Author: Phillip I. Blumberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139490028
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
This volume seeks to explain how American society, which had been capable of noble aspirations such as those in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, was capable of adopting one of the most widely deplored statutes of our history, the Sedition Act of 1798. It examines how the political ideals of the American Revolution were undermined by the adoption of repressive doctrines of the English monarchial system - the criminalization of criticism against the king, the Parliament, the judiciary, and Christianity. Freedom of speech was dramatically confined, and this law remained unchallenged until well into the twentieth century. This book will be of keen interest to all concerned with the early Republic, freedom of speech, and evolution of American constitutional jurisprudence. Because it addresses the much-criticized Sedition Act of 1798, one of the most dramatic illustrations of this repressive jurisprudence, the book will also be of interest to Americans concerned about preserving free speech in wartime.
Repressive Jurisprudence in the Early American Republic
Author: Phillip I. Blumberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139490028
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
This volume seeks to explain how American society, which had been capable of noble aspirations such as those in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, was capable of adopting one of the most widely deplored statutes of our history, the Sedition Act of 1798. It examines how the political ideals of the American Revolution were undermined by the adoption of repressive doctrines of the English monarchial system - the criminalization of criticism against the king, the Parliament, the judiciary, and Christianity. Freedom of speech was dramatically confined, and this law remained unchallenged until well into the twentieth century. This book will be of keen interest to all concerned with the early Republic, freedom of speech, and evolution of American constitutional jurisprudence. Because it addresses the much-criticized Sedition Act of 1798, one of the most dramatic illustrations of this repressive jurisprudence, the book will also be of interest to Americans concerned about preserving free speech in wartime.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139490028
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
This volume seeks to explain how American society, which had been capable of noble aspirations such as those in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, was capable of adopting one of the most widely deplored statutes of our history, the Sedition Act of 1798. It examines how the political ideals of the American Revolution were undermined by the adoption of repressive doctrines of the English monarchial system - the criminalization of criticism against the king, the Parliament, the judiciary, and Christianity. Freedom of speech was dramatically confined, and this law remained unchallenged until well into the twentieth century. This book will be of keen interest to all concerned with the early Republic, freedom of speech, and evolution of American constitutional jurisprudence. Because it addresses the much-criticized Sedition Act of 1798, one of the most dramatic illustrations of this repressive jurisprudence, the book will also be of interest to Americans concerned about preserving free speech in wartime.
Village Atheists
Author: Leigh Eric Schmidt
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691183112
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Book Description
A compelling history of atheism in American public life A much-maligned minority throughout American history, atheists have been cast as a threat to the nation’s moral fabric, barred from holding public office, and branded as irreligious misfits in a nation chosen by God. Yet village atheists—as these godless freethinkers came to be known by the close of the nineteenth century—were also hailed for their gutsy dissent from stultifying pieties and for posing a necessary secularist challenge to the entanglements of church and state. In Village Atheists, Leigh Eric Schmidt explores the complex cultural terrain that unbelievers have long had to navigate in their fight to secure equal rights and liberties in American public life. He rebuilds the history of American secularism from the ground up, giving flesh and blood to these outspoken infidels. Village Atheists demonstrates that the secularist vision for the United States proved to be anything but triumphant in a country where faith and citizenship were—and still are—closely interwoven.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691183112
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Book Description
A compelling history of atheism in American public life A much-maligned minority throughout American history, atheists have been cast as a threat to the nation’s moral fabric, barred from holding public office, and branded as irreligious misfits in a nation chosen by God. Yet village atheists—as these godless freethinkers came to be known by the close of the nineteenth century—were also hailed for their gutsy dissent from stultifying pieties and for posing a necessary secularist challenge to the entanglements of church and state. In Village Atheists, Leigh Eric Schmidt explores the complex cultural terrain that unbelievers have long had to navigate in their fight to secure equal rights and liberties in American public life. He rebuilds the history of American secularism from the ground up, giving flesh and blood to these outspoken infidels. Village Atheists demonstrates that the secularist vision for the United States proved to be anything but triumphant in a country where faith and citizenship were—and still are—closely interwoven.
Making the Presidency
Author: Lindsay M. Chervinsky
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197653847
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 441
Book Description
Making the Presidency argues that Adams's leadership and legacy defined the office for those who followed and ensured the survival of the American republic by establishing the peaceful transition of power and the integrity of the elections.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197653847
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 441
Book Description
Making the Presidency argues that Adams's leadership and legacy defined the office for those who followed and ensured the survival of the American republic by establishing the peaceful transition of power and the integrity of the elections.
The Problem of Democracy
Author: Nancy Isenberg
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525557520
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 578
Book Description
"Told with authority and style. . . Crisply summarizing the Adamses' legacy, the authors stress principle over partisanship."--The Wall Street Journal How the father and son presidents foresaw the rise of the cult of personality and fought those who sought to abuse the weaknesses inherent in our democracy. Until now, no one has properly dissected the intertwined lives of the second and sixth (father and son) presidents. John and John Quincy Adams were brilliant, prickly politicians and arguably the most independently minded among leaders of the founding generation. Distrustful of blind allegiance to a political party, they brought a healthy skepticism of a brand-new system of government to the country's first 50 years. They were unpopular for their fears of the potential for demagoguery lurking in democracy, and--in a twist that predicted the turn of twenty-first century politics--they warned against, but were unable to stop, the seductive appeal of political celebrities Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. In a bold recasting of the Adamses' historical roles, The Problem of Democracy is a major critique of the ways in which their prophetic warnings have been systematically ignored over the centuries. It's also an intimate family drama that brings out the torment and personal hurt caused by the gritty conduct of early American politics. Burstein and Isenberg make sense of the presidents' somewhat iconoclastic, highly creative engagement with America's political and social realities. By taking the temperature of American democracy, from its heated origins through multiple upheavals, the authors reveal the dangers and weaknesses that have been present since the beginning. They provide a clear-eyed look at a decoy democracy that masks the reality of elite rule while remaining open, since the days of George Washington, to a very undemocratic result in the formation of a cult surrounding the person of an elected leader.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525557520
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 578
Book Description
"Told with authority and style. . . Crisply summarizing the Adamses' legacy, the authors stress principle over partisanship."--The Wall Street Journal How the father and son presidents foresaw the rise of the cult of personality and fought those who sought to abuse the weaknesses inherent in our democracy. Until now, no one has properly dissected the intertwined lives of the second and sixth (father and son) presidents. John and John Quincy Adams were brilliant, prickly politicians and arguably the most independently minded among leaders of the founding generation. Distrustful of blind allegiance to a political party, they brought a healthy skepticism of a brand-new system of government to the country's first 50 years. They were unpopular for their fears of the potential for demagoguery lurking in democracy, and--in a twist that predicted the turn of twenty-first century politics--they warned against, but were unable to stop, the seductive appeal of political celebrities Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. In a bold recasting of the Adamses' historical roles, The Problem of Democracy is a major critique of the ways in which their prophetic warnings have been systematically ignored over the centuries. It's also an intimate family drama that brings out the torment and personal hurt caused by the gritty conduct of early American politics. Burstein and Isenberg make sense of the presidents' somewhat iconoclastic, highly creative engagement with America's political and social realities. By taking the temperature of American democracy, from its heated origins through multiple upheavals, the authors reveal the dangers and weaknesses that have been present since the beginning. They provide a clear-eyed look at a decoy democracy that masks the reality of elite rule while remaining open, since the days of George Washington, to a very undemocratic result in the formation of a cult surrounding the person of an elected leader.
The Free Press Crisis of 1800
Author: Peter Charles Hoffer
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700617655
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 168
Book Description
The far-reaching Sedition Act of 1798 was introduced by Federalists to suppress Republican support of French revolutionaries and imposed fines and imprisonment "if any person shall write, print, utter or publish . . . scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States." Such a broadly and loosely defined offense challenged the freedom of the American press and gave the government the power to drag offending newspaper editors into court. The trial of Thomas Cooper in particular became an important showcase for debating the dangers and limits of the new law, one with great implications for both the new republic and federal constitutional law. Cooper's trial has now been rescued from long neglect and illuminated by Peter Charles Hoffer, one our nation's preeminent legal historians. While most modern students of the Sedition Act regard it as an extreme measure motivated by partisan malice, Hoffer offers a much more nuanced view that weighs all the arguments and fairly considers the position of each side in historical and legal context. Hoffer sets the stage by revisiting both the much better known 1735 trial of Peter Zenger and the subsequent fashioning of the First Amendment during the first meeting of the U.S. Congress.. He then describes the rise of political factions in the early republic, congressional debate over the Sedition Act, and Thomas Jefferson's and James Madison's Kentucky and Virginia Resolves. After a close reading of Cooper's allegedly seditious writings, Hoffer brings the trial record to life, capturing prosecution and defense strategies, including Cooper's attempt to subpoena President Adams and Federalist trial judge Samuel Chase's management of the prosecution from the bench. Long after the Federalists had departed the scene, echoes of the free-press crisis continued to roil American politics-reappearing in the debates over antislavery petitions, the suppression of dissent during the Civil War and two world wars, and most recently in the trials of suspected terrorists. Hoffer's book is an authoritative review of this landmark case and a vital touchstone for anyone concerned about the role of government and the place of dissent in times of national emergency.
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700617655
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 168
Book Description
The far-reaching Sedition Act of 1798 was introduced by Federalists to suppress Republican support of French revolutionaries and imposed fines and imprisonment "if any person shall write, print, utter or publish . . . scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States." Such a broadly and loosely defined offense challenged the freedom of the American press and gave the government the power to drag offending newspaper editors into court. The trial of Thomas Cooper in particular became an important showcase for debating the dangers and limits of the new law, one with great implications for both the new republic and federal constitutional law. Cooper's trial has now been rescued from long neglect and illuminated by Peter Charles Hoffer, one our nation's preeminent legal historians. While most modern students of the Sedition Act regard it as an extreme measure motivated by partisan malice, Hoffer offers a much more nuanced view that weighs all the arguments and fairly considers the position of each side in historical and legal context. Hoffer sets the stage by revisiting both the much better known 1735 trial of Peter Zenger and the subsequent fashioning of the First Amendment during the first meeting of the U.S. Congress.. He then describes the rise of political factions in the early republic, congressional debate over the Sedition Act, and Thomas Jefferson's and James Madison's Kentucky and Virginia Resolves. After a close reading of Cooper's allegedly seditious writings, Hoffer brings the trial record to life, capturing prosecution and defense strategies, including Cooper's attempt to subpoena President Adams and Federalist trial judge Samuel Chase's management of the prosecution from the bench. Long after the Federalists had departed the scene, echoes of the free-press crisis continued to roil American politics-reappearing in the debates over antislavery petitions, the suppression of dissent during the Civil War and two world wars, and most recently in the trials of suspected terrorists. Hoffer's book is an authoritative review of this landmark case and a vital touchstone for anyone concerned about the role of government and the place of dissent in times of national emergency.
The Blessings of Liberty
Author: Michael Les Benedict
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442259930
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 575
Book Description
This concise, accessible text provides students with a history of American constitutional development in the context of political, economic, and social change. Constitutional historian Michael Benedict stresses the role that the American people have played over time in defining the powers of government and the rights of individuals and minorities. He covers important trends and events in U.S. constitutional history, encompassing key Supreme Court and lower-court cases. The volume begins by discussing the English and colonial origins of American constitutionalism. Following an analysis of the American Revolution's meaning to constitutional history, the text traces the Constitution's evolution from the Early Republic to the present day. This third edition is updated to include the election of 2000, the Tea Party and the rise of popular constitutionalism, and the rise of judicial supremacy as seen in cases such as Citizens United, the Affordable Care Act, and gay marriage.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442259930
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 575
Book Description
This concise, accessible text provides students with a history of American constitutional development in the context of political, economic, and social change. Constitutional historian Michael Benedict stresses the role that the American people have played over time in defining the powers of government and the rights of individuals and minorities. He covers important trends and events in U.S. constitutional history, encompassing key Supreme Court and lower-court cases. The volume begins by discussing the English and colonial origins of American constitutionalism. Following an analysis of the American Revolution's meaning to constitutional history, the text traces the Constitution's evolution from the Early Republic to the present day. This third edition is updated to include the election of 2000, the Tea Party and the rise of popular constitutionalism, and the rise of judicial supremacy as seen in cases such as Citizens United, the Affordable Care Act, and gay marriage.
Contents of Commercial Contracts
Author: Paul S Davies
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1509930515
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 487
Book Description
Freedom of contract is a great strength of English law: indeed it is a key reason why English law is often the law of choice. But the terms of commercial contracts often restrict freedom of action. This book considers such terms. Leading commentators take stock of recent developments such as increased reliance on good faith/discretion and the rise of smart contracts. Insodoing, they make original contributions to ongoing debates concerning the limits to parties' freedom of contract. This important subject will interest drafters of commercial contracts keen to ensure that contracts are clear and enforceable; litigators disputing the meaning, scope and validity of terms; and academics interested in the purpose and nature of the exercises involved.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1509930515
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 487
Book Description
Freedom of contract is a great strength of English law: indeed it is a key reason why English law is often the law of choice. But the terms of commercial contracts often restrict freedom of action. This book considers such terms. Leading commentators take stock of recent developments such as increased reliance on good faith/discretion and the rise of smart contracts. Insodoing, they make original contributions to ongoing debates concerning the limits to parties' freedom of contract. This important subject will interest drafters of commercial contracts keen to ensure that contracts are clear and enforceable; litigators disputing the meaning, scope and validity of terms; and academics interested in the purpose and nature of the exercises involved.
The Litchfield Law School
Author: Paul DeForest Hicks
Publisher: Easton Studio Press LLC
ISBN: 1632261014
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 326
Book Description
In this well-researched and engaging book, Paul DeForest Hicks makes a convincing case that the Litchfield Law School provided the most innovative and successful legal education program in the country for almost fifty years (1784-1833). A recent history of the Harvard Law School acknowledged, “In retrospect, both Harvard and Yale have envied Litchfield’s success and wished to claim it as their ancestor.” Upwards of twelve hundred bright and ambitious students came from all over the country to study law at Litchfield with Tapping Reeve and James Gould, who took a national rather than state perspective in their lectures on the evolving principles of American common law. In every year from 1791 to 1860, there were law school alumni, including Aaron Burr and John C. Calhoun, who served at high levels in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the federal and state governments. Hicks gives fascinating details about many who succeeded as lawyers and in public office but also in the fields of business, finance, education, art and the military. Whether they practiced law or pursued other careers, their collective achievements continued to enhance the prestige of the Litchfield Law School long after it closed.
Publisher: Easton Studio Press LLC
ISBN: 1632261014
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 326
Book Description
In this well-researched and engaging book, Paul DeForest Hicks makes a convincing case that the Litchfield Law School provided the most innovative and successful legal education program in the country for almost fifty years (1784-1833). A recent history of the Harvard Law School acknowledged, “In retrospect, both Harvard and Yale have envied Litchfield’s success and wished to claim it as their ancestor.” Upwards of twelve hundred bright and ambitious students came from all over the country to study law at Litchfield with Tapping Reeve and James Gould, who took a national rather than state perspective in their lectures on the evolving principles of American common law. In every year from 1791 to 1860, there were law school alumni, including Aaron Burr and John C. Calhoun, who served at high levels in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the federal and state governments. Hicks gives fascinating details about many who succeeded as lawyers and in public office but also in the fields of business, finance, education, art and the military. Whether they practiced law or pursued other careers, their collective achievements continued to enhance the prestige of the Litchfield Law School long after it closed.
Contending for American Nationhood
Author: Benjamin Clark
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666965855
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 253
Book Description
Contending for American Nationhood: Joseph Story and the Debate Over a Federal Common Law offers a study of one of the early republic’s fiercest legal debates, one of the Supreme Court’s most understudied jurists and constitutional theorists, and the enduring tension between two irreconcilable understandings of the American union. It explores the conflict between two competing theories of the American union in the early years of the republic: the Nationalist Theory, which posited that the union was the creation of the national American people, and the Compact Theory, which portrayed the union as a compact between the peoples of the several states who had each separately decided to join to form the union. Benjamin Clark employs this underlying debate as a framework for understanding the debate over federal common law in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The book gives particular attention to the constitutional thought of Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, examining how these two seemingly-separate issues—the federal common law question and the existence of American nationhood—came together in Story’s constitutional theory.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666965855
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 253
Book Description
Contending for American Nationhood: Joseph Story and the Debate Over a Federal Common Law offers a study of one of the early republic’s fiercest legal debates, one of the Supreme Court’s most understudied jurists and constitutional theorists, and the enduring tension between two irreconcilable understandings of the American union. It explores the conflict between two competing theories of the American union in the early years of the republic: the Nationalist Theory, which posited that the union was the creation of the national American people, and the Compact Theory, which portrayed the union as a compact between the peoples of the several states who had each separately decided to join to form the union. Benjamin Clark employs this underlying debate as a framework for understanding the debate over federal common law in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The book gives particular attention to the constitutional thought of Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, examining how these two seemingly-separate issues—the federal common law question and the existence of American nationhood—came together in Story’s constitutional theory.
Frog Hollow
Author: Susan Campbell
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
ISBN: 081957855X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 249
Book Description
Portraits of a gritty New England neighborhood and its people, with accompanying photos, reflecting waves of immigrants and tides of American history. Frog Hollow: Stories from an American Neighborhood is a collection of colorful historical vignettes of an ethnically diverse neighborhood just west of the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford. Its 1850s row houses have been home to a wide variety of immigrants. During the Revolutionary War, Frog Hollow was a progressive hub, and later, in the mid-late nineteenth century, it was a hotbed of industry. Reporter Susan Campbell tells the true stories of Frog Hollow with a primary focus on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the inventors, entrepreneurs and workers, as well as the impact of African American migration to Hartford, the impact of the Civil Rights movement and the continuing fight for housing. Frog Hollow was also one of the first neighborhoods in the country to experiment with successful urban planning models, including public parks and free education. From European colonists to Irish and Haitian immigrants to Puerto Ricans, these stories of Frog Hollow show the multiple realities that make up a dynamic urban neighborhood. At the same time, they reflect the changing faces of American cities. “Goes into great detail about the misfortunes, the corporate decisions and the governmental missteps that contributed to bringing Frog Hollow low. But despite a sometimes sorrowful tone, the book ends on a hopeful note.” —Hartford Courant
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
ISBN: 081957855X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 249
Book Description
Portraits of a gritty New England neighborhood and its people, with accompanying photos, reflecting waves of immigrants and tides of American history. Frog Hollow: Stories from an American Neighborhood is a collection of colorful historical vignettes of an ethnically diverse neighborhood just west of the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford. Its 1850s row houses have been home to a wide variety of immigrants. During the Revolutionary War, Frog Hollow was a progressive hub, and later, in the mid-late nineteenth century, it was a hotbed of industry. Reporter Susan Campbell tells the true stories of Frog Hollow with a primary focus on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the inventors, entrepreneurs and workers, as well as the impact of African American migration to Hartford, the impact of the Civil Rights movement and the continuing fight for housing. Frog Hollow was also one of the first neighborhoods in the country to experiment with successful urban planning models, including public parks and free education. From European colonists to Irish and Haitian immigrants to Puerto Ricans, these stories of Frog Hollow show the multiple realities that make up a dynamic urban neighborhood. At the same time, they reflect the changing faces of American cities. “Goes into great detail about the misfortunes, the corporate decisions and the governmental missteps that contributed to bringing Frog Hollow low. But despite a sometimes sorrowful tone, the book ends on a hopeful note.” —Hartford Courant