A Distant Heritage

Download or read book A Distant Heritage written by Larry Eldridge and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 1995-07 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After an exhaustive analysis of over 1,200 seditious speech cases in every colonial American court that existed before 1700, Eldridge (history, Widener U., Chester, Pennsylvania) refutes the common belief that Americans did not enjoy free speech until the 18th century. He traces the growing leniency during the 17th century, and attributes it to a combination of tumult and social development, which made people more willing to criticize authorities, and the authorities less able to prevent criticism. The index is superbly detailed. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR