Freedom of Petition Clause (2024)

The Freedom of Petition Clause is the part of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution that reads...

"Congress shall make no law... abridging... the right of the people... to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The Freedom of Petition Clause guarantees thatAmericans can petition the government to redress their grievanceswithout fear of retribution or punishment. This was an importantprinciple valued by the Founding Fathers because of their experience oftrying to get King George III and Parliament to redress theirgrievances.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the right to petition the governmentincludes the right to do such things as picket, mail letters, signpetitions, publish materials or use other types of communication to get amessage across to the government. It is also generally combined withthe right to free speech and the right of assembly to ensure that peoplecan form groups or associations to get their messages across.

The Freedom of Petition Clause applies equally tostate and local governments, as well as to the federal government. TheCourts have also established that citizens can petition all branches ofgovernment, including the executive, legislative and judicial branches.This does not mean however, that citizens have a right to personallymeet with the official they wish to petition, but they can submitpetitions to their offices or designated person according to establishedprocedures.

The Freedom of Petition Clause played an importantrole in the Civil Rights fight for African Americans. The Court ruled inmany cases that African Americans had the right to do such things aspicket, protest and conduct peaceful sitins and boycotts.

Gun Control Protest

The Freedom to Petition may be restricted by thegovernment with reasonable restrictions as to time, place and manner.For example, someone does not have the right to expect their petition tobe heard at 3:00 in the morning. Someone petitioning the government forredress of grievances must prove that they have legal standing in thematter, meaning that they must show that they are personally affected inthe matter addressed.

Why is the Freedom of Petition Clause important?

If you remember reading the Declaration of Independence,Congress included a list of grievances against the British government.The grievances included such things as the king not obeying his ownlaws, preventing the people fromestablishing their own elected rulers, keeping standing armies in theirland without their consent, imposing taxes without their consent,denying the right to trial by jury in some cases, encouraging the slavepopulation to rebel against them and many others.

The very last grievance mentioned in the Declaration of Independence is this:

"In every stage of these Oppressions We havePetitioned for Redress inthe most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only byrepeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every actwhich may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."

The people of the American colonies had sent repeated requests to theKing and to Parliament asking for relief from their long list ofgrievances. Instead of addressing these concerns, King George andParliament had responded by adding more and more restrictions,regulations, taxes and hardships upon them.

The First Congress of the United States wanted to ensure that if thepeople had a grievance with the government, they could petition thegovernment without the fear of being punished in return. Consequently,the Freedom of Petition Clause was included in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. You can read more about the Purpose of the Bill of Rights here.

History of the Freedom of Petition Clause

English history had many instances of people being imprisoned orotherwise punished for trying to point out to the government somethingthat they thought was unjust. The monarchy had absolute power until 1215with the signing of the Magna Carta. This document was an agreementsigned by King John that agreed to certain limitations upon thegovernment. This document did not guarantee certain rights to all thepeople, but it set the precedent for the subjects of the kingdom to setlimits upon the rulers.

King John signing Magna Carta - 1215

One of the clauses of Magna Carta appoints 25 barons to petition the king for grievances if any are found. It reads like this:

"... if we, (referring to the King) or ourjusticiar, or our bailiffs or any one of our officers, shall in anythingbe at fault towards anyone, or shall have broken anyone of the articles of this peace or of this security, and the offensebe notified to four barons of the foresaid five and twenty, the saidfour barons shall repair to us (or our justiciar, if we are out of therealm) and, laying the transgression before us, petition to have thattransgression redressed without delay. And if we shall not havecorrected the transgression (or, in the event of our being out of therealm, if our justiciar shall not have corrected it) within forty days,reckoning from the time it has been intimated to us (or to ourjusticiar, if we should be out of the realm), the four barons aforesaidshall refer that matter to the rest of the five and twenty barons, andthose five and twenty barons shall, together with the community of thewhole realm, distrain and distress us in all possible ways, namely, byseizing our castles, lands, possessions, and in any other way they can,until redress has been obtained as they deem fit, saving harmless ourown person, and the persons of our queen and children; and when redresshas been obtained, they shall resume their old relations towards us."

You can read the entire Magna Carta here.

Later, the English Bill of Rights of 1689 expanded this right to allpeople in the kingdom. The part of the English Bill of Rights addressingthe freedom to petition the government reads like this:

"That it is the right of the subjects to petitionthe king, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning areillegal."

You can read the entire English Bill of Rights of 1689 here.

On June 8, 1789, James Madison introduced seventeen proposed amendments to the US Constitution. One of these included the Freedom of Petition Clause.Congress voted to accept twelve of these amendments on September 25,1789. The amendments were sent to the states for ratification. With thevote for ratification by Virginia on December 15, 1791, ten of theseamendments became law, including the First Amendment, which included theFreedom of Petition Clause. The First Ten Amendments are also known as the American Bill of Rights. You can read more about the History of the Bill of Rights here.

Freedom of Petition Clause cases

The first test of the Freedom of Petition Clausecame with the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. These acts made it acriminal offense to criticize the government or its officials. Manypeople believed it was solely a political act of President John Adams and his supporters who were afraid that their Federalist Party was about to lose power in the election of 1800.

A few people were convicted under the laws. Many people presentedpetitions to Congress asking for the repeal of the Alien and SeditionActs, but the case never went before the Supreme Court. Instead, afterthe election, the laws were allowed to expire and President ThomasJefferson pardoned those who had been convicted.

The Freedom of Petition Clause came to prominenceduring the 1830's when many people were petitioning the government toabolish slavery. On January 28, 1840, the Congressmen that controlledCongress passed a resolution stating that:

"That no petition, memorial, resolution, or otherpaper praying the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, orany State or Territories of the United States in which it now exists,shall be received by this House, or entertained in any way whatever."

John Quincy Adams

President John Quincy Adams was successful at leading the charge tohave this law repealed five years later. Currently, Congressmen canpresent petitions to the Congress by submitting them to the Clerk whothen enters them in the official Congressional Journal.

There are two particularly memorable First Amendment Supreme Court cases dealing with the Freedom of Petition Clause. United States vs. Cruikshank (1876) is an early and memorable case that affirmed the right to petition the government.In this case,several white men that had been convicted for the murder of severalAfrican Americans appealed their conviction to the Supreme Court. TheCourt threw out their conviction, saying that their indictment was filedon insufficient grounds.

The verdict in parts state that:

"The very idea of a government, republican inform, implies a right on the part of its citizens to meet peaceably forconsultation in respect to public affairs and to petition for a redressof grievances."

This case is generally criticized for having reversed some of thegains made by African Americans after the Civil War, but it did affirmthe right of citizens to petition the government. You can read theentire United States vs. Cruikshank verdict here.

In Hague vs. Committee for Industrial Organization (1939), the Supreme Court also affirmed the right of freedom to petition the government.In this case, a local city mayor was using a city ordinance to preventthe Committee for Industrial Organization from meeting in public placesin the city, calling it a communist organization. The organization wastrying toorganize labor union meetings and distribute literature that promotedits view of labor relations. The Court ruled that the ordinanceprevented the organization from assembling and petitioning thegovernment. You can read the complete verdict of Hague vs. Committee for Industrial Organization here.

Freedom of Petition Clause -
Does the Government have to respond?

An interesting question about the Freedom of Petition Clauseis whether or not the government is required to respond to itscitizens' petitions. The First Amendment says only that citizens havethe right to petition the government, it does not say the government has to respond.

However, English history regarding the freedom to petition the government did require a response from the government. The Magna Carta required a response from the monarchy. It reads like this:

"[The barons] ...laying the transgression beforeus, petition to have thattransgression redressed without delay. And if we shall not havecorrected the transgression (or, in the event of our being out of therealm, if our justiciar shall not have corrected it) within forty days,reckoning from the time it has been intimated to us (or to ourjusticiar, if we should be out of the realm), the four barons aforesaidshall refer that matter to the rest of the five and twenty barons, andthose five and twenty barons shall, together with the community of thewhole realm, distrain and distress us in all possible ways, namely, byseizing our castles, lands, possessions, and in any other way they can,until redress has been obtained as they deem fit..."

Some people argue that it is implicit within the Freedom of Petition Clausethat the government must respond to grievances of the people,otherwise, there would be no point for the citizens to petition thegovernment.

Supreme Court of the United States of America

The First Continental Congress seems to agree. In 1774, the Congresssent a letter to the citizens of Quebec encouraging them to join in therebellion against England. Part of their letter reads like this:

"If money is wanted by rulers who have in anymanner oppressed the people, they may retain it until their grievancesare redressed, and thus peaceably procure relief withouttrusting to despised petitions or disturbing the public tranquility."

You can read the entire letter from Congress to the citizens of Quebec here.

The Supreme Court has never ruled on whether or not the government isrequired to address the people's petitions for redress of grievances.

You can find a complete list of Supreme Court cases having to do with the Freedom of Petition Clause here. Just pick the topic of your choosing from a list of Freedom of Expression topics, all having to do with Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Assembly and Freedom to Petition the Government.

If you would like to read about the meanings of each amendment, go to the First Ten Amendments page here.

Read about other clauses of the First Amendment:

Opening Phrase
Establishment Clause
Free Exercise Clause
Freedom of Speech Clause
Freedom of the Press Clause
Freedom of Assembly Clause

Amendments:

Preamble to the Bill of Rights
Learn about the 1st Amendment here.
Learn about the 2nd Amendment here.
Learn about the 3rd Amendment here.
Learn about the 4th Amendment here.
Learn about the 5th Amendment here.
Learn about the 6th Amendment here.
Learn about the 7th Amendment here.
Learn about the 8th Amendment here.
Learn about the 9th Amendment here.
Learn about the 10th Amendment here.

Read the Bill of Rights here.

Learn more about the Bill of Rights with the following articles: