Free Speech, The People's Darling Privilege: Struggles for Freedom of Expression in American HistoryModern ideas about the protection of free speech in the United States did not originate in twentieth-century Supreme Court cases, as many have thought. Free Speech, “The People’s Darling Privilege” refutes this misconception by examining popular struggles for free speech that stretch back through American history. Michael Kent Curtis focuses on struggles in which ordinary and extraordinary people, men and women, black and white, demanded and fought for freedom of speech during the period from 1791—when the Bill of Rights and its First Amendment bound only the federal government to protect free expression—to 1868, when the Fourteenth Amendment sought to extend this mandate to the states. A review chapter is also included to bring the story up to date. Curtis analyzes three crucial political struggles: the controversy that surrounded the 1798 Sedition Act, which raised the question of whether criticism of elected officials would be protected speech; the battle against slavery, which raised the question of whether Americans would be free to criticize a great moral, social, and political evil; and the controversy over anti-war speech during the Civil War. Many speech issues raised by these controversies were ultimately decided outside the judicial arena—in Congress, in state legislatures, and, perhaps most importantly, in public discussion and debate. Curtis maintains that modern proposals for changing free speech doctrine can usefully be examined in the light of this often ignored history. This broader history shows the crucial effect that politicians, activists, ordinary citizens—and later the courts—have had on the American understanding of free speech. Filling a gap in legal history, this enlightening, richly researched historical investigation will be valuable for students and scholars of law, U.S. history, and political science, as well as for general readers interested in civil liberties and free speech. |
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Page 7
... Constitution should be inter- preted in accordance with the original intent of its framers or ratifiers . Similarly , they are important for those who think a constitutional provi- sion should be understood based on the original meaning ...
... Constitution should be inter- preted in accordance with the original intent of its framers or ratifiers . Similarly , they are important for those who think a constitutional provi- sion should be understood based on the original meaning ...
Page 13
... Constitution . They believed citizens had a right to exercise free speech in South Carolina and Massachusetts and anywhere else in the nation : state laws that abridged freedom of speech violated the federal Constitution . Activists ...
... Constitution . They believed citizens had a right to exercise free speech in South Carolina and Massachusetts and anywhere else in the nation : state laws that abridged freedom of speech violated the federal Constitution . Activists ...
Page 14
... Constitution's First Amendment ( “ Congress shall make no law ... abridging freedom of speech or of the press " ) protected free speech from state abridgment . By this view the Bill of Rights added new rights or immunities to the cata ...
... Constitution's First Amendment ( “ Congress shall make no law ... abridging freedom of speech or of the press " ) protected free speech from state abridgment . By this view the Bill of Rights added new rights or immunities to the cata ...
Page 15
... constitutional provision . ) According to these ideas , now much in vogue , the words and legal con- cepts in the Constitution should be given the " common " meaning the words had at the time the constitutional provision was ratified or ...
... constitutional provision . ) According to these ideas , now much in vogue , the words and legal con- cepts in the Constitution should be given the " common " meaning the words had at the time the constitutional provision was ratified or ...
Page 16
... constitutional provision or the intent of delegates elected to ratify it . Others have emphasized the original meaning of the words in the text of the Constitution . Since both framers and ratifiers are , by demo- cratic theory , merely ...
... constitutional provision or the intent of delegates elected to ratify it . Others have emphasized the original meaning of the words in the text of the Constitution . Since both framers and ratifiers are , by demo- cratic theory , merely ...
Contents
1 | |
1 The English and Colonial Background | 23 |
2 The Debate over the Sedition Act of 1798 | 52 |
Enforcement and Its Aftermath | 80 |
Reflections and Transitions | 105 |
5 The Declaration the Constitution Slavery and Abolition | 117 |
6 Shall Abolitionists Be Silenced? | 131 |
The Post Office and Petitions | 155 |
Transformations | 246 |
12 The Free Speech Battle over Helpers Impending Crisis | 271 |
The Struggle for Free Speech in NorthCarolina on the Eve of the Civil War | 289 |
Lincoln and Vallandigham | 300 |
15 The Free Speech Tradition Confronts the War Power | 319 |
16 A New Birth of Freedom? The Fourteenth Amendment and the First Amendment | 357 |
17 Where Are They Now? A Very Quick Review of Suppression Theories in the Twentieth Century | 384 |
Conclusion | 414 |
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Common terms and phrases
1st Sess abolition abolitionists Abraham Lincoln abridge Adams advocated American American Anti-Slavery Society antislavery speech argument arrest bad tendency Bill of Rights Boston Calhoun Cato's Letters Cincinnati citizens Civil clause Congress Constitution criticism debate defense democracy Democrats Detroit Free Press dissent Emancipator expression federal Federalists Fourteenth Amendment free speech tradition freedom of speech Globe guarantees Helper's book hereafter ideas immunities incendiary insisted issue James Jefferson John judges jury Justice legislature liberty limited Lincoln Lovejoy Lovejoy's Madison Massachusetts meeting ment newspaper North Carolina Northern Ohio opinion opponents papers party petition political popular Post president prior restraint privileges prosecutions protection punish rejected Republicans resolutions right of free Sedition Act seditious libel Senator slave slaveholders slavery South Southern speech and press statute suggested suppression supra note Supreme Court tion treason trial truth United Vallandigham violation violence Virginia Whig William William Ellery Channing York