The Pros and Cons of Protest in American History Essay

In current day America, citizens either take their freedom lightly or believe they have no freedom at all. However, our ancestors thought differently in the past. The English colonist came to the New World for a number of reasons. Many came to the New World to escape bad marriages, jail terms, but many historian believe that many came to either get out of poverty or the fear of them falling into poverty. According to Brands, “Religion was a big reason for the English to come across the Atlantic”. The first colony was Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, which was not successful. After the first colony was established many more were established like New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and etc..

They were also arrested. (Auerbach 1688) That's all it took for this riot to come into play, a few people unhappy about the way the police handled the situation. The next thing you know its a few thousand unhappy people.

Assembly is important in bringing awareness to issues and makes an immense difference in the fight for change. Above all, the right to protest is relevant to discuss. If it had not been for the revolutionaries that banded together and fought against the British, America

Were all the American grievances really justified, or were the British actually being more reasonable than most Americans have traditionally believed?

On May 4, 1970, Kent State went into history as one of the most powerful single events and images that America would ever witness during the Vietnam era. It would be reminisant of a battle field engagement, as gunfire would fill the Midwest college campus and bring the front lines of America's war over Vietnam. In 13 chaotic seconds, the Ohio National Guard fired their weapons at antiwar demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine. The shootings solidified the antiwar movement not only in America, but worldwide as well. By the next day photographs of the slain students, and the horror that was depicted over every possilbe news media, immortilized the name Kent State and cut through the nation's conscience.

At this point in time, the Vietnam War was in progress; young people were getting drafted left and right, and the troops overseas were getting absolutely slaughtered. There was a multitudinous amount of protest surrounding the war, and when tensions started running too high, protests became dangerous and violent. After extreme aggression through assault on police officers, bonfires, and looting was shown during a student protest at Kent State on May 1, 1970, the Kent mayor was forced to declare a state of emergency the very next day. The National Guard started to arrive on May 2 to keep the peace, but when they got to the scene, they found the Kent State ROTC building on fire. No one knows who started the fire, but there were many protesters around the building cheering. When first responders arrived, they were yelled at, and some people even destroyed their water hoses. The National Guard was forced to use tear gas to disperse the

March 16 saw a demonstration in Montgomery, Alabama in which 580 demonstrators planned to march “from the Jackson Street Baptist Church to the Montgomery County Courthouse” (Reed 26). These protestors included a large number of northern college students. They met a police line a few blocks from the Courthouse and were forbidden from proceeding because “they did not have a parade permit” (Reed 26). Across the street came 40 or so students who planned on joining the group en route to the Courthouse. Eventually a few of the demonstrators dared to cross the street, led by James Forman who had organized the march. When it seemed the whole group would cross, police took action, with mounted officers and volunteers arriving at 1:12 pm. Riding into the small group of protestors, they forced most to withdraw, but a few stood fast around a utility pole where horsemen began to beat them. “A posseman

People in the U.S get mistreated contently because of racism. One of these acts are, the protest control. Not only african americans but people of various races are being punished , arrested and even kill because of there protesting despite it being peaceful. By law any form of protesting is allowed as long as it is peaceful the police are only allowed to take action when the peace is broken. Instances when protesters were harm when participating in a peaceful protest is,

Protests riots in the United States has proven to an issue for both the country’s financial strength and the unity of the nation. With the presence of social injustices, combined with the increased impact of social media propaganda, protests riots are beginning to reach an all time high. Protest riots destroy individual communities and businesses, jeopardizes the safety of others and taints the protest’s cause by resorting to civil disobedience. Action must be done in order to prevent these random acts of violence from continuing after every social hot topic. The goal is not to prevent citizens from protesting; in fact, this should be encouraged. The goal is to change the way the protests are handled from both the citizens and authority perspectives, in order to prevent these protests from escalating into something dangerous.

When our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, they set out to create a Democratic nation where everyone would be able to voice his or her own opinions and push for favorable reforms. This radical idea was challenged by the mightiest army in the world over a series of two wars, but prevailed through endless sacrifice by our nation's earliest patriots. Since, the freedom of speech has morphed into a central pillar for Democracy. Without it, most of the population would not be able to vote, gay rights would not exist, and the American Dream would never be fulfilled. By voicing the common people’s ideas, keeping governments honest in their service, and remaining peaceful, civil disobedience has and can continue to bring forth revolutionary change quintessential to our evolution. If not for civil

Kent State was like any other university in America in the 70s. Students were there to expand their knowledge while they explored all the other abundant things college had to offer them. Along with several other universities at the time, Kent State began seeing a rise in student protests. Many students around the U.S. began speaking out against the controversial Vietnam War, showing their anti-war views in hopes of being heard. “In late April of 1970 . . . the United States invaded Cambodia and widened the Vietnam War,” causing even more widespread outrage and anger, especially among youth (Lewis, Hensley, “The May 4 Shootings at Kent State Univeristy: the Search for Historical Accuracy”). As the days went on after this declaration was made, the

Victory was seen months later when the same four students that initiated the movement were served at the counter. Prior to the sit-ins, youth showed their strength during the movement. The Little Rock Nine, a group of nine black high school students, were the first to integrate into an all white school in Little Rock, Arkansas. These nine students, despite being blocked from attending the school by the governor, showed how serious the United States was about educational integration; President Eisenhower himself issued an order for federal troops and the National Guard to make sure that the students made it to school safely. In 1962, success came in the form of James Meredith when he became the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Although he was also met with resistance, 5,000 governmental troops were sent by the president’s orders to dispel the chaos. SNCC or the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was formed in favor of youth and inspired by the SCLC. This organization gave young African Americans an important role to play in the movement and increased the peaceful, unified nature of the Civil Rights Movement. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee initiated events like “freedom rides” where student volunteers tested laws prohibiting segregation on public transportation and was not just for blacks, but other people with the same

Held by prisoners because of the unfairness that was happening with them at that period of time, it cause a lot of problems such as a lot of people being injured, including guards. I personally believe that the riot was wrong and right. I believe that the riot was wrong because it caused a lot of problems, like so many people got injured and most importantly over 40 got killed, and that is a big problem because now the guards and the government have a reason on why they treated people so harshly they can say that the inmates are very violent and that's why we have to be harsh , which would only make things worse. What the inmates

The events at Kent State were a catalyst that helped strengthened the American Citizens’ hatred of the Vietnam War and distrust in the Government that promised to end the war.

The political concepts of justice and how a society should be governed have dominated literature through out human history. The concept of peacefully resisting laws set by a governing force can be first be depicted in the world of the Ancient Greeks in the works of Sophocles and actions of Socrates. This popular idea has developed over the centuries and is commonly known today as civil disobedience. Due to the works of Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. civil disobedience is a well-known political action to Americans; first in the application against slavery and second in the application against segregation. Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” and King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” are the leading arguments in defining