[Congressman Billybob]

The Founding Fathers did NOT make freedom of speech the "first right they guaranteed." To the contrary, the Constitution as written did NOT include a Bill of Rights. That came about because the Anti-Federalists, who feared and opposed the new Constitution insisted on the Bill of Rights as a condition for ratification of the Constitution.

Then, when more than 200 proposals for the Bill of Rights were assembled in Congress, James Madison (by then a Member of the House) distilled those to 17 Amendments which passed the House. The Senate passed only 12 of those. Of those 12, the First Amendment was actually the Third Amendment. (The first two Amendments failed of ratification at the time.)

While I agree with the tenor of this article about the importance of freedom of speech, I resent the author playing fast and loose with the history of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The correct and accurate history of these documents is contained in my Introduction to the facsimile reprint of Robert Yates' Secret Proceedings and Debates of the Convention to Form the US Constitution.

People who write about the Constitution are under at least a slight obligation to check their facts before they print articles like this.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, not yet up on UPI, and FR, "Who's Next?"

Latest book(let), "to Restore Trust in America."

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Not to mention the fact that even in the first amendment, the freedom of religion from congressional interference is mentioned before the freedom of speech. Apparently, our founding fathers felt that freedom of conscience was more important than freedom of speech. And nowhere is freedom of "screech" protected.

[political_chick]

Hello:

I don't mean to offend you, but your post makes no sense. The first amendment is the first amendment and it concerns free speech among other freedoms. The fact that the initial draft had 2 amendments that were NOT ratified proves the author's point and dismisses yours.

While that particular history is interesting to know, it is also irrelevant to the article. Perhaps you need to do a little more studying and try to understand that many, many more items were left out of the Bill of Rights, which you correctly note is part of the Constitution.(they are called amendments for a reason, Bob).

The final draft, our Constitution and Bill of Rights is what we base our freedoms on, not on the papers and ideas that hit the floor and were never passed, Bob.

[Political Junkie Too]

when more than 200 proposals for the Bill of Rights were assembled in Congress, James Madison (by then a Member of the House) distilled those to 17 Amendments which passed the House. The Senate passed only 12 of those.

Furthermore, the First Amendment was a conglomeration of the other remaining House Amendments. The right to assemble, the right to worship, the right to free speech, the right to a free press, and the right to petition the government were all separate amendments that the Senate combined into one amendment.

-PJ