![]() Q: Does the First Amendment allow me to say and wear whatever I want at school?Ī: It’s not quite that simple. After all, knowing your rights is the best way to make sure you use them. Read on to learn more about the First Amendment-and how it applies to teens like you. “It gives us the right to criticize the powerful, to demand change, and to learn what is going on in our society so we can organize for political action and be informed voters,” she says. It’s just 45 words-the text fits inside a single tweet! Yet the First Amendment gives Americans incredible power, says Catherine Ross, a law professor at George Washington University. The First Amendment establishes Americans’ freedom of speech, religion, and the press, as well as the right to assemble peacefully and petition the government for change. The first one on the list, however, is arguably the most vital. Ratified, or approved, in 1791, the 10 amendments that make up the Bill of Rights protect key individual liberties, such as freedom from unreasonable searches and the right to public trials. So James Madison, who had been the main author of the Constitution, wrote the Bill of Rights. They wanted to make sure the government they’d created didn’t overstep its bounds. ![]() Even as they signed the Constitution in 1787, some of the Framers worried that the document didn’t guarantee Americans’ individual freedoms. We sometimes take these rights for granted, but our nation’s founders did not. Want the latest scoop? Read, watch, or listen to as many news sources as you like-or start your own. Worship differently than your friends do? You have the right to follow any faith you choose or none at all. Disagree with a new law in your town? You can speak up about it. ![]()
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