No one’s telling them what to do, how to do it. The press is absolutely free to publish the Constitution and newspapers up and down the continent do. It’s published in publications, newspapers, for the general public in a republican society and is printed start to finish.Īnd why am I telling you all that? Because there is freedom of the press before there is a First Amendment, you see. September 1787 is when the Constitution goes public. It begins, as it were, with the preamble, with “We the people of the United States, in actual fact, ordaining and establishing the Constitution.” And that occurs in 1787, ’88. It originates in the very process by which the original Constitution is ratified. I now emphasize much more than ever before what we call the First Amendment really doesn’t originate in the mind of Madison. Here’s the first big, big point that’s relevant to your question. In this new version, “The Words that Made Us,” the story begins in 1760, not in 1789. The First Amendment is words about words, about speech, about press. So, in the new version I emphasize – Because this new book, as you mentioned, “The Words that Made us” is all about words and words about words, like the First Amendment. I kind of really foregrounded Madison’s authorship. But in my narrative, that was largely backstory. That article was called “The Bill of Rights is the Constitution.” The book that eventually came out of it in 1998 was called “The Bill of Rights Creation and Reconstruction.” In those tellings of the story, I tended to start in the first congress with James Madison in the summer of 1789, basically introducing some amendments that get passed through congress late that summer, 1789 and then passed on to the states for ratification. I wrote a book published in 1998 based on some articles, the first one in the Yale Law Journal in 1991. Truthfully, I think the most recent telling in the new book, “The Words that Made Us,” is the best. So, how do we get to a place where the First Amendment is seen as needed?Īkhil Amar: So, I’ve told this story in different ways at different times. How did the framers conceptualize the need to enumerate the five, or some people say six, freedoms in the First Amendment? Some background here, the Constitution was approved by the delegates of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 without the First Amendment, which wouldn’t come until over four years later. It goes, “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.” So, I think in order to properly set up this conversation, I want to start by reading all 45 words of that amendment. Nico: So, we’re talking about the First Amendment today. Amar, welcome on to the show.Īkhil: Nico, it’s great to be with you. Amar published in 2014 and “How America’s Constitution Affirmed Freedom of Speech even before the First Amendment,” which he published in 2010. Those articles are “The First Amendment’s Firstness,” which Prof. That book along with two journal articles about the First Amendment will form the backbone of our discussion today. He hosts a fascinating podcast, which I will recommend to you all, called “Amarica’s Constitution.” And he recently released a book about the Constitution titled “The Words that Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760 – 1840.” Professor Amar has won numerous awards and been cited by the Supreme Court more than 40 cases, the most citations of his generation. Professor Amar is the Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University where he has taught since 1985 when he joined the faculty at just 26 years old. Joining us for this journey through history is Professor Akhil Reed Amar. How did the First Amendment become the First Amendment? What were the founders thinking and doing when they drafted it? How was it interpreted once it was enacted? And has its meaning changed over the course of it’s 230 lifespan? So, today we’re going to discuss the history of America’s First Amendment and its five freedoms with the particular focus on the free speech and free press clauses. September 25 was First Amendment Day in America, the anniversary of the date in 1789 when Congress approved 12 amendments to our constitution. Nico Perrino: Hello and welcome back to “So To Speak,” the free speech podcast where every other week take an uncensored look at the world of free expression through personal stories and candid conversations. Please check any quotations against the audio recording. Note: This is an unedited rush transcript. So to Speak podcast transcript: First Amendment history with Yale Professor Akhil Amar
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