The First Amendment is an intrinsic part of the United States Constitution, but many are unaware of the effect it has on our daily life as people and specifically as students. This is not because we don’t care, but because most people, students especially, are unaware of their rights, especially those given by the First Amendment.

The First Amendment goes as follows: 

“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.” 

That is what is written in the constitution. But it is not very easy to understand exactly what it is saying about our rights, so let’s break it down piece by piece! 

 “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; “  

 This means that no law can be made that favors one religion over another. This also means the law cannot stop anyone from practicing their religion. This is so that the government does not act based on religious beliefs that are held by only one group, protecting individual religions and keeping Church and State separated. Whether or not this holds true today will be discussed further in the Religion tab. 

“or abridging the freedom of speech,”  

This means that the government cannot restrict an individual's speech. This simple sentence seems as though it is clear cut, but the definition of speech is extremely complex when in the context of the first amendment. This is explained in more depth in the Speech tab. 

“or of the press;”  

This means that the government cannot restrict what the press, such as radio, newspapers, or television news, publishes. This part of the First Amendment factors into censorship and banned books, which we talk about in more detail in both the Press and International tabs. 

“ or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,” 

 This means that people have the right to peacefully protest to demonstrate their opinions about a certain topic in the government without fear of government repercussions. Well, there are supposed to be no repercussions, but we will examine cases where that isn’t true in the Protest tab.

 “and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” 

 This is the part of the amendment people forget about most frequently because they think it is the same thing as the right to protest. The difference between petitioning the government and protesting is that the petition is a literal document the people will submit when they are dissatisfied with the government, while a protest is a gathering of people. Petitions tend to be more organized and look for direct action, which is something we discuss further in the Petition tab.