Imagine living in a place where you are unable to walk into the streets without covering your body from head to toe. Envision living where newspapers and books are censored to prevent the distribution of controversial ideas. Now imagine that when you break these rules the punishment can be as harsh as death. Places like Iraq, Iran, and even China each place limits on the freedoms of their citizens.

For some American-born citizens living in the United States, this is only a foreign concept – a custom of ,far-off lands. These American citizens may have no knowledge of limits of the freedom of ideas and, if they do, their concept is usually limited to images found on television or in print.

When the Constitution was signed in 1787 the purpose was to protect freedoms. To get the Constitution ratified, however, it was necessary to include the Bill of Rights, which offered other protections to the citizens who were slightly apprehensive about their government because of the regulations that had been placed on them by Great Britain. The First Amendment is one piece of this safehold written into the document by the founding fathers. The First Amendment says 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 rights of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances (The First Amendment).

However, there are a few limitations to the power of free speech. The government has the responsibility to protect the rights and reputation of others.  This means that people are not allowed to speak slanderously or print libelously statements that are not true about another person, place, or company while knowing these facts are untrue.  The term “knowing” is especially important because one must show intent to do personal harm.