The Origins of a Free Press in Prerevolutionary ... - Web Publishing

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simply being a restriction on prior restraint to include protection from seditious
libel prosecution after the fact, truth as a defense for libel, and no taxation of the
press. While often referred to as a natural right, an extension of the individual right
to free speech, press freedom was also a civic responsibility, one that served the
function of counterbalancing a potentially corrupt government. This is a much
broader interpretation of free press origins than what is currently prevalent.
It was largely Virginia’s Declaration of Rights, and the proposed
amendments by the various state ratification conventions, that inspired what
became the federal Bill of Rights. The First Amendment, as it evolved, is not the
loose collection of unrelated clauses commonly assumed today. The right to gather,
discuss, and spread ideas by print—including both political ideas and possible heresy
from the established church—is a unified idea, supported by the experience in
colonial Virginia. 161 The historical background is one of an expanding civic
discourse that began with religious discourse. Colonial Virginians valued the right
to assemble and debate both politics and religion. This practice included the right
to petition and instruct one’s legislators on these matters. Together, these rights
constitute a unified whole:
Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble, and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances. 162
161 James W. Carey, “The Press, Public Opinion, and Public Discourse,” in Public Opinion
and the Communication of Consent, Theodore L. Glasser and Charles T. Salmon, eds., (New York:
The Guilford Press, 1995), 373-402.
162 First Amendment to the United States Constitution.