On September 17, 1787, after four long months of conflict and painstaking work, 39 men signed the Constitution of the United States, which would henceforth be the law supreme of the country. The Constitution became the definitive doctrine and foundation of America's future. No one could hold higher authority than the Constitution, and it became the job of elected officials to ensure the established freedoms. It would be another four years before the Constitution received its first set of amendments, in the form of the Bill of Rights. On December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights was ratified and officially became part of the United States Constitution. The Bill of Right consisted of ten amendments, which helped further protect and secure the civil liberties of the American people. The Bill of Rights guarantees what the Founding Fathers believed were fundamental civil liberties, including the right to bear arms, the right to due process, and what arguably may be the most important, the First Amendment right to free speech . to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThe First Amendment is not just limited to freedom of speech, it is far-reaching and covers freedom of religion, expression, press, assembly, and petition. These freedoms are the defining difference between America and other countries. Free speech allows the American people to speak out against the government without fear of prosecution or even facing death. In many countries such as China, North Korea and Russia people who speak out against the government can be labeled as criminals and in many cases end up in prison or dead. These freedoms allow the general public to have a say in events taking place in the country, while still being able to express displeasure with the government through protest. While these freedoms are afforded to the American public as a way to ensure that citizens can be open about their opinions about the government and its practices, this does not grant citizens immunity from everything. In one of the most recent American protests Occupy Wall Street (OWS), fears that citizens do not have the ability to express themselves effectively and freely against the government. OWS was a protest against corporate influences in the democratic system in America. A year earlier, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court had ruled that corporations have the same rights as people, making it possible for corporations to finance elections by helping promote candidates who supported their business practices. The OWS movement felt that this was unfair as it would contribute to increasing the wealth gap between citizens. Exercising their First Amendment rights, OWS protesters took to the streets of New York's financial district to protest. Protesters occupied the area for just over a month before being forced out by local authorities and eventually split. At the end of 2012 it was made public that the crackdown on this peaceful protest had been orchestrated at the federal level in collaboration with banks and other businesses. A task force composed of the FBI, DHS and local authorities was created with the intent of dispersing the protest by arresting demonstrators and suppressing the ability of demonstrators to speak openly and freely.