Amendment I
Ratified: December 15, 1791
Summary
Guarantees the freedoms of religion, speech, the press, assembly, and petition.
Full 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.
History and Context
The First Amendment is the bedrock of American liberty, the bulwark against tyranny over the mind. When the Constitution was first proposed, its greatest weakness, in the eyes of men like Thomas Jefferson and George Mason, was its lack of a bill of rights. They feared the new federal government would crush the freedoms they had just fought a war to secure. The First Amendment was the fulfillment of a promise made during the ratification debates. It wasn't granting new rights, but rather erecting a firewall to protect pre-existing, God-given rights from government interference. It enshrines the five great freedoms that form the very soul of a free society.