JOU 4380 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: John Peter Zenger, Seditious Libel, William Caxton
23 Mar 2017
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British government, upon invention of the printing press, used a licensing system to censor news. John milton -- first great argument for free expression. Wrote areopagitica in 1644, called for open debate as the only way for people to discern the truth and reject falsehood. John locke -- wrote second treatise on government , added that the government should be limited and should serve the people. William blackstone -- defined it all finally. From these people we made a constitution. Alexander hamilton hung onto fear of the british. To prevent a too-powerful king they gave lots of people rights; protected by the. There has always been a desire to control the press. Often very heavy censoring occurred as well. There were always people who supported free expression. John locke -- safeguarded natural rights like free expression. Free expression is linked to a free press. Censorship was simply a part of colonial life in america because of british monarchy control.
