(host) The First Amendment states that Congress shall make no law prohibiting, "the right of the people peaceably to assemble." But what exactly is meant by assembly, and why was it seen as important enough to be included in the Bill of Rights?

(host 2) Throughout American history, these questions have been discussed and debated. By examining this, we can see the important role this clause has played during the growth of American society. This is the story of the freedom of assembly.

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(Describer) A hand writes with a quill. A document reads "We the People". Words appear: Bill of Rights Institute.

(host 1) Throughout human history, many rulers viewed unsupervised assemblies of subjects or citizens as dangerous. Even if such an assembly sought peaceful changes, rulers viewed them as a possible threat to the order of society and, therefore, treasonous.

(host 2) In 1215, the Magna Carta established that barons, a group of landowning elites, had the right to petition the king for a redress of grievances. While it did not explicitly state they had a right to assembly, it was implied that the barons could gather in order to discuss issues before approaching the monarch with a petition. However, broad protections of free assembly were not granted to many British subjects. For example, English law forbade religious assemblies of greater than five people that were not approved by the Church of England. In 1670, a young William Penn was charged with disturbing the peace after assembling in the streets and preaching dissenting religious ideas to a group of people larger than what the law allowed. This and similar events would influence the founders in their later decision to include explicit, broad protections of assembly, and not just petition, in the First Amendment. During the lead-up to the American Revolution, assemblies of the people's representatives played an important role in coordinating colonial opposition to parliament's policies. They organized boycotts of British goods, and sent grievances to the king and parliament to complain about oppressive laws. Once the revolution began, assemblies continued to be essential to the American cause. Patriot leaders met in state conventions and the Continental Congress in order to discuss and debate wartime policies that affected them all. The founders saw the importance of the freedom of assembly and moved to protect it. For example, Pennsylvania's Declaration of Rights, written in 1776, stated, "the people have a right to assemble together, "to consult for their common good, "to instruct the representatives, and to apply to the legislature for redress of grievances." And while the Articles of Confederation and the original Constitution contained no explicit protection for free assembly, it was implicit in a republic with representative government and popular sovereignty. After the ratification of the Constitution, the 1st Congress moved to explicitly protect this freedom by including it in the First Amendment, which stated, "Congress shall make no law abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble."

(host 1) The first Supreme Court case involving the freedom of assembly clause was United States v. Cruikshank in 1876. The U.S. government passed the Enforcement Act of 1870 during Reconstruction in the wake of voter suppression and violence in the South against African Americans. It outlawed two or more people from conspiring and assembling to deny someone their constitutional rights. In 1873, a white supremacist group murdered dozens of assembled Blacks in Louisiana during a dispute over the results of an election. After the federal government prosecuted several members of the white group, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment only applied to the national government, and not to state governments or individual citizens. In other words, the white supremacist group could not be prosecuted for violating the First Amendment when it violently suppressed the Black assembly.

(host 2) However, Cruikshank was later overturned in the 1937 case of DeJonge v. Oregon. Here, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment's protection of the freedom of assembly was incorporated to apply to state governments. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Hughes wrote that an Oregon law that interfered with the right of citizens to freely assemble was, "repugnant to the due process clause of the 14th Amendment." The court determined that, even though DeJonge had spoken at a communist meeting, a group that threatened the stability of American society, his rights should still be protected.

(host 1) Later cases, like Edwards v. South Carolina and Cox v. Louisiana, strengthened freedom of assembly protections for civil rights marchers. Other cases have tended to merge the rights of free speech, free press, free petition, and free assembly all into a general right of freedom of expression.

(host 2) The right to peacefully assemble continues to be exercised by citizens throughout the nation. Assemblies can express ideas, make declarations in support or opposition to policies, or protest against perceived injustices. How will Americans discuss and debate this fundamental right moving forward? This was the story of the freedom of assembly. Accessibility provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

(Describer) Bill of Rights Institute.

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(Describer) Accessibility Provided by the US Department of Education.

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