Revolutionary Dissent
How the Founding Generation Created the Freedom of Speech
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
When members of the founding generation protested against British authority, debated separation, and then ratified the Constitution, they formed the American political character we know today-raucous, intemperate, and often mean-spirited. Revolutionary Dissent brings alive a world of colorful and stormy protests that included effigies, pamphlets, songs, sermons, cartoons, letters and liberty trees. Solomon explores through a series of chronological narratives how Americans of the Revolutionary period employed robust speech against the British and against each other. Uninhibited dissent provided a distinctly American meaning to the First Amendment's guarantees of freedom of speech and press at a time when the legal doctrine inherited from England allowed prosecutions of those who criticized government.
Solomon discovers the wellspring in our revolutionary past for today's satirists like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Keith Olbermann, and protests like flag burning and street demonstrations. From the inflammatory engravings of Paul Revere, the political theater of Alexander McDougall, the liberty tree protests of Ebenezer McIntosh and the oratory of Patrick Henry, Solomon shares the stories of the dissenters who created the American idea of the liberty of thought. This is truly a revelatory work on the history of free expression in America.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Solomon (Ellery's Protest), a journalist and associate professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, explores the 17th- and 18th-century political and cultural dynamics that resulted in the expansive view of freedom of expression employed in the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. To underscore the breadth of support for this understanding, Solomon cleverly names each chapter after the vocation of a person who played a part in the events that forged the founders' vision. The players include the famous and the uncelebrated: Paul Revere, the "Silversmith,"; James Madison, the "Framer"; little-known Ebenezer McIntosh, the "Shoemaker"; and Patrick Henry, the "Planter." Additionally, Solomon demonstrates how broad the concept of freedom of expression had become in the First Amendment, protecting newspapers, pamphlets, songs, and other forms, in addition to public speech. One of the issues, then and now, in First Amendment doctrine is the extent to which libelous speech is protected. Solomon covers this conundrum well and cites a pivotal 20th-century Supreme Court case on freedom of the press, New York Times v. Sullivan, which outlines where the debate now stands. Solomon's mix of close history, academic dissertation, and accessible popular history reiterates the value of examining the historical precedents to America's revered commitment to freedom of expression.
