Monday, February 10, 2014

"The Freedom of the Press" (1787)

THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.

A NEW SONG.

WHERE dwells the man that dare suppress

The noble freedom of the press,

Sure he that would attempt the thing

On Haman's gallows ought to swing.

        The freedom of the press--

        O how shall I express,

        This grand important theme!

        Which unto me doth seem,

        To be of great and mighty weight

        Towards the freedom of the state.

Ye patriot band of friends!

You scarce can guess how much depends;

How much depends ye scarce can guess,

Upon the freedom of the press.

        The freedom of the Press &c.

How pleasing to a freeborn soul,

To speak, to write without controul,

And his internal thoughts express,

Whilst freedom smiles upon the press.

        The freedom of the Press &c.

How galling to the free-born mind,

To be by shackles so confin'd,

That he his mind dare not express,

Because a tyrant rules the press.

        The freedom of the Press &c.

O liberty! thou darling thing!

For thee I'd write from fall to spring;

For thee my warmest thoughts express--

May thou forever rule the press!

        The freedom of the press--

        O how shall I express,

        This grand important theme!

        Which unto me doth seem,

        To be of great and mighty weight

        Towards the freedom of the state.

Northern Centinel and Lansinghborough Advertiser. June 25, 1787.

The poem appeared anonymously and perhaps was reprinted from another newspaper. It was later reprinted in at least one other:

An anonymous poem published in the Freeman's Journal (North American Intelligencer) [Philadelphia, PA] June 27, 1787, reads:

Where dwells the man that dare suppress

The noble freedom of the press?

Sure he that would attempt the thing,

On Haman's gallows ought to swing.

This suggests that freedom of the press was not a new idea invented by the first amendment to the Constitution which provides that "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." As a matter of fact that the phrase had been a popular one in the courts since 1732.

Arthur L. Goodhart, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press, 1964 WASH. U.L.Q. 248 (1964). 259. Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.wustl.edu/lawreview/vol1964/iss3/2

No comments:

Post a Comment