Difference Between Assembly & Petition
- The first amendment protects the people's right to self-expression. Its individual parts enumerate, but do not limit, specific rights provided to the people to further the goal of individual expression. They include a ban on federally supported religion, the freedom to practice any religion without federal interference, the freedom of speech and the press, the right to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances.
- The right to peaceable assembly allows groups of American citizens to gather in a single location for any purpose that is lawful and non-violent. This right protects religious and civic organizations, public performances and people throwing parties. Historically, some governments forbade unsanctioned gatherings because large groups of people were perceived as a threat to the establishment. By including this right in the Bill of Rights, the framers guaranteed that the government could restrict just violent or illicit gatherings.
- The right to petition for the redress of grievances originally gave citizens the right to request that the government resolve disputes between people. This right was meant to enforce parity between the agendas of congress people and their constituency. It provided a mechanism whereby individuals could demand help from the government for private woes. Today, the right to petition is most frequently interpreted as the right of individuals to request government resolution for a past wrong perpetrated by the government. This puts the right more closely in line with the freedom of speech. In either case, the freedom of the people to petition the government allows individuals to ask the government for help with specific problems.
- The reason the six rights of the first amendment are included in the same article is that these rights work together to allow people to create the lives they want for themselves. In the case of assembly and petition, combination of these rights of expression has been used to massive national effect. During the civil rights movement, the right to peaceable assembly allowed hundreds of thousands of people to join and walk through Washington, D.C. They exercised the freedom to petition the government when they demanded legislation protecting the equality of all people, regardless of race.