First Amendment Knowledge Check

Multiple Choice

1. The Bill of Rights is: 

• The statement police must read to you when you are arrested.

• The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

• The opening paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.

• The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

Answer: B

The U.S. Constitution was signed on Sept. 17, 1787. Following much debate, the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the Constitution — went into effect on Dec. 15, 1791, guaranteeing the essential freedoms we now rely on to protect citizens from excessive governmental power

Multiple Choice

2. How does the First Amendment begin? 

• "Four score and seven years ago....”

• "When, in the course of human events....”

• "Freedom of speech and of the press shall not be abridged....”

• "Congress shall make no law....”

The full text of the First Amendment — all 45 words — reads as follows: “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.”

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Answer: D

Multiple Choice

3. True or false: 

The First Amendment protects students while at school.

• True

• False

Answer: True

In its landmark decision, Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Community School Dist. (1969), the U.S. Supreme Court, in what has become a much-quoted statement, ruled that neither “students [n]or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

Multiple Choice

4. Which of the following is not a right explicitly protected by the First Amendment? 

• Press

• Privacy

• Assembly

• Religion

Answer: B

 There are five freedoms explicitly protected by the First Amendment: Freedom of Religion Freedom of Speech Freedom of the Press Freedom of Assembly Freedom to Petition the Government Privacy is not a right explicitly guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, but rather has been recognized by the Court to have evolved and “emanated"

Multiple Choice

5. True or false: 

The Constitution prohibits public school teachers from teaching about religion in school.

• True

• False

Answer: False

The First Amendment prohibits government officials — including public school teachers — from endorsing or promoting a particular religion. It does not prohibit teachers from discussing or providing instructional materials about various religions and churches as part of a viewpoint-neutral curriculum where such discussion is relevant (e.g., history class discussion of the Reformation or the Holocaust). First Amendment Quiz Answer Key Note that the First Amendment’s limitation on official religious expression does not prevent students from discussing religion since they are not government officials.

Multiple Choice

6. True or false: 

The First Amendment protects a person’s right to burn the American flag as a form of political protest?

• True

• False

Answer: True

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that burning the American flag is constitutionally protected free speech. Texas v. Johnson (1989).

Multiple Choice

7. At what age does the First Amendment officially begin to protect a person’s free speech rights?

• `8

• 16

• 21

• None of the above

Answer: D

The First Amendment protects all citizens, regardless of their age. Still, courts have recognized that very young children may have more limited free speech protections under the First Amendment in certain contexts than older children and adults.

Multiple Choice

8. True or false: 

The government can ban song lyrics that most people would find offensive.

• True

• False

Answer: False

The First Amendment protects “offensive” speech in song lyrics (and in other published material) from government censorship. Note, however, that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can restrict material or require warning labels when “indecent” speech is broadcast over the airwaves.

Multiple Choice

9.  True or false: 

Students cannot be forced to pledge allegiance to the flag.

• True

• False

Answer: True

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that students have a First Amendment right to refuse to recite the Pledge of Allegiance or salute the flag during school. West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)

Multiple Choice

10. The First Amendment does not protect which of the following religious beliefs?

• Islam

• Satanism

• Christianity

• The First Amendment protects all of the above

Answer: D

The First Amendment does not permit the government to selectively choose which religions or churches it will protect based on their popularity or the general acceptance (or rejection) of their beliefs. Religious freedoms extended to one church or set of religious beliefs must generally be extended to all.