Reviving America’s Freedoms

Abstract

Many Americans, it seems, lack in-depth knowledge about the origins of their basic liberties. Numerous surveys and reports reveal that few Americans can name the five freedoms protected by the First Amendment, and fewer still understand what they mean. A January 2006 survey of adults by the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that, while 22 percent of Americans could identify all five members of TV’s Simpson family, only 1 in 1,000 could name the five First Amendment freedoms. A 2007 survey by the First Amendment Center found that, while most Americans—64 percent—could name freedom of speech as one of the five, many fewer could come up with even one of the other four. In recent surveys by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, it was found that only 29 percent of high school students personally think about the First Amendment, while 38 percent take it for granted (2011).

The current meaning of our freedom is something that has been established over time, through both the exercise and the denial of these rights. These freedoms are not static; they are part of a process of defining what it means to be American. From the freedom of religion ensconced in Penn’s Charter of Liberties to rights ensured under our Constitution to the promise of the Statue of Liberty, America’s history has been filled with the struggle to define, allow, enforce, and balance the freedoms of different peoples. American freedom as we know it is at risk because few Americans know and understand the five freedoms on which this country was formed.