Mr. Kapadia
Jane Addams Vocational High School
Introduction: It is
the day of the United States History and Government Regents Exam. You are tired, hot, and hungry. You want to leave but you know you must pass
in order to graduate. You suddenly come
across a document-based question essay that you don’t feel comfortable
answering because you don’t remember the material. This type of situation happens to hundreds of
students throughout the
Task:
You will attempt to understand the topic of freedom of speech within the context of United States Supreme Court decisions from important First Amendment cases.
You will have to read and assess information in the form of documents about free speech. This involves understanding primary and secondary sources from our study of the judicial branch of the federal government.
You will be using the CompuLegal website and other sources from the internet to obtain outside knowledge to help you gain the knowledge necessary to complete the essay.
You will then be required to write a document-based question
essay, following the directions below.
This essay will be worth 10% of your marking period grade.
Process:
1. You are to first read the documents below and try your best to understand each one.
2. You are then to answer each document question in a complete sentence without simply reciting the text.
3. Next, you are to research the law cases on CompuLegal to obtain the background information about the topic.
4. Then search through the resources below to gain additional knowledge about the topic.
5. Finally, construct your DBQ essay.
Resources:
Supreme Court Decisions (1937-1975)
Supreme Court Decisions (1990-2002)
Evaluation:
Your evaluation will be based on the
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5 • Weaves documents into body of essay 4 • Discussion of documents may be descriptive or analytical 3 2 1 0 |
Assignment:
Document One: Amendment 1 of the
“Congress shall make no law…prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech.”
1. How does the First Amendment protect individuals?
Document Two: U.S.
Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in Schenck v.
“[Some types of speech]… are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent. …The most stringent (strict) protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.”
2. How did the U.S. Supreme Court limit the rights of individuals?
Document Three:
Justice Abe Fortis in Tinker v.
“In wearing armbands, the [students] were quiet and passive. They were not disruptive and did not impinge upon (go against) the rights of others. …It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”
3. How did the U.S. Supreme Court evaluate a student’s right to free speech?
Document Four: Justice Byron White in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988)
“A school need not tolerate student speech that is inconsistent with its basic educational mission, even though the government could not censor similar speech outside the school.”
4. How did the U.S. Supreme Court evaluate a student’s right to free speech?
Document Five:
Analysis of Chaplinsky v.
“The
5. How did the U.S. Supreme Court limit the freedom of speech?
Document Six: Justice
Antonin Scalia in R.A.V. v.
“Whoever places on public or private property a symbol, object, appellation, characterization or graffiti, including, but not limited to, a burning cross or Nazi swastika, which one knows or has reasonable grounds to know arouses anger, alarm or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender commits disorderly conduct and shall be guilty. [This law is] unconstitutional, because it imposes special prohibitions on those speakers who express views on the disfavored subjects of ‘race, color, creed, religion or gender.’ ”
6. What did the U.S. Supreme Court decide about laws meant to limit hate speech or actions?
Document Seven:
Justice William Brennan in
“The government may not prohibit the verbal or nonverbal expression of an idea merely because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable, even where our flag is involved.”
7. How did the U.S. Supreme Court rule on whether flag burning is an example of free speech?
Essay directions:
Using your knowledge of
Historical Context:
Throughout
Essay Task:
Explain how the U.S. Supreme Court has decided cases dealing with the freedom of speech.
Evaluate how consistent the Court has been in interpreting the First Amendment
Conclusion: This
assignment is due on