On May 29, 1777 Betsy Ross was paid a large sum of money by the Pennsylvania State Navy Board to make the first American flag, which was officially approved on June 14, 1777. They had her make the flag to represent the new Union of the thirteen original states. The flag had stars arranged in a circle, representing that all colonies were equal. The American flag Is a symbol of freedom and justice that has been around for over 225 years. Even through wars and times of peace and harmony, the American flag has given assurance to all American citizens. The white shown on the flag represents purity and innocence. The blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice, and the red represents hardiness and valor. This flag represents all of the people who have died while fighting for the freedom of the United States. Although most people respect and love America there are some people who don't understand the true value of America’s freedom that our democracy has provided.
Activist Gregory Lee Johnson was the first man to burn the American flag during a protest outside of the Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas in 1984. At the time Johnson was burning the flag in a disrespectful manner. In the Case Texas versus Gregory Lee Johnson, Johnson was fined $2,000 and sentenced to one year in jail according to Texas’s laws at the time. As of June 21, 1989 the deeply divided United States Supreme Court justified the right of the protesters to burn the American flag as an expression of the first amendment.
Burning the American flag, in my opinion, should be illegal in the United States. Instead of retiring the flag respectfully it has been exploited by those who have chosen to disrespect it. The American flag has a specific meaning that is not subject to opinion. Its purpose is to represent the freedoms of all Americans, taking that out of context and reading our own personal beliefs into the real meaning in order to protest something that is not reasonable or respectful. I believe the Flag of our freedom should not be protested, but respected by all people.
Do you think it should be illegal to burn the American flag and if so what should the punishment be?
Replies
Super job Molly! Great topic choice and your summary is well done as well. You educate people and give your thoughts as well, You also did a great job replying to people.
I do personally believe that it should be against the law to burn the American flag. I think it is extremely disrespectful to the county and all the flag stands for. As for punishment goes, I think anything more than a fine or some community service would be a bit too harsh.
I think that it should be illegal to burn the flag. In my opinion I feel they should find another way to retire a misused or ripped up flag. I think that it is disrespectful to the country and meaning of the flag. I think there definately should be some sort of punishment.
I agree because after taking with my grandpa he said they could find a better way to dispose of a ripped or tattered American flag
I think it should be illegal to burn the American flag because its very disrespectful to our country. We made the flag for freedom and we all should stand up for it. If you burn the flag it should be a fine of some amount of money and if you keep burning them the price just gets higher.
I agree that more and more people should start standing up for our flag and our freedom we recieved because of it.
I do think it should be illegal to burn the flag in an unrespectful manner. It is not fair to those who fought for us and the ones that died trying to protect our flag. People are getting way out of hand and need to be shown that some things are crossing the line. The punishment should be $3,000 plus 2 years without parole in my opinion.
I agree that if you go to jail if you do it there shouldn't be parole.
i think it should be illegal to burn the flag because so many men and women have died fighting for our country. I think it is highly disrespectful to burn the flag i think if you burn the flag you go to jail or serving in the military.
I agree that if you want to burn the flag go in place of a vetran who went in the military and had to train their hardest and work their harddest just for our freedoms.
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