The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America is one of the most important and controversial facets of the historic document. The First Amendment is the first of 10 Amendments also known as the Bill of Rights. Like the Constitution proper, the Bill of Rights is a living, breathing document in the sense that it is open to judicial review and/or interpretation. This allows the Bill of Rights to change with the times so to speak. This leads to debate and litigation arguing what each Amendment means and what it allows. The First Amendment allows Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion and Expression, Freedom of the Press, Freedom to petition the government, and Freedom of Assembly, among other things. The fact the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are documents subject to interpretation coupled with the controversial subject matter of the First Amendment particularly its sections dealing with what many Americans see as the most basic right of all, Freedom of Speech, leads to the meaning of the First Amendment to constantly evolve throughout the existence of the United States.
Before the inception of the Bill of Rights, the post-revolutionary leaders of the United States were debating a suitable replacement to the Articles of Confederation. The group that supported the new Constitution were known as the federalists. The opponents were adequately known as anti-federalists. One of the central arguments of the anti-federalists and their opposition to the Constitution was the lack of a listing of rights that every citizen possessed. This was an important argument because the early Americans had just fought a Revolution to end the tyranny of the British Empire in the former American colonies. Hence, the Bill of Rights was included as the first ten amendments to the Constitution. This led to many who opposed the new Constitution to embrace it.
At this time it was unclear who had the authority to interpret the Constitution and its amendments.
