Introduction to the First Amendment

Welcome to the First Amendment of the constitution of the United States of America. Scroll down to learn more about the rights of the people.

The First Amendment is a United States Constitutional law that prohibits any form of governmental interference with the free exercise of religion and speech. This includes the right to worship and practice any religion without governmental interference and to also speak your mind and protest against things you don't believe in.

Religious persecution is a problem that many United States citizens face.

Though it's the first right people are given in the Bill of Rights is freedom of religion. One example of this is that on October 30th, 1838, 17 Mormons practicing their religious right were massacred.

In 1785, Virginia statesman James Madison argued against the state supporting Christian religious instruction. Madison would go on to draft the First Amendment, a part of the Bill of Rights that would provide constitutional protection for certain individual liberties including freedom of religion, freedom of speech and the press, and the right to assemble and petition the government.

The First Amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791. It established a separation of church and state that prohibited the federal government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.” It also prohibits the government, in most cases from interfering with a person’s religious beliefs or practices. Along with this it grants people the right to assemble under protest or expressing wanting a change of the government if peaceful.

Though there has to be regulations for the freedom of speech. Even though you are allowed in most cases to freely express yourself and your beliefs, there are some rules against hate speech, organizing crime, and overall illegal and immoral regularities.

Key Events

The First Amendment is often regarded as the most important one to follow and therefore being the first made, is still being broken to this day. One clear way we see this is through protests towards change in the states and current systems in America.

1. Protesting - While it is one thing for protesters to riot and have to be stopped by the police, it's another for peaceful protesters to be not just stopped from protesting but attacked. This is what happened though back a few years ago in 2020 during the multiple Blm protests. Many people were arrested, and in two cases there were severe actions taken by the police. In Philadelphia the police used tear gas on protestors and it led to them not being able to breathe and not being able to get out of the crowded space. The second incident was in Los Angeles where foam-projectile launchers were thrown to the protestors and 8 were partially blinded.

2. Free speech in general - Since the internet has become extremely important these past few years during and after covid, more people go on it and express their opinions. Instead of more ideas and beliefs being shared, America has been seeing an increase in people wanting to shut down others opinions and sharing their own. Off the internet people also want to prohibit beliefs and information they don't want to be shared, the main issue being when it comes to the education system. There are more gag orders going to be placed in schools, preventing teachers from talking about certain parts of American history, race topics, sexuality, gender, and other important topics that people find to be controversial which means they are now being banned in schools.

3. Religious rights being discriminated against - Not everybody is accepting of others having different beliefs than the ones they do. This is seen especially with religions that aren't as popular as others or as widely accepted. One case of this is being Jewish in America. There are many people who have stories of growing up bullied due to their culture and beliefs, being isolated and singled out as a target for being different. Recently in universities in the US, there are people protesting both in favor and against the Jewish people. Some try and keep their rights and freedom of self and religion while others try and take it away from them.

Introduction to the First Amendment

Key Events

Important Sources