Below is an element-by-element overview of the entire "The First Amendment" lesson. To the left of longer elements, you will find short summaries of those elements. In each assessment element, a yellow highlight indicates a correct answer. Whenever relevant, we also include teacher tips💡and definitions of important words from NLP's word wall 💬*.*
The First Amendment
The first U.S. Congress decided to amend the Constitution to guarantee individual rights to all Americans.
The first 10 amendments drafted by Congress are now known as "The Bill of Rights." The First Amendment guarantees 5 fundamental freedoms.
"Hi, I’m Sam Chaltain. I’m a writer and filmmaker and a former high school teacher, who spends way too much time thinking about democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. In fact, I’ve written six books about these topics and made a few documentary films. Today I’m standing in the First Amendment gallery here at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., which is a gallery that explores the role the First Amendment has played in the United States since it was first added to the Constitution.
Have you ever wondered how the First Amendment was added to the Constitution? It dates all the way back to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 when representatives for the original colonial states were debating whether individual rights should be guaranteed by the federal government or whether each state should make its own decision about protecting these rights. When the representatives at the convention couldn’t come to an agreement about this, they decided to create a constitution without protections for individual rights and they let the first United States Congress decide whether or not to amend the Constitution as a first order of business to guarantee individual rights to all Americans.
You can probably guess what happened next. Two years later, when the first Congress met, they decided that the federal government should guarantee individual rights, so they drafted a set of amendments – or changes – to the Constitution, all of which were focused on individual rights. Today these first ten amendments to the Constitution are known as the 'Bill of Rights,' a collection of individual rights guaranteed to all of us. The first of these amendments — what we now refer to as the First Amendment — was an extremely important one. It guarantees us five fundamental freedoms. Do you know what they are? Go ahead—give it a shot."
<aside> 💬 Word wall: First Amendment is Part of the Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution). This amendment prohibits Congress from making laws that (a) infringe on the freedom of speech or freedom of the press, (b) prohibit the free exercise of religion or (c) limit the right to peaceably assemble or to petition the government for a redress of grievances (making a complaint to the government, or asking for its assistance, without fear of reprisal). Under the First Amendment, the government cannot legally punish you for exercising these rights. It does not, however, protect you from private parties — such as places of business or individuals — taking action against you.
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Find the Five Freedoms You will now see a series of five pairs of possible freedoms. One of the two freedoms in each pair is protected by the First Amendment and the other is not. Click on the freedoms that are protected by the First Amendment.
One of the five freedoms protected by the First Amendment is freedom of the press.