Exemplification Essay: Congress Shall Make No Law

Within a society, there is always disagreement. There is disagreement on who should be in charge, on what ideals should be fought for, and on what laws are just. In America, we are blessed with the freedom to speak our mind. The very first amendment made to the Constitution says "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assembly..." (1). While there is no doubt that the freedom of speech, press, and peaceful assembly is always to be guaranteed to us, there are those who believe that the latter freedom can negatively impact a free society. The most petty of reasons against the resistance of laws, performed via peaceful assembly, is traffic. I experienced this myself while in Chicago the day after Donald Trump's inauguration as president. The women's march's numbers were an estimated 250,000 (2) just in Chicago. I saw many streets blocked off; the place I had planned to park in was inaccessible due to the crowds. I was angry, but
Though there may be casualties along the way (such as a great deal on parking in downtown Chicago), ultimately people in America have been guaranteed the right to peacefully assemble to protest that with which they disagree. If the founding fathers had not believed that the ability to peacefully resist is vital to the functioning of a society, they would not have included it in the very first change to the Constitution. If somewhere along the line the judges of the Supreme Court had decided that no, we no longer need this right, or that this right is hurting society, they would have changed the Constitution to reflect that. No, we as Americans are guaranteed these basic rights for a reason. We are living in a free society, and a free society's best tool for expressing its opinion of laws is to peacefully resist