Amendment I · Bill of Rights
First Amendment: Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition
About 30 min total: 5 min reading + 25 min for its 22 practice questions
No law establishing religion or limiting free exercise, speech, press, assembly, or petition.
- Proposed by Congress
- September 25, 1789
- Ratified
- December 15, 1791
- Group
- Bill of Rights
The text
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.
Text: National Archives transcription of the amendments in their original form (spelling and punctuation as in the original).
What it means
- Congress may not set up an official religion (the Establishment Clause) or stop people from practicing their faith (the Free Exercise Clause).
- Government may not punish people for what they say or publish, may not stop peaceful gatherings, and must let people ask the government to fix problems (petition).
- These rights are strong but not unlimited. The Court allows narrow limits, for example on speech that incites imminent lawless action, true threats, or defamation.
Who proposed it
James Madison of Virginia introduced the proposals in the House of Representatives on June 8, 1789. He drew on state declarations of rights, especially George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776), and on the amendments the state ratifying conventions had recommended. The House approved 17 amendments; the Senate cut and combined them to 12, and Congress sent those 12 to the states on September 25, 1789.
When it was proposed and ratified
- Proposed by Congress: September 25, 1789. Congress approved the 12-article joint resolution (House September 24, Senate September 25, 1789).
- Ratified: December 15, 1791. Virginia became the 11th of the 14 states to ratify, completing ratification of Articles 3–12 of the 1789 resolution (Amendments 1–10).
Amendments are not signed into law. Congress proposes them by a two-thirds vote of both houses, and they become part of the Constitution when three-fourths of the states ratify. The President has no formal role (Article V).
Why it was made
The Constitution of 1787 had no bill of rights. Anti-Federalists such as George Mason, who refused to sign it partly for this reason, warned that a strong national government could trample individual liberties. Several states ratified only after recommending amendments, and Federalists promised to add them. Madison kept that promise in the First Congress. The amendments limited only the federal government until the Supreme Court began applying most of them to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment (selective incorporation).
Many colonists had fled religious persecution, and several colonies had official churches. Virginia's Statute for Religious Freedom (1786), written by Jefferson and pushed through by Madison, was a direct model. Freedom of the press echoed the 1735 trial of printer John Peter Zenger and the patriot pamphlets of the Revolution. Madison placed these freedoms first among the amendments that became the Bill of Rights.
Key Supreme Court cases
- Schenck v. United States (1919): "Clear and present danger" test for wartime speech
- Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969): Students keep free speech at school (armbands)
- New York Times Co. v. United States (1971): Prior restraint: the government could not block the Pentagon Papers
- Texas v. Johnson (1989): Flag burning is protected symbolic speech
- Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988): Schools may edit school-sponsored newspapers
- Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010): Independent political spending by corporations and unions is protected speech
- Engel v. Vitale (1962): Government-written school prayer violates the Establishment Clause
- Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972): Free Exercise: Amish parents could end school after 8th grade
FCLE tips
- Know all five freedoms: religion, speech, press, assembly, petition.
- Two religion clauses: Establishment (no official religion) vs. Free Exercise (practice freely).
- FCLE scenarios often ask which clause a situation involves.
| This | With this |
|---|---|
| Tinker (student's own speech, protected) | Hazelwood (school-sponsored newspaper, school may edit) |
| Establishment Clause (government promoting religion) | Free Exercise Clause (government burdening someone's religious practice) |
Sources: National Archives (text and dates); Constitution Annotated (Congress.gov) (proposal and ratification history); U.S. Senate Historical Office and Library of Congress (sponsors).