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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
This was a document that constituted the fundamental -
Rhode Island Charter
The Rhode Island Royal Charter is a record of Parliament declaring that their colony of Rhode Island may have a foundatino for a goverment and in that document, it states the rights of colonists in Rode Island. In this charter it states that there will be religious freedom for the colonists. -
The 14th Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified and added as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. This amendment states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" are instantly granted citizenship and that you cant deny the "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" and "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." This includes former slaves of the United States. -
Cantwell v. Connecticut
This was a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court takes a part of the due-process clause of the 14th amendment for the very first time. The Supreme Court decided that the first amendment protected the case because it was their practice of religious freedom. -
National Broadcasting Co. v. United States
This court case was started because NBC wanted to sue for breach of freedom of speech by the Chain Broadcasting Regulations in 1941, after getting declined the complaint, they appealed to the Supreme Court, but they also denied the appeal, saying that it was alright to regulate the content of licenced chain broadcasting stations. -
Burstyn V. Wilson
Also referred to as the "Miracle Decision" due to the case being over the film "The Miracle", this court case was about motion picture censoring, where the Supreme Court first sees a film as a freedom of speech. After this case movie censorship greatly declined all over the U.S.. -
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
This court case was between students who were protesting the Vietnamese war by wearing black armbands, and after warning of expulsion because of it, one student got expelled. He and his parents sued the school and the courthouse rules that it was his constitutional right of the first amendment, therefor the student won that court case and changing the view on restrictions to what students at school could do. -
Paris Adult Theater I v. Slaton
This court case was in between a state court and a Adult theater where they were against the showings of certain inappropriate and obscene films. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the state court and ruled that it was not appropriate. -
National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie
This court case dealt with the freedom of assembly for the NSPA to march in a Jewish neighborhood where there were Holocaust survivors and relatives to Holocaust victims. Yet, because of their symbol, that did not have any "fighting words" therefore they were able to march but not in that neighborhood because of being passed members of concentration camp victims and it brought an over-emotional state of stress to the neighborhood. -
Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association
This court case was about video games and how they are protected by the first amendment. There was a California law that banned the selling of violent video games to kids without the consent of their parents. The Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutionally protected and it's a way for kids to express themselves.
