Also known as "Separation of Church and State," this section of the 1st Amendment means that the government cannot tell you what to believe. This stemmed from religious problems in Europe, where you could be persecuted for believing the wrong thing.

The Freedom of Assembly is a simple concept. It states that the Government cannot stop any number of people from gathering in any place. This means that the government can't stop any gathering from a children's sleepover to thousands of people in a protest.

This part of the 1st amendment says that anyone in the US can publish anything they want. The government has no control over what people print about anything. This helps keep the Government on the level because if there is anything wrong, the press can talk about it and everyone will know.

The freedom of petition is one of the less-talked about parts of the First amendment. It means that if someone writes a petition and it gets enough signatures, it can affect the US government. This is vital because it means that not only do citizens vote on who is in office, but they can also affect laws and policies of the government.

*There are exceptions to the 1st amendment, such as Obscenity, Defamation, Fighting Words, Perjury, etc.