The Constitution and its amendments are the foundation of our democracy and the centerpoint

of so many controversies in American politics.

We decided to take these important amendments one by one and go back to basics.

If freedom of speech and the right to bear arms are enshrined as fundamental values, we

want to understand them on a deeper historical level.

We put together this series on the amendments to do just that.

It's 1787, Philadelphia, about 10 years after the Revolutionary War.

Milligates from the first 13 states are meeting to set up the first draft of their new government.

These men believed all people had unalienable rights that the government must protect.

Over the next few years, James Madison drafted 12 corrective proposals to the United States

Constitution in order to prohibit government power.

And four years later, in 1791, the states ratified 10 of these amendments, which would later

become known as the Bill of Rights.

These are the implements of war and subjugation.

The founding fathers saw firsthand what too much governmental control can do to its people.

They wanted to give people the ability to think and believe freely without persecution.

Thus, setting the stage for the first amendment.

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.

Now more than ever, it is important to know and understand our rights.

We as a nation cannot move forward unless we understand our past.

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