<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents Congress from making any law respecting an establishment of religion, prohibiting the free exercise of religion, or abridging the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, the right to peaceably assemble, or to petition for a governmental redress of grievances . It was adopted on December 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments that constitute the Bill of Rights . </P> <P> The Bill of Rights was originally proposed to assuage Anti-Federalist opposition to Constitutional ratification . Initially, the First Amendment applied only to laws enacted by the Congress, and many of its provisions were interpreted more narrowly than they are today . Beginning with Gitlow v. New York (1925), the Supreme Court applied the First Amendment to states--a process known as incorporation--through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment . </P>

First amendment to the constitution of the us