legal right to express opposition to the British government that ruled them. Nonetheless, throughout the late 1700s, these early Americans did voice their discontent with the crown. For example they strongly denounced the British parliament's enactment of a series of tax levies to pay off a large national debt that England incurred in its Seven Years War with France. In newspaper articles, pamphlets and through boycotts, the colonists raised what would become their battle cry: "No taxation without representation!" And in 1773, the people of the Massachusetts Bay Colony demonstrated their outrage at the tax on tea in a dramatic act of civil disobedience, the Boston Tea Party.(Eldridge,15) The stage was set for the birth of the First Amendment, which formally recognized the natural and inalienable rights of Americans to think and speak freely. The first Amendments early years were not entirely auspicious. Although the early Americans enjoyed great freedom compared to citizens of other nations, even the Constitution's framer once in power, could resist the string temptation to circumvent the First Amendment's clear mandate. Before the 1930s, we had no legally protected rights of free speech in anything like the form we now know it. Critics of the government or government officials, called seditious libel, was oftenly made a crime. Every state had a seditious libel law when the Constitution was adopted. And within the decade of the adoption of the First Amendment, the founding fathers in congress initiated and passed the repressive Alien and Sedition act (1798). This act was used by the dominant Federalists party to prosecute a number of prominent Republican newspaper editors.(Kairys,3) When Thomas Jefferson was elected president in 1801 they also prosecuted their critics. More than 2,000 people were prosecuted, and many served substantial prison te... ...o preserve freedom of expression have taught us anything, it is that the first target of government suppression is never the last. Whenever government gains the power to decide who can speak and what they can say, the first Amendment rights of all of us are in danger of being violated. But when all people are allowed to express their views and ideas, the principles of democracy and liberty are enhanced. American democracy should mean more than the right to picket when you are really upset or pissed at the system and to vote every four years in elections devoid of content or context. Change will require, as it has in the past, recognition that free speech and democracy are political, not narrowly legal, issues. And it will also require an enlargement of our understanding of such rights to include public access to the various mass media. Bibliography Eldridge, Larry D. A Distant Heritage: The Growth of Free Speech in Early America. New York: New York University Press, 1994. Kairys, David. The Politics of Law In These Times. New York. Patheon Press, 1991. McWhirter, Darien A. Freedom of Speech, Press, and Assembly, Phoenix AZ: Oryx Press, 1994. The World Book Encyclopedia.1995.

Meaning of Life Essay

Here’s what a recent survey found: †¢ 25% of people say it is to seek truth and create meaning for yourself †¢ 22% think the meaning of life is to lovingly help others and make the world better †¢ 18% say there is no meaning †¢ 8% think it is to reproduce and continue your genes and the human race †¢ 8% say it is to find happiness †¢ 6% believe it is to learn how to serve and worship God, while †¢ 8% don’t know While it seems there are several purposes to life, science is beginning to reveal there is one fundamental purpose to all life. Every moment of your existence your body works to keep energy flowing. Every second you breathe air, you add food and water to replace the energy you use. Everything you sense or do is connected to the flow of energy in one form or another. You are so used to this energy flow that you hardly notice it. It is the ultimate process of your life. If your energy stops flowing you die: flowing energy differentiates living creatures from dead ones. While the purpose of all life might be to help energy flow, the same laws of energy indicate that a meaning of your own life is to find how your energy flows best. Is this science echoing those scriptures that suggest you have your own unique ‘gift’ that you should use? What does your energy enable you to do best? This can be as simple as determining what you are truly passionate about or what you do better than anyone else. Unfortunately, many of us are not aware of what this is. As such, the individual meaning of your life is for you to discover what makes your energy flow best and then how to do that. How you use energy best varies for everyone – therefore, everyone has a slightly different meaning to someone else. Ignoring this means your energy will be all mixed up and your life will be chaotic. This is what most scriptures and spiritual writings are trying to tell us, but just didn’t understand energy well enough. If you look at ancient scriptures and spiritual writings in terms of energy you start to realise that they, and modern science, are all saying something similar. In short, while the purpose of all life is about helping energy flow, spread and balance, your individual meaning is about determining how you do this best, what you do that helps your energies flow best.

Dangerous Knowledge in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein is a book written by Mary Shelley in 1818, that is revolved around a under privileged scientist named Victor Frankenstein who manages to create a unnatural human-like being. The story was written when Shelley was in her late teen age years, and was published when she was just twenty years old. Frankenstein is filled with several different elements of the Gothic and Romantic Movement of British literature, and is considered to be one of the earliest forms of science fiction. Frankenstein is a very complicated and complex story that challenges different ethics and morals on the apparent theme of dangerous knowledge. With the mysterious experiment that Dr. Victor Frankenstein conducted, Shelly causes her reader to ultimately ask†¦show more content†¦Pg. 62). The letters with in the preface tell the story of Walton and his sister, and reveals that both he and his sister both put themselves in harm’s way simply to be the first to gain knowledge. The novel show s that sometimes the actions you take do not necessarily give you the outcomes that you want. This is shown in chapter four when Dr. Frankenstein was first conducing his experiment and becomes extremely obsessed with the lust to create life. Dr. Frankenstein ultimately removes all of his personal relationships and isolates himself from people who care about him. â€Å"For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardor that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.†(Chapter 5, pg. 42) It is clear that Dr. Frankenstein dislikes the monster he just created and notices that he does not make something that is beautiful but more on something that’s is monstrous. Increasingly, Shelly makes a point by giving the reader a sort of â€Å"warning† on the aspect of wanting knowledge too much She makes the effort by making Dr. Frankenstein a example for the magnitude of gaining dangerous knowledge. â€Å"A flash of lightning illuminated the object andShow MoreRelatedMary Shelley s Frankenstein And The Modern Prometheus1342 Words   |  6 Pageswritten. But there is no doubt in the connection of the Greek God Prometheus and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, as the title of the book states: Frankenstein, or the modern Prometheus. Shelley made sure that the readers knew that Frankenstein is to be seen as the modern Prometheus, and all things in her book connect Frankenstein to the Greek God that shaped Humanity. In this essay is stated that Frankenstein is indeed as Shelley meant, the modern Prometheus. Reasoning behind this is of how Frankenstein’sRead MoreVictor Frankenstein: Epic Hero Essay1093 Words   |  5 Pages the zombie era is truly coming to life, and it is easy to figure out where this idea originated. The historic book Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley describes a man who creates a creat ure out of dead body parts of humans. Although this monster was meant for good purposes, it eventually leads to destruction including multiple murders. However, Victor Frankenstein can actually be determined as a hero by the ways in which he fits within the interpretation of an epic hero. GregoryRead MoreEssay on Frankenstein798 Words   |  4 PagesFrankenstein In the novel ‘Frankenstein’ Mary Shelley Portrays a Monster. The view of the monster is hideous. In the beginning he was childlike, kind and helpful but with the time he gains knowledge he becomes miserable. Mary Shelley writes about the monster to express her views about knowledge and the changes it can bring. In the 19th century with the industrial revolution there were negative effects. At the time there was a lot of development in Science and technology causing peopleRead MoreEssay on The Historical Perspective in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein1040 Words   |  5 PagesPerspective in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Mary Shelleys Frankenstein is an early product of the modern Western world. Written during the Romantic movement of the early 19th century, the book provides insight into issues that are pertinent today. Similar to Johann Wolfgang von Goethes Faust, Shelleys Frankenstein concerns individuals aspirations and what results when those aspirations are attained irresponsibly. While Mary Shelley (then Mary Godwin) wrote Frankenstein in 1816 she wasRead MoreWarning Of The Dangers Of Science Or Suggestion That The Human1309 Words   |  6 PagesMatthew Tripp Susan Sibbach English IV 11 December, 2015 Frankenstein: warning of the dangers of science or suggestion that the human quest for knowledge is a noble undertaking? Human societies have come a long way from the time of hunting and gathering. Self-sufficient and possessing high capacity for questioning what systems are currently in place, and the astonishingly unique ability to discover solutions for problems; humankind is truly one of a kind. This distinctive quality grants humanityRead MoreThe Romantic Era Of Mary Shelley s Frankenstein1502 Words   |  7 Pagesthe romantic ear took over the styles of novels. This was a time of disagreement and confusion over principles and aesthetics; there were many philosophies, agendas, and points of interest that competed in all types of literature. Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, is a work from the Romantic Era, and you can see some characteristics of this era in her novel. Romanticism was an era where the individual became more important than society. Instead of the rules and norms of society being theRead More The Concepts Of Knowledge And Happiness In Mary Shelleys Frankenstein1001 Words   |  5 Pagesleast by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow† (Shelley 60). In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, she expresses her beliefs regarding the danger of pursuing happiness through the attainment of knowledge, because true happiness is found in the emotional connections established between people. The pursuit of knowledge is not necessarily an evilRead MoreThe Dangerous Pursuit Of Knowledge1617 Words   |  7 Pages2322 20 January 2017 The Dangerous Pursuit of Knowledge Many people would argue that knowledge is power, but can too much knowledge be dangerous? How much is too much? Throughout history, the human race has had struggles with â€Å"too much knowledge† or going to extreme lengths to gain such knowledge. Is the everlasting quest to know something really worth it? In today’s generation, there is constantly new inventions of technology and theories of science. But maybe knowledge is starting to ruin people’sRead MoreFrankenstein Vensor Frankenstein And The Modern Prometheus And Victor Frankenstein1031 Words   |  5 Pagesnamed Prometheus stole fire from the gods and put it in the clay to make man. Like in the Greek Mythology, Mary Shelley has Victor Frankenstein steal life from nature. As Mary Shelley states in the title of her book Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, she parallels Victor Frankenstein to the Titan Prometheus. As Mary Shelley states in Frankenstein the pursuit of unknown knowledge is dangerous. â₠¬Å" So much has been done†¦ I will pioneer a new way, explain unknown powers, and unfold to the world theRead MoreShelley s Views Of The Dangers Of Knowledge1679 Words   |  7 Pagesdangers of knowledge contained in her novel Frankenstein â€Å"You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes not be a serpent to sting you, as mine had been,† this fragment of Victor Frankenstein’s conversations with Robert Walton exemplifies Mary Shelley’s views of the dangers of knowledge, in her novel, â€Å"Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus,† where main characters Robert Walton and Victor Frankenstein ruthlessly peruse knowledge. The theme