The flag of the United States is our national symbol and our most important symbol of all; it symbolizes our nation’s strength and pride. Due to its high values and symbolism, by 1932, forty-eight states had adopted the flag desecration laws to legally protect and restrict desecration of the flag of the United States. However, these flag desecration laws only lasted until 1989, because in 1989, in the Texas v Johnson case, the United States Supreme Court recognized that flag desecration as a form
Flag Desecration Should Be Outlawed On August 22, 1984, Texas resident Gregory Lee Johnson was arrested for burning an American flag during a protest of the Republican National Convention. Johnson had violated a Texas flag desecration law officially known as the Texas Venerated Objects law, which outlawed "intentionally or knowingly desecrating a national flag" (Goldstein 197). Johnson took his case to
The American Flag is the most widespread symbol Americans have. It took a disaster to make me realize how important it is. I would always wave the flag in a parade or on the Fourth of July, but I never really stopped to think about what I was doing. The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 are what changed my view. They caused me to reflect about our country and the value of saying, “I am an American.” After September 11th, there was an explosion of patriotism. Flags were bought and hung everywhere
College| Political Review One| Flag Desecration Amendment| Dr. Karen Waugh| Jamorion Stanford| 9/17/2012| Flag Desecration The American flag is one of the most recognizable symbols this country has today. As children, we learn in school to cross our heart with our right hand and recite the pledge of allegiance to the United States of America, while facing the flag, a beloved symbol. As a soldier in the United States Army, I proudly wear a flag as a part of my Army Combat Uniform
symbols of this great nation are many. The Liberty Bell, Washington Monument, the Bald Eagle, the White House, and the document that is the foundation on which this country is built, the Constitution of the United States. These symbols are immediately recognized by the citizens of the United States and some internationally, however the one symbol that is universally recognized is the Stars and Stripes. It is the symbol of a free nation whose citizens are allowed to strive for the American dream, the
corporations. Johnson proceeded with burning an American flag in protest against the policies, where Reagan sought to stimulate the economy with large tax cuts. Johnson was tried and convicted, under Texas law, of the desecration of a venerated object. The State Court of Appeals affirmed the actions, until the case advanced to the Supreme Court after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction, holding that the State (consistent with the First Amendment) could not punish
“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 desecration is not a recent issue for America; in fact, it first became an issue in the United States after the Civil War. Shortly after the Civil War, many people felt that Southerners and businesses threatened the trademark value of the flag. Eventually, this lead to forty-eight states passing laws that banned flag desecration. These laws basically made it illegal to mark on the flag, advertise the flag, and show contempt to the flag. The Supreme Court quickly ignored the laws when a “teenager
Desecration of the Flag Should be Prohibited Is it necessary to allow all forms of protest to protect the right of citizens to express grievances against their government? It is not a violation of free speech to outlaw burning of the flag because it is not speech. It will not lead to the limiting of other avenues of protest, of which many are more expressive of specific problems. All attempts to protect the flag short of a Constitutional amendment have failed in the end.
When the flag was first adopted as the national symbol on June 14, 1777 it received very little interest or public display. Not until the outbreak of the Civil War nearly 80 years later did it become an object of public adoration to the North. After the Civil War the flag became increasingly visible with the commercialization of a wide range of products, modern advertising developed from the rapid postwar industrialization. It was then in 1890, union veterans began to protest the use the American