Fall/Winter 2006: On Principle

Sidebar: Free Press

Generations of American journalists have relied on, invoked, and defended the First Amendment, which both inspires them and allows them to do their work. Ratified in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, the forty-five-word amendment was designed to make freedom of speech a fundamental personal right. Yet over time, journalists, politicians, and private citizens have had to fight to keep the press and the right to personal expression truly free.

Perhaps ironically, the government itself has been responsible for many of the attacks on the First Amendment. In 1798, Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Act, which outlawed writing that criticized or defamed the president, congress, or government. If convicted, guilty persons could be fined as much as $2,000 and jailed for up to two years.

Twenty-five people were arrested under the Sedition Act, including newspaper editor Matthew Lyon, who spent four months in prison for criticizing President John Adams. Upon his election in 1800, Thomas Jefferson pardoned those arrested under the act, saying, "Our liberty depends upon freedom of the press and that cannot be limited without being lost." Congress voted to repay fines. The Sedition Act officially expired in 1801.

Fear and paranoia during World War I also led to censorship of the press. Pacifist, socialist, and German-American publications were banned from publication; the military censored reports from war correspondents; and several editors were imprisoned for publishing information deemed disloyal toward the government.

Today, debates over flag burning, along with attempts to censor music, television, and the Internet, dominate First Amendment challenges. Opposing sides continue to argue over a question first posed by our country's founders: What's more dangerous--allowing unlimited freedom of expression, or limiting it at all?

--Erika Weisensee

Published in the Fall/Winter 2006 issue of Oregon Humanities.

© 2006 Oregon Council for the Humanities