I.

Introduction

Freedom of Speech, freedom of expression, both oral and written, from governmental prior restraint, except as such expression constitutes libel, slander, obscenity, sedition, or criminal conduct such as bribery, perjury, or incitement to riot. In the U.S., this freedom is protected by the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, and is considered essential to the vitality of representative government. At the core of 1st Amendment concerns is the protection of expression that is critical of government policies.

In the view of some scholars, public speech includes freedom of the press (see Press, Freedom of the). Because it is essential to political activities and religious practices, the exercise of the right of free expression often occurs in association with the exercise of the right of peaceable assemblage and freedom of worship; it is also intrinsically related to academic freedom, that is, to the right of teachers to express opinion in accordance with their belief and conscience and with immunity from dismissal or other penalty.

II.

Limits

As with other forms and modes of liberty, completely unrestricted freedom of expression leads to infringement on the rights of others, and it has long been recognized that restraints on liberty of utterance are necessary and inevitable. The nature and extent of the restraints to be imposed and the means by which they are enforced have constituted important problems in law and government. Historically, most of these problems have revolved around the expression of ideas that were antagonistic to prevailing religious, political, and economic beliefs and institutions, and thus were adjudged subversive. In time of war, freedom of speech is necessarily abridged to some extent in the interests of public security.

III.

History

The modern concept of freedom of speech emerged gradually during the struggles of the Middle Ages. In England, for example, the struggle for freedom of speech extended from the 16th through the 18th centuries and was a vital part of the larger struggle for individual liberty and democratic government. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which issued from the French Revolution of 1789, specifically affirmed freedom of speech as an inalienable right. The vital relationship of free expression to the cause of American liberty was evidenced in the guarantees of free speech in the constitutions of the states, beginning with that of Virginia in 1776. A proposed constitution for Massachusetts failed of adoption in 1778 because it did not contain a guarantee of liberty of utterance. Historians generally agree that the U.S. Constitution in its original form, without the guarantees of free speech and other liberties contained in the first ten amendments, would not have been ratified by the people (see Bill of Rights).

For three-quarters of a century after the establishment of the U.S., freedom of speech and all other rights were denied the black slaves until they were emancipated and were legally endowed with the same rights as white citizens. During this period freedom of speech was abridged by Congress in 1798 by passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts, which made it a criminal offense to foster opposition to the federal government. After the American Civil War, during the rapid industrialization of the U.S., problems of free speech arose in connection with efforts of unions to organize workers and to conduct strikes (see Trade Unions in the United States). A wave of patriotic intolerance in the U.S. culminated during World War I in the enactment by Congress of the Espionage Act of 1917, and in the enactment by a number of states after the war of criminal-syndicalism laws; under these laws, the right of free speech of foreigners, labor organizers, pacifists, radicals, and others was seriously abridged, and academic freedom was impaired. Abroad, free speech and other libertarian rights were abolished after World War I by the totalitarian governments of a number of European countries. The organization of communism as a worldwide movement dedicated to the overthrow of democratic governments raised a new question, particularly in the U.S., regarding the line to be drawn between sedition and the lawful right of free speech. The trial for conspiracy of 11 American Communist leaders in 1949 focused nationwide attention on this question. See also Civil Rights and Civil Liberties; Democracy; Liberty.