Citizen Advocates for Constitutional Principles
Constitutional Gems - # 810 - 03-10-2008
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. (US Constitution, Amendment I.)
When considering the Bill of Rights, Congress approved the right to petition with little controversy. The right to assembly was somewhat more controversial. Four of the original thirteen states expressly guaranteed the right of assembly in their constitutions or charters in 1789. This right, however, was considered more of an adjunct to other rights than an independent right. Representative Theodore Sedgwick moved to strike the words "to assemble and" from what became the First Amendment. He believed the words to be unnecessary surplusage. He argued, "If people freely converse together, they must assemble for that purpose; it is a self-evident, unalienable right which the people possess; it is certainly a thing that never would be called in question." Sedgwick lost, however, in part because many believed that the right of the people to assemble encompassed the right to assemble in a constitutional convention and change the structure of government, a right in fact established the Constitution itself in Article V. (David Bernstein, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, pg 317)
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