Freedom Of the Press

“The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure.”

–Thomas Jefferson (1823)

It is important to note that democracy has never guaranteed freedom nor specific rights to a people. And in United States history, the misconception has been that the United States Constitution, signed in 1787, in particular, did not give people the right of free speech or freedom of the press, for example, and in fact did not give people any rights at all.

Rather, the U.S. Constitution protected pre-existing fundamental rights and provided for democratically elected officials, vulnerable to abuse their power, over such fundamental rights.

Therefore, it was with the construct of the U.S. Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791, known as the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which provided for express restrictions on the interference with those rights, which pre-existed both the formation of the U.S. government or its Constitution.

Although the U.S. Bill of Rights rests on the principle that a democracy does not dictate that freedom is guaranteed, it does serve as a buffer from the government and its officials from censorship over private entities, for they may exercise their rights of private ownership and liberty, fundamental rights the government is required to protect, not that of what they may or may not publish.

And in 18th century America, it was newspapers and the printed word which framed the U.S. Bill of Rights, and specifically the First Amendment, and was a key component in the argument that the Bill of Rights should become a part of the U.S. Constitution.

Primarily, it was Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd U.S. President (1801-1809) and the primary author the U.S. Declaration of Independence, who was insistent that a Bill of Rights was necessary to prevent the government wielding too much power, without any amendments to the Constitution.

And it was perhaps Jefferson who said it best, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
–Thomas Jefferson (1787)

Written by Diane M. Grassi
Copyright © 2008 Diane M. Grassi