And that part of the First Amendment was really an afterthought. It was proposed in early drafts, elsewhere, and was moved there "for convenience."

When the delegates to the original convention took the Constitution home for approval, it was returned by more than half of the "states" (some technically called themselves something else) with the SPECIFIC CONDITION that their ratification was only valid on addition of the first half of the First Amendment.

An early version of the "Freedom of Speech" clause, mirrored in a couple of State Constitutions, said, in effect, that "the right to PRINT anything you wish" should not be infringed.

Since the newspapers were the only ones with enough money to complain, they largely ruled the warping of the original meaning into whatever it is considered to be now, so thank - or blame - them for any confusion.

John