The Birth of Freedom of the Press in America

The Birth of Freedom of the Press in America PDF Author: John H. Hendel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
The United States has long prided itself on the freedoms assured in the Bill of Rights. One of the rights mentioned in the First Amendment is Freedom of the Press. However, during the Revolutionary War the press was far from free. Both British loyalists and American patriots verbally and physically abused newspaper proprietors with whom they did not agree. It was well known in the Eighteen [sic] Century that it was important to control the flow of information, even to the point of intimidation. However, these same men who had helped limit press freedoms made sure that right was inserted into the Constitution of the United States. Since they obviously know how important control of the media was, why did these men who had just wrested control from the British chance having the country wrested from them? Their positions would be much more secure if they would have kep government control of the press. To discover the reaso for this apparent change of heart there is a need to track the history of press freedoms, beginning with the freedom of expression prior to the widespread use of printing presses. The link between colonial America and England was deep in the area of common law, so the state of press freedoms in Great Britain at that time need [sic] to be considered. Finally, there is a study of how press freedoms evolved from the time the first printing press arrived in the New World until the adoption of the Bill of Rights. The evidence points toward what can best be described as a fear of themselves by the men who were putting together the United States. They knew how potent the press could be--even in the limited circulation afforded by the technology of the time--and they feared if they fell out of power, without some access to the press, they could well be shut completely out of power without the chance of regaining control of the government.

The Birth of Freedom of the Press in America

The Birth of Freedom of the Press in America PDF Author: John H. Hendel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
The United States has long prided itself on the freedoms assured in the Bill of Rights. One of the rights mentioned in the First Amendment is Freedom of the Press. However, during the Revolutionary War the press was far from free. Both British loyalists and American patriots verbally and physically abused newspaper proprietors with whom they did not agree. It was well known in the Eighteen [sic] Century that it was important to control the flow of information, even to the point of intimidation. However, these same men who had helped limit press freedoms made sure that right was inserted into the Constitution of the United States. Since they obviously know how important control of the media was, why did these men who had just wrested control from the British chance having the country wrested from them? Their positions would be much more secure if they would have kep government control of the press. To discover the reaso for this apparent change of heart there is a need to track the history of press freedoms, beginning with the freedom of expression prior to the widespread use of printing presses. The link between colonial America and England was deep in the area of common law, so the state of press freedoms in Great Britain at that time need [sic] to be considered. Finally, there is a study of how press freedoms evolved from the time the first printing press arrived in the New World until the adoption of the Bill of Rights. The evidence points toward what can best be described as a fear of themselves by the men who were putting together the United States. They knew how potent the press could be--even in the limited circulation afforded by the technology of the time--and they feared if they fell out of power, without some access to the press, they could well be shut completely out of power without the chance of regaining control of the government.

Cato's Letters

Cato's Letters PDF Author: John Trenchard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Church and state
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description


Free Speech and Unfree News

Free Speech and Unfree News PDF Author: Sam Lebovic
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674969596
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
Does America have a free press? Many who answer yes appeal to First Amendment protections that shield the press from government censorship. But in this comprehensive history of American press freedom as it has existed in theory, law, and practice, Sam Lebovic shows that, on its own, the right of free speech has been insufficient to guarantee a free press. Lebovic recovers a vision of press freedom, prevalent in the mid-twentieth century, based on the idea of unfettered public access to accurate information. This “right to the news” responded to persistent worries about the quality and diversity of the information circulating in the nation’s news. Yet as the meaning of press freedom was contested in various arenas—Supreme Court cases on government censorship, efforts to regulate the corporate newspaper industry, the drafting of state secrecy and freedom of information laws, the unionization of journalists, and the rise of the New Journalism—Americans chose to define freedom of the press as nothing more than the right to publish without government censorship. The idea of a public right to all the news and information was abandoned, and is today largely forgotten. Free Speech and Unfree News compels us to reexamine assumptions about what freedom of the press means in a democratic society—and helps us make better sense of the crises that beset the press in an age of aggressive corporate consolidation in media industries, an increasingly secretive national security state, and the daily newspaper’s continued decline.

Freedom of Speech and the Press

Freedom of Speech and the Press PDF Author: Ian C. Friedman
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 1438100264
Category : Freedom of speech
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
American democracy owes much to the rights guaranteed to individuals in the U.S. Constitution and specifically in its first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights. Each book in the new six-volume American Rights set provides the history of a specific right or rights, from the right to vote to the right to bear arms. The volumes begin with brief colonial history, discussing the war fought by American Revolutionaries to gain independence from Great Britain - and their opportunity to decide what rights every American should possess. Coverage also includes later and ongoing struggles by groups such as women and people of color to gain these rights - both in law and in practice. Students will learn to appreciate the value of these rights by reading of the battles fought to secure them and, in some cases, by learning of their relative rarity around the world. Graphs, maps, photographs, and box features enhance the lively and accessible narrative, calling out important details and bringing this exciting material to life. Providing a wealth of information, American Rights is a thought-provoking, must-have set perfect for the young readers of today.

Indelible Ink: The Trials of John Peter Zenger and the Birth of America's Free Press

Indelible Ink: The Trials of John Peter Zenger and the Birth of America's Free Press PDF Author: Richard Kluger
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393245470
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
"Vivid storytelling built on exacting research." —Bill Keller, New York Times Book Review In 1735, struggling printer John Peter Zenger scandalized colonial New York by launching a small newspaper, the New-York Weekly Journal. The newspaper was assailed by the new British governor as corrupt and arrogant, and as being a direct challenge against the prevailing law that criminalized any criticism of the royal government. Zenger was thrown in jail for nine months before his landmark one-day trial on August 4, 1735, in which he was brilliantly defended by Andrew Hamilton. In Indelible Ink, Pulitzer Prize–winning social historian Richard Kluger has fashioned the first book-length narrative of the Zenger case, rendering with colorful detail its setting in old New York and the vibrant personalities of its leading participants, whose virtues and shortcomings are assessed with fresh scrutiny often at variance with earlier accounts.

Endowed by Our Creator

Endowed by Our Creator PDF Author: Michael I. Meyerson
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300183496
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 477

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Book Description
The debate over the framers' concept of freedom of religion has become heated and divisive. This scrupulously researched book sets aside the half-truths, omissions, and partisan arguments, and instead focuses on the actual writings and actions of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and others. Legal scholar Michael I. Meyerson investigates how the framers of the Constitution envisioned religious freedom and how they intended it to operate in the new republic. Endowed by Our Creator shows that the framers understood that the American government should not acknowledge religion in a way that favors any particular creed or denomination. Nevertheless, the framers believed that religion could instill virtue and help to unify a diverse nation. They created a spiritual public vocabulary, one that could communicate to all—including agnostics and atheists—that they were valued members of the political community. Through their writings and their decisions, the framers affirmed that respect for religious differences is a fundamental American value, Meyerson concludes. Now it is for us to determine whether religion will be used to alienate and divide or to inspire and unify our religiously diverse nation.

A New Birth of Freedom

A New Birth of Freedom PDF Author: Harry V. Jaffa
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780847699537
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 574

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Book Description
This book represents the culmination of over a half a century of study and reflection by Jaffa, and continues his piercing examination of the political thought of Abraham Lincoln.

Guardians of Liberty

Guardians of Liberty PDF Author: Linda Barrett Osborne
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1683356276
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
A riveting introduction to the crucial role of First Amendment rights and the media Guardians of Liberty explores the essential and basic American ideal of freedom of the press. Allowing the American press to publish—even if what they’re reporting is contentious— without previous censure or interference by the federal government was so important to the Founding Fathers that they placed a guarantee in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Citing numerous examples from America’s past, from the American Revolution to the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement to Obama’s and Trump’s presidencies, Linda Barrett Osborne shows how freedom of the press has played an essential role in the growth of this nation, allowing democracy to flourish. She further discusses how the freedoms of press and speech often work side by side, reveals the diversity of American news, and explores why freedom of the press is still imperative to uphold today. Includes endnotes, bibliography, and index

Free Expression and Democracy in America

Free Expression and Democracy in America PDF Author: Stephen M. Feldman
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226240746
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 596

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Book Description
From the 1798 Sedition Act to the war on terror, numerous presidents, members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, and local officials have endorsed the silencing of free expression. If the connection between democracy and the freedom of speech is such a vital one, why would so many governmental leaders seek to quiet their citizens? Free Expression and Democracy in America traces two rival traditions in American culture—suppression of speech and dissent as a form of speech—to provide an unparalleled overview of the law, history, and politics of individual rights in the United States. Charting the course of free expression alongside the nation’s political evolution, from the birth of the Constitution to the quagmire of the Vietnam War, Stephen M. Feldman argues that our level of freedom is determined not only by the Supreme Court, but also by cultural, social, and economic forces. Along the way, he pinpoints the struggles of excluded groups—women, African Americans, and laborers—to participate in democratic government as pivotal to the development of free expression. In an age when our freedom of speech is once again at risk, this momentous book will be essential reading for legal historians, political scientists, and history buffs alike.

Freedom for the Thought That We Hate

Freedom for the Thought That We Hate PDF Author: Anthony Lewis
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1458758389
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
More than any other people on earth, we Americans are free to say and write what we think. The press can air the secrets of government, the corporate boardroom, or the bedroom with little fear of punishment or penalty. This extraordinary freedom results not from America’s culture of tolerance, but from fourteen words in the constitution: the free expression clauses of the First Amendment.InFreedom for the Thought That We Hate, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Anthony Lewis describes how our free-speech rights were created in five distinct areas—political speech, artistic expression, libel, commercial speech, and unusual forms of expression such as T-shirts and campaign spending. It is a story of hard choices, heroic judges, and the fascinating and eccentric defendants who forced the legal system to come face to face with one of America’s great founding ideas.