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

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this need and from this dissent came the new idea of constitutional protection for
freedom of the press.
The meaning of this right has always been—and remains to this day—highly
contested. The application of press freedom has never been as unqualified as
Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black or other absolutists would want. Mob action
limited press freedom during the Revolution, and the federal Sedition Act of 1798
banned exactly the type of criticism of government that appeared to inspire the idea
of protecting the freedom of the press in Virginia. Federalists defended the Sedition
Act by pointing to Blackstone’s limited definition, while Republicans argued it was
inconsistent with the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of the press. The
act expired in 1801, but certainly the threats against free press did not end there. 10
During times of war and crisis, freedom of expression continues to be threatened.
This work focused on liberty of the press in a specific time and place, having
the disadvantage of not being able to apply the findings more widely, and having
the advantage of greater detail, depth, and knowledge of the specifics. By closely
examining colonial Virginia, and to some extent neighboring Maryland, it is evident
in the public prints, the political battles, and the legal cases how freedom of the
press developed over time and was preserved by the public. Close focus brings a
more complete understanding of the concept in that time and place. Because the
Virginia constitutional protection of the press inspired other states, and because,
both directly and indirectly—through the other state constitutions—it was the key
precedent for the First Amendment, this study does give us greater understanding
about the larger federal protection.
A critical legal protection such as freedom of the press can develop from
more egalitarian sources than political theory or accepted legal practice. The public
prints of both Maryland and Virginia displayed clear calls for press freedom. This
10 There was no test of the Sedition Act’s constitutionality while it remained in force, but in
1964 the Supreme Court, in ruling on New York Times v. Sullivan, in essence ruled seditious libel
unconstitutional. Siegel, Communication Law in America, 118.