HKB
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Often appears with: censorship and the press · justice as a virtue · tribunals and censorship limits · tories distressed at halifax · theory of government · the passions and the emotions · tenacity of belief · star chamber legacy · shortening duration of parliaments · rights and liberties · public opinion as tribunal · public opinion as safeguard
Usually: argument (4) · reflection (2) · detachment (2) · exhortation (2) · crisis of belief (1) · censure (1) · curiosity (1) · indignation (1) · skepticism (1) · wonder (1)
“When once the Americans have taken up an idea, whether it be well or ill founded, nothing is more difficult than to eradicate it from their minds.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America — Volume 1 · observation
“I hold it to be impracticable; and from this I infer, that its security, whatever fine declarations may be inserted in any constitution respecting it, must altogether depend on public opinion, and on the general spirit of the people and of the government.” Alexander Hamilton; John Jay; James Madison, The Federalist Papers · insight
“But the liberty of the press is necessary to this government. The wisdom, however, of government is of more importance than the laws.” Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Present Discontents, and Speeches · insight
“Blessed be not the complaining tongue, but blessed be the amending hand.” Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Present Discontents, and Speeches · precept
He argues bills of rights can be dangerous because they create implied powers and mislead people into claiming authority; he also says press liberty depends on public opinion rather than vague constitutional phrasing.
which make the principal figure in several of our State bills of rights, and which would sound much better in a treatise of ethics than in a constitution of government. But a minute detail of particular rights is certainly far less applicable to a Constitution like that under consideration, which is merely intended to regulate the general political interests of the nation, than to a constitution which has the regula…
He opens a chapter on press liberty, arguing it shapes customs and laws, admitting he does not love it absolutely, and explaining the practical difficulty of regulating “unlicensed printing.”
Difficulty of restraining the liberty of the press—Particular reasons which some nations have to cherish this liberty—The liberty of the press a necessary consequence of the sovereignty of the people as it is understood in America—Violent language of the periodical press in the United States—Propensities of the periodical press—Illustrated by the United States—Opinion of the Americans upon the repression of the abuse…
Tocqueville argues that in the United States liberty of the press makes opinions harder to eradicate, producing stable government principles and durable public opinions through modified conviction rather than rapid change.
in the United States under the empire of the liberty of the press are frequently more firmly rooted than those which are formed elsewhere under the sanction of a censor. In the United States the democracy perpetually raises fresh individuals to the conduct of public affairs; and the measures of the administration are consequently seldom regulated by the strict rules of consistency or of order. But the general princi…
Burke surveys the history of libel law, linking it to printing and Star Chamber influences, and argues that restricting juries undermines liberty of the press and the constitutional protection of “good fame.”
legal and technical conclusions, formed upon general principles of law, let us see what they are. Certainly they are most unfavourable, indeed, totally adverse, to the Constitution of this country. Here we must have recourse to analogies, for we cannot argue on ruled cases one way or the other. See the history. The old books, deficient in general in Crown cases furnish us with little on this head. As to the crime…
Transitioning to a separate speech, Burke laments redesigning government foundations but defends shortening parliament terms to balance electoral benefits against the harms of frequent elections and calls for remedies suited to their evils.
merely for the purpose of rendering the people discontented with their situation, without an endeavour to give them a practical remedy, is indeed one of the worst acts of sedition. I have read and heard much upon the conduct of our courts in the business of libels. I was extremely willing to enter into, and very free to act as facts should turn out on that inquiry, aiming constantly at remedy as the end of all clam…
Abigail Adams acknowledges brief notes, discusses local appointments and exclusion from the bench, comments on reading Chesterfield and the liberty of the press, describes distress among Tory arrivals at Halifax, and prays for reforms.
I would fain hope that the time may not be far distant when those things you hint at may be carried into execution. "Oh! are ye not those patriots in whose power That best, that godlike luxury is placed Of blessing thousands, thousands yet unborn Thro' late posterity? Ye large of soul, Cheer up dejected industry, and give A double harvest to the pining swain. Teach thou, the laboring herd the sweet…