Rights and Responsibilities: The Impact of the First Amendment

Cory Johnson, Mark Militzer, and Andrew Waddell Senior Division Website

For National History Day, the group decided that an interesting topic to conduct research on this year would be the First Amendment of the Constitution of America. As Americans, The history of the United States government has fascinated us deeply. Therefore, we chose to further investigate the code of laws for the government and people that the nations earliest leaders created. The Constitution is still in use today, but there have been multiple Amendments added to help secure the American peoples rights. We found that the most relevant and interesting Amendment, in our opinion, was the First Amendment. This alteration to the Constitution protects some of our most important rights. To obtain the research for the website, our group observed various primary sources in world literature class. To find the articles, we used a variety of databases, such as JSTOR. Using the viewed articles, we then gathered data in relation to our topic. After finding the articles, we analyzed and annotated them, which were then composed into an assigned Review of Literature paper. After constructing our Review of Literature, we continued researching our topic by looking for primary sources and a wider range of information. Finally, we organized all of our information and applied it to the building process of the website. The group chose to create a website about our topic, mostly because one of us constructed a website in 2012, and we decided it would be the best and most exciting way to present our information about the First Amendment, and also the most convenient, since we had some experience in our group in creating a website. Also, our talents involve completing tasks by working with computers and designing visually appealing media. Furthermore, a website is the best presentation category for us to work together on as a group, which we thought that we would exceed in, while enjoying the process at the same time.

Our website, and specifically the First Amendment, relates to this years rights and responsibilities theme of National History Day because this amendment is a part of the Bill of Rights, which states the rights of all American citizens and shapes American culture, lifestyle, and safe, easy living compared to other countries. In this case, the freedom of expression by speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition is the right that we stress as an important part of the nation. It is the citizens responsibility to use these rights responsibly, and the governments responsibility to enforce and to ensure these important rights that make the United States a unique and great country. In conclusion, it is the governments responsibility to uphold the citizens rights which are presented by the First Amendment.