"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The First Amendment is one of the 10 original amendments to the United States Constitution known as the "Bill of Rights." The first Congress presented these amendments to the legislatures of the colonial states on Sept. 25, 1789. Virginia was the last state to ratify them, on Dec. 15, 1791.