The Sedition Act of 1798

self, congress | 1798 | self, congress

[cgbg]

This makes very interesting reading. Most major media coverage today and many of the disruptive peace protests would clearly be in violation of that act.

[wireman]

Sedition?

[inquest]

Most major media coverage today and many of the disruptive peace protests would clearly be in violation of that act.

Except the sunset provision has passed some time ago.

[per loin]

That act was allowed to expire in 1801. Please try to keep up.

[cgbg]

sedition?

Oops. ;-)

[PISANO]

Shouldn't WAR be DECLARED by CONGRESS for this to be effective? Just asking, don't know the answer, but heard it somewhere?

[cgbg]

Please try to keep up.

I guess I have come down with a bad case of nostalgia. ;-)

[general_re]

Except the sunset provision has passed some time ago.

And criminalizing libel probably wasn't such a hot idea in the first place anyway...

[Fiddlstix]

Bump

[isom35]

I'm going to lobby congress to pass the spellchecker act.... :) I"m keeeding!!

[TommyDale]

If the act weren't already allowed to expire, certainly it would have been stricken down by Executive Order by Bill Clinton. That Chinese Silkworm missile shot at Kuwait City last night had his name all over it. Thanks again, Bill.

[cgbg]

criminalizing libel not a great idea

Wouldn't it be cool, though, if the families of KIAs, MIAs, or POWs could sue the media for giving aid and comfort to the enemy that was a contributor to the damage caused their families?

I just don't like seeing the media get a free ride on their atrocious conduct during this war.

[inquest]

Liberal

[Quix]

The media I can ignore to a point.

The violent pIEce activists determined to shred our society into pieces

NEED PROSECUTED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW.

IMHO.

[beckett]

The Alien and Sedition Act was clearly unconstitutional, and has been a blot on John Adams's record for two hundred years.

The interesting thing in terms of today's situation is that the Alien and Sedition Act was passed in response to the XYZ affair, in which French Foreign Minister Talleyrand demanded a $250,000 bribe from Adams before he would consider normalizing relations between France and the USA, which at the time were drifting perilously close to war.

The slogan "Millions for defense, not a cent for tribute" dates from that time.

It was anti-war, pro-French sentiment and activism from Republicans (Jeffersonians) that cause Federalist Adams to seek to shut them up with the Alien and Sedition Act.

[general_re]

The nice thing is, eventually people get sick of that kind of thing and stop listening. They can spin things any way they like, but with the rise of the internet and places like FR, it's getting harder and harder every year for them to get away with it. The days of the press as the exclusive disseminators of information, and therefore "truth", are becoming increasingly limited.

So take heart - you're witnessing the dying spasms of a herd of dinosaurs ;)

[general_re]

Liberal

Shhh, I'll tell you a secret - I'm not wild about debtor's prisons or child labor either. Me and my bleeding heart ;)

[inquest]

Yeah, and you were saying on the other thread that you wanted to let civilians out of Baghdad before we went in. I don't know what I'm gonna do with you...

[general_re]

Whatever you're going to do, you should probably do it fast - I figure it's only a matter of time before my bleeding-heart liberalism gets me banned ;)