The+Freedom+to+Peacefully+Assemble+and+to+Petition+Government+for+a+Redress+of+Grivances+and+Interests+Groups


 * The Freedom to Peacefully Assemble and to Petition Government for a Redress of Grievances, and Interests Groups**



This section's goals:
 * To understand the history of the evolution of the right to both peaceful assembly and to petition government for a redress of grievances.
 * To know the issues associated with the constitutional rights of assembly and petition, in addition to the related concept of freedom of association.
 * To recall Madison's thoughts about, and concerns regarding, factions, and how the Constitutional system was meant to contain them.
 * To be familar with the concept of an interest group and the issues associated with their formation.
 * To know the various interests that existed at the time of the nation's founding, as well as those in Texas and the greater Houston area.
 * To understand how these interests have evolved over time.
 * To understand how interest groups attempt to influence the political system through lobbying, electioneering, and public relations, as well as the controversies associated with those activities.
 * To understand the role of a lobbyist and the conflict associated with lobbying.
 * To understand the way that people attempt to influence the legislative, executive and judicial branches.

Timeline: - 1215: An assembly (though not so peaceful) of noblemen force King John to sign the Magna Carta. - 1628: The Petition of Right. - The [|English Coffeehouse Movement]. - 1760: The [|Mock Trial of William Penn] for, partially, preaching to an assembly of Quackers. - 1765: [|Blackstone's Commentaries] are published and read in the colonies. Blackstone argues that the right to petition belonged to every person. - 1765: [|Declaration of Rights and Grievances]. - 1774: [|Petition to the King]. - 1775: [|The Olive Branch Petition].

Web Posts:
 * [|Interest Groups].
 * [|Oil Lobby]
 * [|Astroturf Lobbying]
 * [|Citizens United]
 * [|Goldman Sachs]
 * [|Agency Capture]
 * [|Lobbying]
 * [|Iron Triangles].
 * [|Revolving Door].
 * [|Judicial Elections].
 * [|Standing].
 * [|Free Riders].

The last two participatory rights listed in the First Amendment are the oldest and perhaps the most important because, it is argued, all other rights stem from them. It is ironic then that these tend to be the ones least recognized by the American public, but perhaps that's a function of their sucess and acceptance. It's like breathing. Although important, we rarely recognize that we do it. Again, here is the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; **or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances**.

The last two limit Congress from (1) passing laws restricting the ability of people to group together peacefully, which can be an informal meeting between people or passersby, or the creation of a formal organization such as an interest group, and (2) petitioning for the redress of a grievance, which can refer to a variety of activities including contacting your member of Congress, taking a complaint to an executive official, or taking a lawsuit to court. The most well known example of petitioning is lobbying. Despite the negative feelings people tend to have towards lobbyists, what they do is not only constitutionally protected, but a hard fought and won right. And again, it can be easily argued that all other rights -- religious, speech, the press etc... -- stem from the ability, first, to form into groups collect their strength and use this as a means for taking a grievance -- forcefully -- to the relevant governing official.

- [|Right to Peaceful Assembly]. - Wikipedia: [|Right to Petition in the United States].

The Texas Bill of Rights contains similar language, in section 27.

Oppressive governments maintain their power primarily by limiting the ability of people to group together. It may be illegal for groups of more than two people to meet. From their perspective, this makes sense. If a particular person has a grievance, he or she has no way to determine if it is shared with others unless they are able to group together and discuss it. Grouping together also allows people to coordinate activities in order to effectively address the grievance. Successful groups are able to compel or persuade people to work together, to avoid the temptaton to freeride, or to opt out of a common effort for personal reasons. The birth of the right to assemble, in the modern sense, can be traced to the successful effort of the English Barons coordinate their efforts to compel King John to sign the Magna Carta. The historical record reveals that this was accomplished only after a great effort by [|Stephen Langton], the Archbishop of Canterbury, to persuade them to work together and not let mutual animosity prevent them from achieving their common objectives. One of the major accomplishments of the Magna Carta was the Security Clause which helped mitigate the difficulties of forming effective assemblies by creating a permanent one.

But this assembly of barons became a governing institution, so it varies from the types of groups we are discussing here which exist to promote the interest of a specific group within the population. Factions

Madison mentioned such groups in Federalist #10. These were factions and they referred to groups organized around an interest adverse to the rights of others or to the permanent interests of the community. Today we call them interest groups and the more effective groups are organizations with solid funding, effective leadership, professional staffs, and large memberships. As we saw in Federalist #10, a complex society will inevitably have diverse interests, and free society must allow people who have those interests to assemble and to petition for a redress of their collective grievances. Madison called these assemblies "factions" and argued that the constitution would break apart factions in order to ensure that a majority faction would not form and violate the rights of minority factions. Madison's solution was a republic with nothing but minority factions, which is fine if we wish to resist tyranny, but can lead to an unruly society and clogged government administration. Recall that Madison argued that factions -- interest groups -- were inevitable consequences of both the fact that we are free, and that we tend to form into groups based on shared interests and/or passions and attempt to "vex and oppress" those we disagree with.

Constitutional Issues

Over American history

- First Amendment Center: [|Overview: The Right to Assemble]. - First Amendment Center: [|Overview: The Right to Petition]. - The Founder's Constitution: [|First Amendment: Assembly and Petition]. - First Amendment Center: [|Curfews, Loitering and Freedom of Association].

The Plural American Landscape - pluralism and compromise

The Free Rider and Collective Action Problems - collective benefits - can all interests in society organize effectively? - which can? - which cannot?


 * Past Written Questions:**

1. Though the First Amendment establishes that Congress cannot abridge the right of people to peaceably assemble, defining peaceable assembly can be difficult. Go to the First Amendment Center's "[|Assembly Topics]" page and review the information it contains about various cases defining what assemblies the Supreme Court has and has not ruled was protected by the Constitution. 2. Answer the same basic question above for the right to petition for a redress of grievances. What does the First Amendment Center's "[|Petition Topics]" page say about how the Supreme Court has defined "petition" and what the right does and does not imply. 3. [|Follow the Money] is a web site that allows people to track the flow of money in state politics. Go to the site and use it to determine which interest groups are the primary contributors to your state representatives and senators. Try to figure out what these groups are getting in return for their investment. 4. Using the same website above, try to determine which interest groups are most active in Texas Judicial races. Again, try determine what they are getting for their money. 5. The freedom of speech is argued to play a special role in the American political system, what is that role? How did freedom of speech develop over history? Why? You might want to check out Cato's Letter #15. See link on the wiki. 6. Read up on the marketplace of ideas, see links below. The idea holds that competing ideas vie for each other in a marketplace and the best ideas will win out. Using this idea as a baseline, evaluate the current debate on a topical issue of your choice. How would rate the nature of the debate? 7. Using current polling organizations as your course of data (the Gallup Poll for example) what sorts of things do American agree and disagree on? Try to explain why. 8. Governing organizations actively attempt to mobilize public opinion behind their positions. How? Using current news items as your source of information, what techniques have different governing institutions used to mobilize public opinion on current topics and how successful have they been?