In 1789, the first Congress proposed 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution by the two-thirds majorities of both houses specified in the amending provisions of Article V of the U.S. Constitution. On December 15, 1791, three-fourths of the state legislatures subsequently ratified 10 of these amendments, which are now commonly called the Bill of Rights.
The adoption of these amendments responded to a key criticism that Anti-Federalists opponents had raised against the constitution, namely, that it lacked clear protections for American liberties from violations by the new national government.
Mural of First Federal Congress depicts symbols of First Amendment
The central corridor of the U.S. House of Representatives, known as “The Great Experiment Hall,” depicts legislative landmarks, including with a mural entitled “The First Federal Congress, 1789.” It was painted by Allyn Cox. (1896-1982), who created a series of such murals in the Capitol Building from 1952 to 1972.
The central mural depicts a dozen representatives, three of whom are depicted as standing. They are: James Madison, who is often called the father of the Bill of Rights; Elbridge Gerry, an Anti-Federalist who had refused to sign the original constitution because it did not contain a bill of rights; and Fisher Ames, a prominent Federalist who also supported a bill of rights. They are facing seated speaker Frederick Muhlenberg, who was the first to sign the Bill of Rights that Congress proposed, and whom Cox depicts as seated on a raised platform below a U.S. flag with a circle of 13 stars (“The First Federal Congress, 1789”).
Left of this central portrait is a depiction of a preacher delivering a sermon, and on the right is a picture of a printer at a printing press. They are designed to symbolize First Amendment freedoms.
Quotation with mural affirms freedom of thought, speech
Underneath these is a quotation, attributed to “Benjamin Franklin 1722,” which says:
WITHOUT FREEDOM OF THOUGHT
THERE CAN BE NO SUCH THING AS WISDOM
& NO SUCH THING AS PUBLICK LIBERTY
WITHOUT FREEDOM OF SPEECH
In 1722, Franklin would have been only 16 years old, and as precocious as he was, he did not originate the words. Instead, he was quoting from Cato’s Letters, by Thomas Gordon and John Trenchard of Great Britain, whose writings played an important role in the Founders’ understandings of First Amendment freedoms (Dabhoiwala 2025, 39-40).
John R. Vile is a political science professor and dean of the Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University.