What is the First Amendment?

The amendments when framed by the forefathers of America, had a lot of scrutiny surrounding their interpretations. The important part of history that marks the advent and end of the final amendments, was the bill of rights, that proposed a grouping together of the first ten amendments out of the official 27. So when one wants to know what is the first amendment to the constitution, it is immediately associated with how it is one of the best known amendments passed in the constitution. What it entails will be later revealed. We take a further look into history, and how the bill of rights came into being.

The bill of rights definition - it dictates certain restrictions when it comes to pulling the reins on the state by the federal government, which is a way of protecting one's property, rights of liberty, and those that speak of a free press, freedom of speech, free association, free assembly and the right to bear and keep arms.

James Madison was the one who introduced the bill of rights to the 'First United States Congress', in the year 1789. They say that the idea of the first amendment was around for quite a while before he brought it forward in an attempt to show reverence to his mentor, Thomas Jefferson and to pass the same to his opponents of the constitution to give them something to mule over out of humor from Madison. In fact he viewed the bill of rights as an unnecessary merging of amendments, thinking that the federal government couldn't rise to so much power to need these one day. So if anything, Madison's role here was introducing it to the constitution to have it made official.

A brief explanation of the bill rights in short, would be that it voices out how the government and people, including the press, work together to form a co-existent bond within society with freedoms and rights individually intact. The first amendment is, "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."

Brief Rundown of the Amendments

The 27 amendments to the US constitution are divided into two parts, the first 10 being titled under the bill of rights, while the other 17 stand alone as separate amendments. We now briefly look into what each of these word out.

Bill of Rights

Amendment 1 - Freedoms, Petitions, Assembly
Amendment 2 - Right to bear arms
Amendment 3 - Quartering of soldiers
Amendment 4 - Search and arrest
Amendment 5 - Rights in criminal cases
Amendment 6 - Right to a fair trial
Amendment 7 - Rights in civil cases
Amendment 8 - Bail, fines, punishment
Amendment 9 - Rights retained by the People
Amendment 10 - States' rights

Other Amendments

Amendment 11 - Lawsuits against states
Amendment 12 - Presidential elections
Amendment 13 - Abolition of slavery
Amendment 14 - Civil rights
Amendment 15 - Black suffrage
Amendment 16 - Income taxes
Amendment 17 - Senatorial elections
Amendment 18 - Prohibition of liquor
Amendment 19 - Women's suffrage
Amendment 20 - Terms of office
Amendment 21 - Repeal of Prohibition
Amendment 22 - Term Limits for the Presidency
Amendment 23 - Washington, D.C., suffrage
Amendment 24 - Abolition of poll taxes
Amendment 25 - Presidential succession
Amendment 26 - 18-year-old suffrage
Amendment 27 - Congressional pay raises

Five Freedoms of the First Amendment

We now move on to the five freedoms that branch outward from the first amendment of the state.

Religion
The people are given their very own individual choices on which religions to follow, and practice, without the government enforcing a unified religion that people have to forcefully succumb to. Government interference in this area is strictly out of the question.

Assembly
People have the right to protest against a situation that stems rebuke amongst them. They can carry slogans / signs, form groups and protest on the streets, with the intention of proving a point. No violence should be a part of this act, where people can also be a part of a group or association out of their own will without outside interference.

Speech
The government cannot quiet down a person's voice to speak out and have an opinion or raise their voice in opposition and retaliation. If someone's got something to say, they have a right to shout it out loud, or share it with others publicly.

Petition
If the people feel like there are policies that don't seem to be in their favor or go against their better judgment, they can voice out these concerns to the government. They are given the rights to collectively put together a body that can go against the legislation by taking it to the legislative body for consideration, by gathering signatures of those that are like-minded about the problem.

Press
The press has the right to print what they want in terms of information and news, along with being opinionated about events and situations in the world. The government cannot interfere with their right to do so, where the press can also start their own magazines, newsletters and newspapers, publishing material and news on a worldwide / local basis.

The US constitution has a proud backing of political American history when it comes to its structure and representation. It truly is something to marvel at, when learning about the constitution and its various building blocks.