Is the Alien and Sedition Act Passed by Adams, the Second President of the United States?

4min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Free speech was the bulwark of liberty, writes Julian Zelizer. But in france during the revolution there was not a comparable culture of free speech. And i think iti's tempting to see that as due to, at least partly due tol aful cultureal free speech in france at time.

Hailed as the “first freedom,” free speech is the bedrock of democracy, and it is subject to erosion in times of upheaval. Today, in democracies and authoritarian states around the world, it is on the retreat.

In this episode, based on the book Free Speech, Michael Shermer and Jacob Mchangama discuss the riveting legal, political, and cultural history of the principle, how much we have gained from it, and how much we stand to lose without it. Mchangama reveals how the free exchange of ideas underlies all intellectual achievement and has enabled the advancement of both freedom and equality worldwide. Yet the desire to restrict speech, too, is a constant.