Jay Cost is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the Center for Faith and Freedom at Grove City College.
Constitutionally Speaking
Jay Cost and Luke Thompson make the case that all Americans should study the Constitution.
Episode 29: Understanding the First Amendment
Today, Jay and Luke begin digging into the Bill of Rights, starting with the First Amendment.
Today, Jay and Luke begin digging into the Bill of Rights, starting with the First Amendment. Most Americans don’t realize that what we know as the First Amendment was originally the Third Amendment in Madison’s planned version of the Bill of Rights. The original First Amendment, which we call “Amendment A," dealt with the size of Congressional Districts. The original Second Amendment dealt with Congressional pay and, after 202 years, 7 months, and 10 days, was finally ratified as the 27th Amendment.
Read with Amendment A and the 27th Amendment, the First Amendment becomes clearer as part, but not the whole, of Madison’s designs for the “political Amendments” – those dealing with representation, representatives, and representing the people.
Mr. Thompson is a Republican political consultant.
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