Congress shall make no law ... abridging ... the right of the people ... to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Right to state grievances and request relief
The right to petition government for redress of grievances is the right to make a complaint to, or seek the assistance of, one's government, without fear of punishment or reprisals, ensured by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (1791). Article 44 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union ensures the right to petition to the European Parliament. The right can be traced back to the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, the Bill of Rights 1689, the Petition of Right (1628) and Magna Carta (1215).
Reference
Amendment I to the U.S. Constitution
Websites
Articles
Blueprint for Dictatorship, by Justin Raimondo, 30 Apr 2007
Describes how the Defense Authorization Act, the Military Commissions Act and changes to the Insurrection Act could be used to impose martial law in the United States
Describes how the Defense Authorization Act, the Military Commissions Act and changes to the Insurrection Act could be used to impose martial law in the United States
Sinisterly, the new legislation also alters the language of Title 10, Chapter 15, Section 333 of the U.S. Code (the so-called Insurrection Act) in an ominous manner ... Why insert the bolded phrase [or those obstructing the enforcement of the laws] – unless your objective is to widen the category of miscreants to include those exercising their First Amendment rights? No one expects an insurgency to be launched in this day and age in America, yet peaceably assembling to protest government policies can easily be interpreted to include "obstructionists" who might be "dispersed."
Related Topics: Attacks of 11 September 2001, George W. Bush, Democratic Party, Garet Garrett, Militarism, Republican Party
"It's So Simple, It's Ridiculous", by Brian Doherty, Reason, May 2004
Describes the travails of Bob Schulz, the We The People Foundation for Constitutional Education and other American income tax protesters
Describes the travails of Bob Schulz, the We The People Foundation for Constitutional Education and other American income tax protesters
Since 1999 Schulz has presented his contentions regarding the income tax's illegality to the IRS, the president, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and every member of Congress. He has humbly beseeched them to answer a list of questions ... When The New York Times asked IRS spokesman Terry Lemons why the Schulz petition was being ignored, Lemons "said that courts had upheld the validity of the tax laws and that the agency did not want to waste time and resources ... Mr. Lemons added that the recent spate of enforcement actions ... show other ways that government is answering the petition."
Joan Kennedy Taylor, by Jeff Riggenbach, 14 Jan 2011
Biographical essay, including a review of Taylor's book Reclaiming the Mainstream: Individualist Feminism Rediscovered; transcript of "The Libertarian Tradition" podcasts of 28 Dec 2010 and 12 Jan 2011
Biographical essay, including a review of Taylor's book Reclaiming the Mainstream: Individualist Feminism Rediscovered; transcript of "The Libertarian Tradition" podcasts of 28 Dec 2010 and 12 Jan 2011
"[T]here was only one political avenue open to [American women of the 1830s], and they discovered it—the First Amendment right to petition." The petition process was an important tool of the abolitionists from early on ... "This first petition [in 1831]," Joan wrote, "was routinely sent to Congress's standing Committee on the District of Columbia, which didn't act on it. But more and more petitions against slavery began arriving in Congress." Within a couple of years, "in December 1833, a national American Antislavery Society was formed. ... It promoted the sending of petitions to Congress."
Cartoons and Comic Strips
The Princiiple of Our Right to Petition The Government vs. The Reality ..., by Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 9 Apr 2007
The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "Right to petition" as of 8 Nov 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.