First Amendment to the United States Constitution

I got embroiled in a conversation today about "Amendments" to the Constitution. We probably know little about them, or have forgotten them, so in the next few days I am going to go over them.

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights.

The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

Originally, the First Amendment applied only to laws enacted by the Congress.

However, starting with Gitlow v. New York, the Supreme Court has applied the First Amendment to each state.

This was done through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Court has also recognized a series of exceptions to provisions protecting the freedom of speech.