Which amendment is the First Amendment in the United States Bill of Rights?

The First Amendment is the first amendment in the United States Bill of Rights.

It protects freedoms concerning religion, speech, the press, peaceful assembly, and petitioning the government. Its text begins by limiting Congress, stating that Congress may make no law establishing religion or prohibiting its free exercise. The amendment therefore addresses several related civil liberties rather than a single right.

The Bill of Rights was proposed by Congress in 1789 and ratified by the states in 1791. Twelve amendments were proposed, but only ten were ratified at that time; those ten became known as the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment originally constrained the federal government. Through later constitutional interpretation and the Fourteenth Amendment, most of its protections also apply to state and local governments.