This is the first in a series of historical essays that represent my small part to honor the United States of America in the time leading up to the country’s celebration of its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026. We’re calling it America 250 Tuesdays. These posts will feature specific stories that center on the people who created a great nation. Starting next Tuesday, these essays will be available as a VIP feature. More details are available below. Don’t miss an installment.
We often hear the term “founding fathers” used to describe the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, who, at great personal risk and sacrifice, formed a new nation under God. George Washington is referred to as the father of our country, a country that could not exist without the expressed protection of our “unalienable rights.” This protection originates in the U.S. Constitution, which delineates these rights as “amendments.”
Without the First Amendment, it’s assumed that you simply cannot have a United States of America as we know it. And you cannot have a First Amendment without James Madison. He was the Father of the First Amendment. He is better known as the “Father of the Constitution” since it was he who drafted the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights featured 12 proposed amendments to the U.S. Constitution on June 8, 1789. Each amendment was intended to address a demand on the part of the states to provide greater constitutional protection of individual liberties and freedoms. The First Amendment was ratified on Dec. 15, 1791.
In just a handful of words, 45 to be exact, the First Amendment protects your right to religion, speech, a free press, peaceful assembly, and to petition the government.
This is the original wording of the First Amendment as Madison proposed it on June 8, 1789:
The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed.
The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.
The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good; nor from applying to the legislature by petitions, or remonstrances for redress of their grievances.
There was much debate on this in Congress and the Senate over the next two years, and if you can believe this, the final, ratified version of the amendment was shorter, clearer, and simpler than the original draft. This is the final ratified version from 1791:
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.
Can you imagine anything coming out of Congress or the Senate today that is shorter, clearer or more concise than when it was first proposed?
The changes the House and the Senate made to Madison’s original broadened its scope, which allowed for greater application as the new nation grew and evolved.
While Congress simplified the language of the First Amendment for clarity and brevity, it kept the distinctions between freedom of speech and freedom of the press, which, in the context of today’s climate, was even more prophetic, as technology has enabled the individual to reach more people with a smartphone than any of the Founding Fathers could have imagined.
One of the key philosophical determinations made by Congress at that time was to ensure that the Bill of Rights read more like an enforceable legal document rather than simply a philosophical declaration of rights. Our justice system is reliant on this bedrock distinction. The question, “Is this law constitutional?” guides all of it.
Most people don’t realize that the First Amendment wasn’t at the top of the amendments when Madison drafted the Bill of Rights. It was third. The first two focused on congressional representation and pay. Due to a lengthy debate, the first two were not ratified immediately. The amendment about “pay” later became the 27th Amendment, and it was only ratified in 1992. It governs how Congress should decide on its own pay increases.
As a result of those lengthy debates, the "third amendment" moved up in sequence and became the First Amendment. This does not detract from the assumption that it was commonly understood to be “foundational.”
Madison said so himself. When he introduced his proposed draft of the Bill of Rights in 1789, he said the rights protected in the First Amendment were “the most valuable rights of man.” He then said, “The rights of conscience, in particular, are by their nature beyond the reach of any human authority.”
In the Federalist Papers, No. 10, Madison touched on the need for there to be a free exchange of opinions, which he acknowledged could contribute to “faction” or a certain amount of divisiveness. He said the ways to eliminate faction would likely involve some form of tyranny where freedoms are destroyed and certain unifying opinions are forced on the people:
“There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects.
“There are again two methods of removing the causes of faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence; the other by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions and the same interests.”
In short, Madison could see in advance that First Amendment protections would lead to an American culture marked by vigorous and sometimes polarizing debate, which he termed “factional,” but that such debate is the sign of and necessary for a healthy democracy and a free people. Thus, Madison saw the freedoms contained in the First Amendment as 'first in principle,' the cornerstone of a nation committed to self-governing.
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