The First Amendment

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.

This is the text of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. This amendment covers so many liberties. In the following posts I will cover each in turn. The main theme of this amendment is that the government has pretty much no say in your private life and needs to keep its nose out of your business.

An introduction to what we should know

Ok, so you’re sitting around your family table at dinner time and the question comes up in your discussions with the kids: "does the common American really have the right to own a gun?" (yeh I know, this may never come up at a normal family's dinner table, but my family has never been normal). The best way to answer this is to tell your child to read the second amendment and interpret what he or she feels is what the founding fathers were really saying. What! You say you have never read the second amendment, or even the Constitution of the United States? Well lets start our journey of understanding what the founding fathers meant by first reading their words. Start by reading the constitution and familiarize yourself with what it covers and, just as important, doesn't cover. Then we will look further into how the constitution should apply to us today. Take a look at this link: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html