The First Amendment – Redress of Grievances

The First Amendment – Petitioning for the redress of grievances

Redress[v.]–To set right (an undesirable situation, for example); remedy or rectify. – The American Heritage Dictionary

“Congress shall make no law…abridging…the Right of the People…to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Greetings my fellow Americans! In our modern English, the prevalent uses of the words “petition” and “redress” are the noun and verb forms, respectively; in other words, their applications are the linguistic converse of the verb “petition” and the noun “redress” which appear in this clause of the First Amendment. This matters here because it highlights the relative fluidity and speciousness of our national language, and how easily this can be co-opted and morphed to fit an agenda of political will for power and control over any legal absolutism or origin of intent on the part of those who uttered the words and who accepted them as socially binding.

As President John Adams had so eloquently stated, our Constitution is meant for a “wholly moral and religious people,” and “inadequate for any other.” He and the other American founders understood human nature much better than we seem to today, and recognized that the utterances put forth in our Constitution and its accompanying Bill of Rights would only be as meaningful “to ourselves and our posterity” as would be possible within a shared discourse of morality and religiosity, without both of which would result in a drift away from our republican federation as foretold by Benjamin Franklin.

Specific to the First Amendment clause highlighted in this article, we seem to generally lack the senses of import and gravity, as well as the God-given privilege, of this particular right in our modern age, i.e., to directly voice our opposition to the actions of those upon whom we have bestowed the power of governance, and for those others to offer no impedance to such opposition, especially when presented via non-violent means. As I alluded to previously in this series, I do not consider it my place to render judgment on the ultimate guilt or innocence of those involved in the events of January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol. However, that citizens who are gathering in a relatively peaceful manner, and who are invited to enter a house of government which they ultimately own, to voice their opposition to how those in government are conducting themselves as employees Of, By and For the People, are summarily treated as intruders and an imminent threat without the due process of law which other amendments to our Constitution explicate, is anathema to the notions of freedom and liberty upon which America was founded.

In keeping with the notions of freedom of speech and of the press (i.e., spoken and written word), the act of petitioning government for redress, i.e., correcting or making right, of grievances (complaints, perceived wrongs) was to be uninfringed and unabridged by any actions (or threatened actions) of said government. As we prepare ourselves to vote for those who pledge to represent us in government, we need to remember, both that (1) we have a responsibility to elect those who take the oath to “preserve, protect and defend” our Constitution are doing so seriously, and with the mindset that they work for us, and (2) that we also have a responsibility to hold them accountable when they do not stay true to that oath, and to do some preserving, protecting and defending of our own. As Americans, we inherited a system of civilization which enables us to freely speak out against those to whom we have granted authority to maintain the coherence of the free society we have been so blessed to enjoy.

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