Immigrants come to the United States believing they enjoy the simple rights guaranteed to all Americans: freedom of religion and speech. Our government supports these rights to the best of its ability with the laws they constitute, but there are areas that still impede both rights. From the courts, the Pledge of Allegiance, the Constitution, and our past and present Presidents, the word “God” has been institutionalized and ingrained within us. When the United States was founded, “God” meant everything to most people, but the nation has diversified since then. From one mainstream of Christian beliefs to several hundred, the United States is no longer one nation under one “God.” Obstacles of dissent have besieged former American citizens and prevailed, however there are new issues on the nation's docket to process, "God" being one of them. Since the dawn of United States history, immigrants have been attracted by the possibility of free speech. Speech, one of the rights of every person, is the backbone of the nation. In 1619, the first House of Burgesses was established, the very first representative legislature in what is now the United States. The House of Burgesses was assembled by the permanent settlers of Jamestown in what is now Virginia, in hopes of giving the citizens of Virginia a voice (Woodburn 57-58). These men offered the people of the settlement a say in their laws. English colonists came to Britain hoping to free themselves from the treacherous twists and turns of the British kings and queens, their court, and ever-changing religions. A year later (1620) the pilgrims seized a great opportunity by sailing thousands of miles on the Mayflower seeking relief from...... middle of paper ...... 5 April 2011. Independence Hall Association , comp. "The Pledge of Allegiance". USHistory.org. Np, nd Web. 12 April 2011. . Historical information on the Pledge of Allegiance. Table 75. Self-Described Religious Identification of the Adult Population: 1990 to 2008. 2010. Bureau of the Census. Network. 10 April 2011Giocattolo, David A. "The commitment: the constitutionality of an American icon". Journal of Law & Education 34 (2005): n. page Academic LexisNexis. Network. 13 April 2011. Information on the Pledge of Allegiance. Woodburn, James Albert and Thomas Francis Moran. Elementary American history and government. New edition, revised and expanded ed. 1919. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1922. Print. Initial information on the House of Burgesses.