Understanding the First Amendment

Critical debates reveal the foundations, flare-ups and frontiers of this First Amendment freedom.

In this video, Christy Ma, a student journalist from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, explains why the First Amendment is important in our society.

Students learn about restrictions to freedom of speech in public life, then debate court cases that determined when and why those limits apply.

This Federalist newspaper devotes its front page to the 12 amendments passed by the Senate on Sept. 14, 1789.

Students apply their knowledge of the First Amendment to specific scenarios to determine when those freedoms are protected and when they are not.

Should social media reactions, such as liking a Facebook post, be protected as free speech?

The terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, forced us to reconsider the balance between protecting public safety and protecting First Amendment freedoms – our cornerstone rights of religious liberty, free expression and political action. Twenty-two paired case studies explore how this debate has evolved from friction among Founding Fathers to cybersecurity standoffs.

The New York Times reports on its decision to decline U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell's request to cease printing Pentagon Paper articles.

Students debate court cases to learn how far First Amendment protections extend in public schools, and why limits may be necessary.

A Newseum-produced, three-minute video tackles the question: Should groups with hateful views be prevented from protesting in public spaces?

Actor Martin Sheen narrates this story of the political struggles involved in establishing the First Amendment and early challenges to it.

These resolutions drafted by James Madison and adopted by the Virginia General Assembly explain why the Alien and Sedition Acts are unconstitutional.

Help young students understand what it means to have the freedom to express ideas through books and drawings.

Students will be able to define the five freedoms of the First Amendment and provide examples of how they exercise these freedoms in their lives.

Students explore the interplay among the five First Amendment freedoms as they play an elimination game to determine the most important freedom.

This editorial from The Catholic Telegraph cites the First Amendment in defense of Catholics' presence in the United States.

Do freedom of assembly and petition apply when Jacob Coxey leads an "army" of unemployed men to the U.S. Capitol to protest economic policies?

While media literacy teaches students how to analyze, evaluate and even make their own content, it often fails to instill an understanding of why these skills are so important and necessary in the first place.

Students research an individual or group using the First Amendment to solve a community issue, then turn their findings into digital posters.

Here are resources to examine current activism in the context of First Amendment freedoms and their role in a democracy.