Free expression is one of the hallmarks of democracy that sometimes poses a threat to those in power or with conflicting views. From the beginning of America's inception until today censorship is a way of limiting political and social dissent. Often censorship is still practiced during war as a defense necessity,
Censorship in Early America
In the beginning, strict laws penalized political dissent on the charge of "seditious libel." Printers could not function without a government license to operate their presses. In the Revolutionary era, British loyalists were tarred and feathered. When the First Amendment was ratified in 1791, it provided a legal balance to censorship although its intention may have been more to empower states to punish libel than to guarantee freedom of expression. Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798 prohibiting false, scandalous and malicious writing against the government which was repudiated by the Republicans in power in 1802. For the next twenty-five years, the only punishment was practiced by private citizens who attacked alleged libelers.
In 1830, Southern states passed laws restricting a free press that encouraged a slave rebellion. Abolitionists in the North and South were censored by vigilance committees. Postal censorship by Southern states was practiced to withhold abolitionist mail. During the Civil War of 1861-1865, President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly closed newspapers and jailed "copperheads" who sympathized with the South.
Postal censorship was based on an act of Congress in 1865 and the Comstock Law passed in 1873. Any mail having to do with sex was censored in 1890 which could ban entire works based on isolated passages and words.
Censorship in the Early Twentieth Century
During the early twentieth century, a period of "obscene" literature, political radicalism, and issues surrounding World War I (1914-1918), the U.S. Post Office denied less expensive second-class postal rates to publications if found objectionable. The U.S. Customs stopped the importation of books which it judged to be obscene. Involvement in the World War resulted in the Espionage Act of 1917, restricting speech and the press, and extending denial of second-class mail to objectionable political publications.
In 1925, a test case resulted in the ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment took power back from the states regarding the restraint of free expression. In 1934, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was established to regulate radio which was justified by the Supreme Court. In response to the onset of World War II, Congress passed the Alien Registration Act in 1940, criminalizing advocacy of violent government overthrow. In 1946, postal censorship was overturned by the Supreme Court.
Censorship in the Late Twentieth Center and Beyond
During the Cold War era, Congress passed the 1950 Internal Security Act (McCarran Act) which required Communist Party members to register with the U.S. attorney general over the veto of President Harry Truman. Under Senator Joseph McCarthy, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations, during the 1950's, public figures were harassed on the basis of their past and present behavior. In 1957, Roth vs U.S. , which ended obscenity protection, liberalized its definition and Americans gained free access to formerly banned books.
In 1966, Congress passed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that created provisions and procedures allowing any member of the public to obtain records of federal government agencies. In 1971, the Pentagon Papers revealed government secrecy abuses during the Vietnam War. In 1974, the Privacy Act curtailed the governments legal ability to compile information about individuals.
Since that time, a variety of laws have been passed effecting censorship an the peoples' right to know. There is an ebb and flow of attempts at censorship and the freedom of the press. Preservation of that right is vital to the longevity of democracy.
For further information, see US History Encyclopedia
 |
