Some denounced Snowden as a traitor while others supported his actions, calling him a whistleblower and champion of media freedom. His leaks revealed several government surveillance programs and set off a global debate about government spying. ![]() United States, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the newspapers, making it possible for The New York Times and Washington Post to publish the contents of the Pentagon Papers without risk of further government censorship.įormer CIA employee Edward Snowden leaked classified documents from the National Security Administration to newspapers in the U.K., United States and Germany in 2013. ![]() government sought to block publication of the papers in the Washington Post as well, but the courts refused this time. The government obtained a court order preventing The New York Times from publishing more excerpts from the papers, arguing that the published materials were a national security threat. Johnson all had misled the public about the degree of U.S. The Pentagon Papers exposed government knowledge that the war would cost more lives than the public had been told and revealed that the presidential administrations of Harry Truman, Dwight D. political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. The documents, which would become known as the Pentagon Papers, detailed a top-secret Department of Defense study of U.S. In 1971, United States military analyst Daniel Ellsberg gave copies of classified documents to The New York Times. More than a decade later, Virginia Representative (and later president of the United States) James Madison would borrow from that declaration when drafting the First Amendment. The 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights stated, “The freedom of the Press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic Governments.” Virginia was the first state to formally protect the press. (Cato was a statesman and outspoken critic of corruption in the late Roman Republic.) The essays called out corruption and tyranny in the British government.Ī generation later, Cato’s Letters frequently were quoted in newspapers in the American colonies as a source of revolutionary political ideas. They were published under the pseudonym of Cato between 17. The essays were written by Brits John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. “But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.American free press ideals can be traced back to Cato’s Letters, a collection of essays criticizing the British political system that were published widely across pre-Revolutionary America. “Liberty is to faction – what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires,” said James Madison, the principal framer of the Constitution. Destruction of the property of others is not protected by the First Amendment. Harmful speech, such as yelling “fire” in a crowded room, is not protected, nor is a written lie that causes harm. One may not force the tenets of his or her religion on those who do not observe those beliefs. Of course, there are limits to these freedoms. The right to petition allows citizens to point out to the government where it did not follow the law, to seek changes, as well as damages for such missteps. Freedom of speech and press allows citizens to communicate their ideas verbally and in writing, while freedom of assembly lets them publicly express a common interest. The freedoms of speech, press, assembly and the right to petition the government and seek redress of grievances proclaim that citizens have the right to call the government to account. So, they ensured that federal government cannot interfere in the citizens’ practice of their religion. It would be doubly so if one religious sect were favored over all others. They realized that religious discord can be explosive and cause tremendous disruption in politics. The first part of that statement reflects the framers’ experience with the long history of religious strife in Europe. It states that “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.” These amendments are collectively named the Bill of Rights.Īrguably, the First Amendment is also the most important to the maintenance of a democratic government. ![]() To protect individual rights, the framers of the United States Constitution added ten amendments to the document, which came into force in 1792, three years after the Constitution itself did.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |