The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791, protects freedom of speech and religion.
Its text bars Congress from establishing a religion or prohibiting its free exercise. It also protects freedom of speech, freedom of the press, peaceful assembly, and the right to petition the government. These protections became part of the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution.
Congress proposed twelve amendments in 1789, but the states initially ratified only the last ten of the original remaining articles. As a result, the article concerning religion and expression became the First Amendment rather than the third. The original first article, concerning congressional apportionment, was not ratified at that time.
The amendment’s wording refers specifically to Congress, but later Supreme Court decisions applied most of its protections to state and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment. It does not mean that every form of speech is protected from every consequence.