The main idea of this excerpt is that the First Amendment is essential because it

Allows freedom of religion allows people to believe and practice whatever religion they want. Freedom of speech and press allows people to voice their opinions publicly and to publish them without the government stopping them

this means that germany had to pay the allied countries. reparations are/is essentially payment for something that they have done wrong, so after ww1, germany was forced to pay reparations so they could replenish the allied countries resources' that they had lost during the war.