In People We Trust

2576 Words6 Pages

Immigrants arrive in the United States with the belief that they would have the simple rights that all Americans are guaranteed: freedom of religion and speech. Our government upholds these rights to their greatest abilities with the laws that they constitute but there are areas that still prevent both rights. From courts, the Pledge of Allegiance, the constitution and our past and present Presidents' the word “God” has been institutionalized and ingrained within us. When the U.S. was founded “God” meant everything to most but in years since then the nation has diversified. From a mainstream of Christian beliefs to diverse hundreds the United States is no longer one nation under one “God.” Obstacles of dissension besieged precedent American people and they prevailed, nevertheless there are new issues on the nation’s docket to be processed, “God” is one of them. From the early history of the United States immigrants were drawn with possibility of freedom of speech. Speech, one of the rights in which every person is entitled, is the back-bone of the nation. In 1619 the first House of Burgesses, the very first representative legislature in what is now the United States. The House of Burgesses was assembled by the permanent settlers of Jamestown in what is now Virginia in the hopes to give voice to the citizens of Virginia (Woodburn 57-58). These men offered the people of the settlement a voice in their laws. English settlers came from Great Britain in the hopes to free themselves from the treacherous twists and turns of the British kings and queens, their court and the ever-changing religions. One year later (1620) Pilgrims took a great chance sailing across thousands of miles on the May Flower to in their search for relief from th... ... middle of paper ... ...5 Apr. 2011. Independence Hall Association, comp. "The Pledge of Allegiance." USHistory.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. . Historical information about The Pledge of Allegiance Table 75. Self-Described Religious Identification of Adult Population: 1990 to 2008. 2010. Bureau of the Census. Web. 10. Apr. 2011 Toy, David A. "The Pledge: The Constitutionality of an American Icon." Journal of Law & Education 34 (2005): n. pag. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 13 Apr. 2011. Information about the Pledge of Allegiance. Woodburn, James Albert, and Thomas Francis Moran. Elementary American History and Government. New Edition, Revised and Enlarged ed. 1919. New York: Longmans, Green & Co. , 1922. Print. Beginning information on the House of Burgesses.

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