Which amendment opens the U.S. Bill of Rights and protects religious freedom?

The First Amendment opens the U.S. Bill of Rights and protects religious freedom. Ratified in 1791, it bars Congress from establishing a religion or prohibiting free religious exercise.

The amendment also protects freedom of speech, freedom of the press, peaceful assembly, and petitioning the government. These five freedoms are often grouped together because they limit federal interference with public belief, expression, and political participation. The text begins with “Congress shall make no law,” identifying the original federal restriction.

The First Amendment is one of ten amendments ratified together as the Bill of Rights on December 15, 1791. The Fourteenth Amendment later became important in applying many constitutional protections to state governments through incorporation doctrine, but it is not the amendment that begins the Bill of Rights. America250 commemorations often connect these freedoms to the revolutionary ideals of self-government.