Ep. 252: America’s first free speech crisis — the Sedition Act of 1798

Slack focuses on the infamous Sedition Act of 1798, which sparked the first major controversy over freedom of speech in America.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro (including note about Charlie Kirk)

03:59 Book origins

12:05 What were the Alien and Sedition Acts?

16:00 Prosecutions under the Act and their free speech implications

25:35 Free speech during the Revolutionary era

28:14 Adams’ perspective on the Sedition Act

46:02 Was Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase a partisan hack?

53:57 Sedition Act fallout

01:01:02 Outro

Read the transcript: https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/so-speak-podcast-transcript-americas-first-free-speech-crisis-sedition-act-1798

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