Category Archives: First Amendment

Oklahoma fraternity #39;s racist song: Opinion Show for March 18, 2015
Elizabeth Sullivan leads the discussion as to whether the Oklahoma fraternity #39;s racist song video that was made public recently and the punishment violates the First Amendment right to...

By: cleveland.com

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Oklahoma fraternity's racist song: Opinion Show for March 18, 2015 - Video

In the autumn of 1798, Congressman Matthew Lyon of Vermont was fined $1,000 and sentenced to four months in prison. He was the first person convicted under the new Sedition Act, recently signed into law by President John Adams. It was now a crime to write, print, utter or publish false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States. As a reckless critic of Adams and the New England political elite, Lyon made an irresistible target.

The verdict shocked many Americans. Only a few years earlier, the states had ratified the Bill of Rights, which announced in its first sentence that Congress could make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. Now, it seemed, Congress had done exactly what the First Amendment forbade. And if a sitting representative could be imprisoned for criticizing the government, what chance did ordinary citizens have to exercise their democratic rights?

In Libertys First Crisis: Adams, Jefferson, and the Misfits Who Saved Free Speech, Charles Slack artfully tells the story of the rise and eventual fall of the Sedition Act. He traces its origins to the fierce presidential election of 1796 in which Adams narrowly defeated Thomas Jefferson. After the election, Jeffersons allies hurled unprecedented abuse at the new president. Adams and his supporters in Congress wished to protect themselves and, in their view, the legitimacy of the young republic from the attacks pouring out in newspapers, pamphlets, orations and private conversations.

Slacks delightful narrative focuses not on Adams and Jefferson but on the vast and eccentric group of printers, orators, politicians, amateur philosophers and visionaries who fought against the Sedition Act. We are introduced to men and women such as Philadelphia printer Benjamin Franklin Bache (grandson of Benjamin Franklin) and his wife, Margaret Markoe, who were two of the most articulate critics of the Adams administration, and to Luther Baldwin, a somewhat less articulate ferryman from New Jersey who, after a day of drinking in a pub, voiced the opinion that the president of the United States should be kicked in his backside. His subsequent arrest made him a hero.

In this period, before the Supreme Court claimed the power of voiding unconstitutional laws, the job of defeating the Sedition Act fell to these misfits, who did much to ensure that Adams became the first one-term president and that the act was allowed to expire soon after his electoral defeat. On the last day of Adams presidency, Matthew Lyon, who had returned from prison to serve again in Congress, sent him a blistering farewell letter. The Bill of Rights was never, Lyon wrote of the Sedition Act, more shamefully, more barefacedly trampled on. Slack shows us how citizens such as Lyon gave the First Amendment its defining role in American politics.

Matthew Simpson is chairman of the Philosophy Department at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

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Review: "Liberty's First Crisis: Adams, Jefferson and the Misfits Who Saved Free Speech, by Charles Slack

Tanya Simon at the RTDNA First Amendment Awards

By: RTDNA

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Tanya Simon at the RTDNA First Amendment Awards - Video

John and Diane Foley, RTDNF First Amendment
The parents of James Foley interviewed at the RDTNF First Amendment Dinner.

By: RTDNA

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John and Diane Foley, RTDNF First Amendment - Video

All About - First Amendment
What is First Amendment? A documentary report all about First Amendment for the blind and visually impaired or for homework/assignment. The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States...

By: All About

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All About - First Amendment - Video

How to Teach Social Studies: First Amendment Lesson Introduction
Does the 1st Amendment truly guarantee anything? Not really. This metaphor will help your students put 1st Amendment cases into context and help them analyze them. Why don #39;t the defendants...

By: Jeffrey Sanders

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How to Teach Social Studies: First Amendment Lesson Introduction - Video

Radio Attitude - Exercising The First Amendment - Hour One - Part 01
Live From KVNF Paonia CO Saturday, July 27th 1996.

By: Radio Attitude

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Radio Attitude - Exercising The First Amendment - Hour One - Part 01 - Video

2015 National Freedom of Information Day Conference: Miriam Nisbet
Hosted by the Newseum Institute #39;s First Amendment Center in cooperation with OpenTheGovernment.org and the American Library Association, the annual Freedom of Information Day Conference ...

By: Newseum

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2015 National Freedom of Information Day Conference: Miriam Nisbet - Video

Port of Entry First Amendment Test - U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Boxed Camera
Port of Entry First Amendment Test - U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Lukeville, Arizona, Boxed Camera, 14 March 2015.

By: Robert Trudell

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Port of Entry First Amendment Test - U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Boxed Camera - Video

First Amendment Test - Lukeville Port of Entry, Mexico to U.S.A., Customs and Border Protection
First Amendment Test - Lukeville Port of Entry, Arizona, Mexico to U.S.A., Customs and Border Protection, 14 March 2015, Civil Disobedience 0:00:59.954,0:01:01.314 [Ready for Officer] 0:01:05.000,...

By: Robert Trudell

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First Amendment Test - Lukeville Port of Entry, Mexico to U.S.A., Customs and Border Protection - Video