Right to Petition

The right to petition government for redress of grievances is so ingrained in the US social and political culture that it is easy to take for granted. Yet the First Amendment freedoms of speech, press, religion, and assembly would be diminished were it not for the right to petition. The right to petition originated in Great Britain. The English Bill of Rights, enacted in 1689, affirmed the right of subjects to petition the king. The right to petition also has a long history in the United States, and its uses evolved in conjunction with the development of the nation's constitutional democracy. When the English colonies in America were settled, the colonists brought with them the common law practices of Great Britain, including the right to petition. One of the major grievances of the Antifederalists during the ratification debates was that the proposed Constitution lacked protection of specific rights, including the right to petition government for redress of grievances.