“What are the 5 freedoms guaranteed by the 1st Amendment”
I sometimes forget the “petition the Government for a redress of grievances” clause, partly because I don’t fully understand it. I mean, I know why that’s an important mechanism. What I don’t understand is why it’s necessary to specify it. As long as we have freedom of speech and assembly they can’t stop us from petitioning them, right? And the Constitution doesn’t say the government has to listen to petitions, or anything. So what is it this right is supposed to accomplish, exactly? To outlaw the post office from burning petititions? To prevent armed guards from not letting petitions past the capital lobby?
From what I can remember, folks back in the colonies were imprisoned for complaining about what the king was doing.
It’s good you know the Constitution. The 5 freedoms question I’ve been asking is a type of test I’ve been running to see how bad things really are.
The fact that I can’t find anyone (outside of FR) who can correctly answer the question is frightening.
The right to petition the court for a correction of legal error.
It's the right to sue in court. One of governments primary roles was as an arbitrator. The federal government as an administrative arbitrator between the States and the States as arbitrator between people who had legal disagreements....that sort of thing.
In England, this was a prerogative of the lower Royal courts, [and ultimately the King], both of which were known for denying a person this Right on a whim.