Antebellum Perspectives on Free Speech

In his book, Free Speech, "The People's Darling Privilege": Struggles for Freedom of Expression in American History, Professor Michael Kent Curtis documents the political struggles over free speech rights that took place between the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791 and the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868. Professor Curtis looks to these early free speech fights to help define the contours of contemporary speech rights. In this review, Professor Mark A. Graber discusses Professor Curtis's contribution to constitutional history, and the implications of The People's Darling Privilege for constitutional theorists