This lesson explores the landmark cases and legal reasoning behind the strong speech protections that Americans uniquely enjoy, while correcting some common misconceptions.
Free speech rights have proven themselves essential in securing a fair hearing for demands for justice and equal Constitutional protection for marginalized groups and isolated, targeted individuals throughout U.S. history.
This lesson explores some of the most popular arguments against free speech and how to respond to them, as well as why it can be important to voice your opinion, even if it’s an unpopular one.
This unit reviews the unique inheritance of basic rights and freedoms bestowed on all American citizens by our founding documents, which draw from Enlightenment conceptions of liberty and individual human dignity.
Ben Franklin was an influential champion of free speech and freedom of the press during the founding and formation of the United States of America. This lesson takes a look at two of Franklin’s works – Silence Dogood No. 8 and “On the Freedom of the Press” in order to gain insight into his thinking about two of our fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.
FIRE’s free speech curriculum modules help educators enrich and supplement their existing instruction on First Amendment and freedom of expression issues in K-12 classrooms.
