On September 18, Connor Murnane, Director of Engagement and Mobilization at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), presented a talk on free speech. The talk was a celebration of Constitution Day entitled “Free Speech and a More Perfect Union.’
The talk was cosponsored by the Program on Freedom and Free Societies, Cornell Review and Cornell Republicans.
Murnane explained:
The Declaration of Independence outlined our highest idea. What then was the purpose of the Constitution that they crafted? Abraham Lincoln referred to the relationship between the Declaration and the Constitution as ‘an Apple of Gold and a Picture of Silver.’ He wrote ‘The picture was made not to conceal or destroy the apple, but to adorn and preserve it. The picture was made for the apple, not the apple for the picture.’
Murnane then discussed how the Constitution and its Preamble were drafted. James Madison called Gouverneur Morris “the penman of the Constitution.” Morris had given more speeches, 173, on the floor of the Constitutional Convention than anyone else. Morris was leading the Committee on Style at the Convention, which rewrote the Constitution’s Preamble.
While Morris believed that citizens had natural rights, he was an opponent of including a Bill of Rights. However, Madison and others finally did realize that a Bill of Rights was needed to protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority.
In 1791, the First Amendment, among other amendments in the Bill of Rights was ratified. Murnane summarized:
In the end, the First Amendment is needed primarily to protect minority views, unpopular opinions and those willing to clash with the ruling elite.
With the ratification of the First Amendment, the nation began to develop an interesting free speech culture. FIRE defines a free speech culture as a set of norms that see value in curiosity, dissent, thought experimentation, and debate that seeks out the good and true.
Murnane contends that it is important for college campuses to build a free speech culture.
Before Murnane’s talk, one of the event’s co-sponsors introduced a new organization dedicated to protecting free expression at Cornell. The new group affirmed its commitment to transparency, promising not to spam email members. Those interested in this group can sign up for emails here.
A video of the whole event, cosponsored by the Review, Cornell Republicans, and Cornell program on Freedom and Free Societies, can be found below.
