The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly

Résumé du livre

This thesis examines "the right of the people peaceably to assemble" and its gradual disappearance from American constitutional jurisprudence. I begin by exploring the English and colonial roots of the freedom of assembly and its adoption in the Bill of Rights. In doing so, I highlight the significance of political and religious assembly to the Framers and in the early Republic. I then examine the development of assembly in American constitutional law and the later emergence of the right of association in the context of mid-twentieth century liberalism. I argue throughout the thesis that assembly, unlike association, reminds us of the importance of protecting the physical act of people coming together, the value of allowing dissent, and the fundamental differences between state and non-state social practices. I conclude by positing how a recovery of the freedom of assembly might be employed within a contemporary legal framework to strengthen the constitutional protections for groups