Now that the semester has finished and I have a few days off of work for the holidays, I am taking some time to review my notes from the Change Management Course and the Practicums I attended. Even though it was not required to take notes at the Practicum, I found all the instructors so enlightening on their topics that I wanted to remember everything they were saying. As a result, I have been able to revisit those Practicum topics and reflect on what I’ve learned.
As I was reviewing my notes from Jason DeSanto’s lecture on the “Dilemmas in the Law of Free Expression”, I found many hidden gems of knowledge that he mentioned, but did not have time to process during the whirlwind day. One such gem was an off-handed comment that the 1st Amendment was passed in order to secure the votes of a few states to ratify the Constitution.
Growing up, I remember learning about the 1st Amendment since it holds the most basic and inherent rights Americans use. (Freedom of the Press, Religion, Speech, Assembly, and Petition.) However, through all my years of primary and secondary education, I do not recollect learning the history of the 1st Amendment. Professor DeSanto’s comment challenged me to do some research and learn more about the 1st Amendment.
It turns out that members of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 were trying to create a stronger, centralized government. Their goal was to replace the Articles of Confederation with a Constitution that gave more power to the National Government. However, there was no mentioning of the 1st Amendment or the Bill of Rights in the Convention’s Draft Constitution and it was very unlikely that the States would adopt it. Hence, the 1st Amendment and Bill of Rights were added to give individual citizens rights and protection from a more powerful, centralized government.
This is just a basic historical overview, but after Professor DeSanto’s lecture, I suddenly was more interested and appreciative of the rights we are given by the 1st Amendment. The way he unpacked it and showed us how Free Speech has been challenged in Court made it much more personal to me.
These Practicums provided a fantastic opportunity to learn and I wish I could participate in the Practicums next year. Thankfully, I can revisit the Practicums I attended because I had the due diligence to take notes.