Burning American Flag Persuasive Essay

In 1969, the Supreme Court of the United States (U.S. Supreme Court) put forth rules allowing the burning of the flag to be protected under the First Amendment. The U. S. Supreme Court first ruled on flag discretion in 1907 in the Halter v. Nebraska case. Prior to this ruling flag discretion statues strictly prohibited the burning of the American flag , as well as, disrespecting the flag in any way shape or form. In 1968, Congress reacted to the burning of the American flag in New York during a protest against the Vietnam War by passing the Federal Flag Desecration Law. In a few court cases it has been declared that burning the American flag is only illegal if the flag has been stolen. When a flag is worn/torn the proper way of disposing of the flag is to burn it; however, when disposing of a flag by burning it there are steps that should be followed in order to do so honorably. The flag should be folded in its customary manner and then placed on a fire that is fairly large with sufficient intensity to ensure complete burning of the flag. After placing the flag on the fire all individuals should come to attention, salute the flag while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and observing a brief moment of silence. Once the flag has been completely consumed the fire should be safely extinguished and the ashes should be buried. Congress has made seven attempts to overrule the Supreme Court decision regarding the burning of the American flag by passing a constitutional amendment that had an exception to the First Amendment and allowed the government to ban flag desecration. (Thelawdictionary.org,

One of the most important cases in the history of the United States, especially for the freedom of American speech and expression, was Texas v. Johnson. This landmark Supreme Court case allows burning the American flag as grounds of symbolic speech. For the Supreme Court, the question was the desecration of an American flag, by burning or otherwise, a form of speech that is protected under the First Amendment? During the Reagan administration, many were upset due to Reagan’s policies, especially his military buildups and his missile reforms. During the Reagan administration, many protests took place, including arm bands to protest military, and sign waving to protest Reagan’s tax cuts that “favored the wealthy”. When the Republican National

In America, people have used their freedom of speech to burn the country flag. For this situation the speech was allowed. I believe that this is a very disrespectful action to be doing, however it's not harming another person directly. Which means that it should be considered a citizen's freedom of speech.

The First Amendment says: 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 to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. This freedom of speech clause as included in the First Amendment guarantees the citizens of America to express information and ideas freely. But is all form of speech free? On the most basic level, this clause allows for the expression of an opinion or idea without the fear of censorship by the government. It protects all forms of communication, with limits so you cannot always say anything you want, wherever you want, or whenever you want. Fighting words are not protected under the First Amendment, for instance, as are obscene expressions.

The United States of America was found on freedom of speech and expression. In Ronald J. Allen´s editorial title American Flag Stands for Tolerance, he states¨It is, thus, no surprise that the 1st Amendment is where it is in the Bill of Rights, for it is first in importance.¨ The declaration of Independence was the original document that declared our freedom from the oppression of England´s crown, and in it the founding fathers stated that everyone deserves the freedom to express themselves in whatever way they seem fit, until it puts others in danger. If flag burning were to be exceptionized from the first amendment, we would be reversing the progress the founders of our nation fought for. To restrict someone from burning a flag, as long as they have the burning in control and are not trying to harm others, would be oppressing them.

Through the years of America, there have been multiple accounts of flag desecration. Flag desecration is a term that is used to describe a various set of acts that intentionally destroy, damage, or mutilate a flag in public, and in this case, the American flag. Citizen’s typically doing this treasonous act when they want to make a political point against their country or policies in the country or another country. Some of these actions include: burning it, urinating or defecating on it, defacing it with slogans, stepping upon it, damaging it with stones or guns, cutting or ripping it, verbally insulting it, or dragging it on the ground. A few countries have laws that forbid the methods or just uses of this

Lately, if you turn on the news, the media headlines are covered with the news of protests. These protests include marches, kneeling, and in some cases, even rioting and fighting. However, one from of protesting stands out the most: burning of the United States flag. Recently, protestors have burned the flag to protest the president and the police. Burning the flag is not something new to this country, however. There are many recorded instances of the American flag being burned as a form of speech; especially during the Vietnam War period. I, on the other hand, strongly believe that burning the American flag is wrong. It much more than just a piece of cloth, it is a scared symbol of our country. In order to stop the mutilation of the symbols of our country, I am proposing an amendment to the Constitution. The amendment that I am proposing will empower Congress to utilize their powers to implement restrictions on mistreatment of iconic American symbols.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution authorized citizens with the freedom of religion, speech, press and assembly. This amendment also goes to the college students. However, colleges limited the students constitutional rights by enforcing the “free speech zones”.  Colleges are places where it enable students to encounter new and challenging ideas through open debates, but free speech zones limited this. You can only express your ideas in the free speech zones, nowhere else. This can be related to burning the flag (an action that intended to make a political point against a country or its policies), if you can’t express your ideas anywhere you wants, doesn’t it also indicates a person can’t randomly choose a place to burn the flag, it have to be in a specific area. Both theses is a way to express your rights as a citizens of U.S. Therefore, colleges shouldn’t restrict the political speech of students to free speech zones.

The United States is well-known for its principles of freedom and democracy, which is demonstrated through the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause. Thus, American citizens can openly discuss political matters; criticize the President and his Cabinet on television, radio talk show or in the newspaper; or publicly protest against the government tax policy. However, Free Speech protection becomes debatable when some American citizens burn the nation’s flag to express their disagreement to the government. The act of burning the American Flag should be constitutionally protected under the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause because the act is a symbolic expression that communicates an individual’s idea or opinion about his nation; and that

In the text, “American Flag Stands for Tolerance”, people appear to show strong emotions and opinions about burning a flag. Most would say that it is patriotic that Mr. Johnson starts to burn a flag to express his feeling of disagreement, while others say that it is wrong and deserves punishment. We are all entitled to our own opinions, as Ronald J. Allen states in a newspaper

Currently in the US, burning the flag is legal, as per the Supreme Court Case Texas v Johnson. In their ruling, the Supreme Court stated that burning the flag was an exercise of the first amendment right to freedom of speech, and therefore could not be banned. This caused much controversy, and several attempts were made by the President and Congress to ban flag during, however, each attempt was overruled by the Supreme Court. Supporters of flag burning say it is a form of expression, and therefore shouldn 't be banned as it doesn 't bring harm or threaten harm to anyone. This that disagree say that since the Flag represents America and its ideals, burning it is a direct attack on all our country holds sacred. Despite the controversy, and attempts to outlaw it, burning the flag is still legal today throughout the country.

The burning or desecration of the American Flag may fall under both freedoms. When one thinks of the flag, they usually think of the blood that was shed for this country. It was shed so that we could have liberties, such as, freedom of speech and expression, which fall under the First Amendment rights of the Constitution. However, when you think of a burning flag, what comes to mind? One might say it shows disrespect and hatred to a country that has given so much. In the case of Texas v. Johnson, Johnson was accused of desecrating a sacred object, but, his actions were protected by the First Amendment. Although his actions may have been offensive, he did not utter fighting words. As stated in Source D “Justice William Brennan wrote the 5-4 majority decision in holding that the defendant’s act of flag burning was protected speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.” By burning the flag, Johnson did not infringe upon another's natural human rights. He was simply expressing his outrage towards the government, which is within the jurisdiction of the First Amendment. Another court case, where the 5-4 majority ruled in favor of the defendant was United States v. Eichman in 1980, a year after the Johnson case. “In the case of United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990), the law was struck down by the same five person majority of justices as in Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989).” [Source D] Multiple times in flag burning cases,

“The US flag is a symbol of great pride” (Hills 2016). Ethan D. Hill from the University of Georgia states this, just as all Americans should know this. The American flag is a representation for the strength and power of this country and all that it has gone through. With that being said, not everyone sees the American flag in this way. Some take it upon themselves to show firsthand disrespect to the flag in desecrating it. Desecration is the act of burning something, in this case it is burning the flag that symbolizes the freedom of this great nation. It is obvious to most that this act should be illegal, seeing as there is no reason good enough to hurt the country in this way; however, some Americans believe otherwise.

Flag burners tend to burn the flag because they are angry for many different reasons. One reason they do it is because they express their grief over the violent deaths being suffered in this country. People get offended because they pay attention to the “White on Black crime.” That is when the “Black lives matter” chaos came into place. It is coincidental that the cops happen to be white and the people getting hurt or even killed by the cops are african american. If a cop tells you an order, you must follow it even if you do not agree. If you don’t follow a cops order, that gives the cop the right to give consequences. Another way flag burning can cause violence is that it can cause damage to public places. It can cause damage by the angry people setting objects on fire, fighting one another, tearing up cars and buildings, etc. To stop the rioting, we all need to come together as a nation instead of harming one another and be civil people. Just because everybody see’s different perspectives doesn’t mean we all aren’t the same, we are all human and need to stop killing each other because we believe

In addition to violating one's rights of freedom of expression, the no-flag burning amendment gives government the power to decide what American actions are and are