First Amendment to the United States Constitution

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the U.S. Constitution forbids Congress from creating any law that establishes a religion, blocks the free practice of religion, limits free speech or press, stops people from gathering peacefully, or prevents them from asking the government to fix wrongs. It became law on December 15, 1791, as part of the ten amendments called the Bill of Rights. In the Bill of Rights’ original draft, this amendment was third. Because the first two proposed articles were never approved by the states, the one about religion and free expression ended up first.

The Bill of Rights was created to calm Anti-Federalist worries about the Constitution’s ratification. At first, the First Amendment only applied to laws passed by Congress, and its protections were understood more narrowly than today. Starting with Gitlow v. New York in 1925, the Supreme Court began applying the First Amendment to state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause—a process called incorporation. The amendment only limits government actors, not private ones.

On religious freedom, the Court has often referenced Thomas Jefferson’s idea of “a wall of separation between church and State,” meaning government and religion should stay separate, and people can freely follow their beliefs—a view many Founders supported. Free speech rights grew a lot during the 1900s and 2000s, with court decisions protecting political speech, anonymous speech, campaign money, pornography, and student speech, while also listing exceptions to those protections. The Free Press Clause guards the publication of information and opinions, covering many types of media. In Near v. Minnesota (1931) and New York Times Co. v.

Freedom of speech

United States (1971), the Court ruled that the First Amendment almost always blocks prior restraint—censorship before something is published. The Petition Clause lets people ask any branch or agency of government for action. Besides the right to assemble, the Court has also said the amendment quietly protects freedom of association. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Background

The right to petition for fixing wrongs goes back to the 1215 Magna Carta and the 1689 English Bill of Rights. In 1776, during the American Revolution, Virginia’s colonial legislature passed a Declaration of Rights stating, “The freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic Governments.” Eight other states made similar promises, but these were seen as just advice to state legislatures, not enforceable laws. After weak government under the Articles of Confederation, a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia proposed a new constitution on September 17, 1787, with a stronger chief executive. Delegate George Mason, who wrote Virginia’s Declaration of Rights, wanted a bill of rights in the Constitution to protect civil liberties.

Others, including future Bill of Rights author James Madison, argued that state protections were enough and listing some rights might imply others weren’t protected. Mason’s idea was voted down by all state delegations. For the Constitution to take effect, nine of thirteen states had to approve it in conventions. Anti-Federalist opposition partly came from the lack of civil liberty guarantees.

In states like Virginia, Massachusetts, and New York, supporters of the Constitution suggested that their conventions both ratify it and ask for a bill of rights. All thirteen states eventually ratified. In the first Congress, James Madison proposed twenty amendments. His draft for what became the First Amendment read: “The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed.

The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable. The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good; nor from applying to the Legislature by petitions, or remonstrances, for redress of their grievances.” Congress greatly shortened this language and passed it through the House and Senate with almost no recorded debate, making later discussions about its meaning tricky. On September 25, 1789, Congress approved twelve articles of amendment and sent them to the states. The third article became the First Amendment, because the last ten articles were ratified by enough states on December 15, 1791, and are now known as the Bill of Rights.