Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. -- First Amendment, U.S. Constitution

When the U.S. Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, it did not contain the freedoms now outlined in the Bill of Rights, because many of the Framers viewed their inclusion as unnecessary. However, after vigorous debate, the Bill of Rights was adopted.

While the wording of the First Amendment is now very familiar to Americans, the rights and liberties it guarantees, involving religion, speech, free press, public assembly and petition, were debated and modified numerous times by members of the First Congress during the Summer of 1789.

Write an essay that examines the historical debate over the benefits and disadvantages of adopting the First Amendment. Are the freedoms named in the First Amendment fundamental and if so why?

Include in your essay a discussion of how these rights and liberties were seen at the time of the founding as being important to the functioning of our democratic republic. Also discuss some of the historical precedents, as well as the political and philosophical principles that influenced the drafters of this amendment. You may discuss the First Amendment as a whole, or address one or two of its provisions.

To be eligible to submit an essay, students must either:

• be a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S. AND currently enrolled in the 11th grade of a public, private, or parochial high school (whether in any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. territories, or high schools overseas) as of the contest deadline of May 3, 2006;

OR

• be a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S., participating in a high school correspondence course or home schooling program, AND no younger than 16 years old and no older than 18 years old as of the contest deadline of May 3, 2006.

Relatives of NEH employees are not eligible.

Essays must be in English and not more than 10,000 characters (approximately 1,500 words in length).

You may submit only ONE essay.

All entries must be received by May 3, 2006.

$5,000 will be awarded to the author of the best essay. Three runners-up will each receive $1,000.

The winners will be notified in September 2006. All four winners, accompanied by a parent or guardian, will attend an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. in October 2006. The winning essay will be published in a national forum.

You can submit your essay one of two ways: online or by mail.

NEH encourages students to submit their application online by using an Internet connection at your home, school, or local library.

Getting started

To begin the application process, go to https://securegrants.neh.gov. You must create a user account by providing your name and e-mail address and then selecting a password. Please use an e-mail address that will be valid until October 1, 2006. Your user account will allow you to create, save, and revise your application. You cannot log in to the application system until you have created an account.

From the list of grant programs, select "We the People Idea of America Essay Contest." Once you have done so, the essay contest main menu will appear. From this menu, you may:

• create and edit your cover sheet;
• create and edit your school and parental information;
• create and edit your essay;
• print your application; and
• change your password.

You can modify your application until the deadline, May 3, 2006, 5:00 p.m. local time. (For example, applicants in California can make changes until 5:00 p.m. Pacific time.) After that time, no changes will be allowed. Please note that technical help is not available after 5:00 p.m. EST.

NEH estimates the average time to complete an online application is one hour. Additional time will be needed to gather and prepare the required material, including your essay.

Applicant (Student) Information

Provide your name, address, e-mail address, and home telephone number. You must provide this information for your application to be considered complete.

If you live overseas, select the overseas option in the "state" field and include your city and country in the "city" field. All overseas addresses will be given a "ZZ" code in the "state" field.

Save your work before going to the next section.

Parental and School Information

Provide your date of birth.

Provide the name of your parent or guardian and their phone number.

Check the box that best describes your school affiliation (e.g., high school or home school). If you attend a high school, enter its name and phone number.

Eligibility requirements

Indicate whether or not you meet the eligibility requirements by selecting "yes" or "no."

Save your work before going to the next section.

Essay Prompt

Enter your essay in the space provided. Do not include any identifying information.

Your essay must not exceed 10,000 characters (approximately 1,500 words) in length. Tip: Most word processing programs provide character counts as part of their "word count" feature.

We recommend that you prepare your essay ahead of time using a word processing program and then "copy" and "paste" it onto the submission form. The form will indicate if the text exceeds the character limit.

Your application will be saved as plain text. Special formatting such as italics, underlining, and "curly quotes" will not be saved. You should plan accordingly by using alternatives to such formatting. Consequently, secondary sources should be cited parenthetically in the text using the author's last name, title of book, and page number(s), e.g., (McCullough, The Johnstown Flood, 236-8). You should not, however, use angle brackets ("<" and ">"). Since brackets are commonly used in HTML, the code that drives the web-based online application system, the system will interpret them as faulty HTML code and generate an error message.

You do not need to provide a bibliography.

Submitting your application

To submit your application to NEH, you must click the "Submit Application" button. Applications must be submitted by May 3, 2006, 5:00 p.m. local time.

By submitting your application, you are affirming that your essay is original and that you are willing to travel to Washington, D.C., if you are selected as a winner.

Tip: If you would like to review your application before you submit it, select "print." A screen will appear that displays all of the information you have entered. You can either review your application on-screen or print it out.

You will need to prepare the following materials:

1. A cover page

   Use a cover page to provide the following information:

   Your name
   Your date of birth
   Home address
   Home telephone number
   E-mail address (optional)
   School's name (or specify home school)
   School's telephone number (if applicable)
   Grade level (or equivalent)
   Parent's or guardian's name
   Parent's or guardian's daytime telephone number (optional)

   On the cover page, type the following statement and sign your name under it:

   I am submitting an original essay to the Idea of America Essay Contest. I certify that this essay is my own work and that I have abided by all guidelines and requirements of the Idea of America Essay Contest. I understand that my essay will not be returned to me and will become the property of the National Endowment for the Humanities to use at its discretion in activities related to publicizing the contest. I further understand that the judges' decisions are final and that if I am selected as a winner of the contest, I will be expected to travel to Washington, D.C., as a guest of the NEH.

2. Three copies of your essay

   The text of your essay should be double-spaced and typed using 11 or 12-point font. The pages should have one-inch margins and be numbered. Each copy should be stapled.

   Secondary sources should be cited parenthetically in the text using the author's last name, title of book, and page number(s), e.g. (McCullough, The Johnstown Flood, 236-8). You do not need to provide a bibliography.

   No identifying information should appear on the first page of your essay.

Send your cover page and three copies of your essay to:

The Idea of America Essay Contest
National Endowment for the Humanities
P.O. Box 1253
Middleburg, VA 20118-1253

All entries must be received by May 3, 2006.

Evaluation Criteria

NEH will evaluate the essays using the following criteria:

• The essay demonstrates a strong understanding of American history.
• The essay reflects familiarity with primary sources related to the subject.
• The essay demonstrates the student's own serious reflection on the question.
• The essay is focused and well-reasoned.
• The essay is written clearly, with correct spelling and grammar.

Evaluation Process

Contest reviewers will see no identifying information about entrants. Reviewers from outside NEH initially identify the essays that best meet the above criteria. The advice of evaluators is assembled and reviewed by the Endowment's staff, who present the highest-rated essays to members of the National Council on the Humanities, which meets throughout the year to advise the chairman. Members of the National Council on the Humanities will select semi-finalists from which the NEH chairman will choose the prize-winning essays. All decisions will be final.

Please call NEH at 1-800-NEH-1121 (TDD 1-866-372-2930) or send e-mail inquiries to ideaofamerica@neh.gov.