First Amendment

In 1791, the Bill of Rights was ratified in order to bridge the Federalists and Anti-Federalists perspectives on regulation by restricting the power of the central government and the approval of the Constitution in all thirteen states. With the original intent in the first amendment of the Bill of Rights, this document only addresses Congress to prevent them from abusing their powers and to establish the separation of church and state by key phrases, such as “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise”, “abridging the freedom of speech”, and “petition the Government for a redress of grievances”.

In 1215, the Magna Carta was a result of King John imposing taxes on the barons against feudal law because of the military campaign in France and angering the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, this document was signed between the barons of Medieval England and King John, which required for the ruler to proclaim certain liberties and accept that his will was not arbitrary. The Magna Carta influenced the first amendment in order to protect the rights of the people by restricting the power of governors, rulers, and kings. Also, the English Bill of Rights (1689) grew out of the Glorious Revolution due to grievances of the disposed King James II and later impacted the first amendment by placing limits on government and established civil liberties, such as the freedom of speech and petition. Furthermore, John Locke, who was shaped by realism and the enlightenment movement that consisted of religious toleration and governments without tyranny, impacted the key concepts of this amendment by establishing ideals of democracy, limitation of power, equality, and freedom under law in order to develop constitutional law and the role of government.

Since Madison was an advocate for a strong central government, he was trying to ratify the Constitution, specifically demonstrated by his collaboration with Alexander Hamilton