The First Amendment: Then and Now

Religion & American Culture
11/17/03
The First Amendment: Then and Now

In 1791, with the passage of the Bill of Rights, consisting of the first ten amendments, the United States took on a new character unlike any other nation to that day. The Bill of Rights, largely drawn up by James Madison has been the topic of many heated debates almost since its inception, and in fact continues to be a topic of debate to this very day. The amendments to the Constitution did not come into existence without resistance and many, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, felt its changes as necessary for the health of the Union and for the states therein. However, perhaps the ideas behind the amendment when it was first conceived and the amendment as we read it today are no longer congruent. A historical look at the amendment and its perceptions by the people at the time it was written and a look at the amendment as it is used today in the now famous Virginia court case against Judge Roy Moo...