Emergence of a Free Press

What did "freedom of the press" really mean to the framers of the First Amendment and their contemporaries? This masterful book by a Pulitzer Prize–winning constitutional historian answers that question. In Emergence of a Free Press (a greatly revised and enlarged edition of his landmark Legacy of Suppression), Leonard W. Levy argues that the First Amendment was not designed to be the bulwark of a free press that many thought, nor had the amendment's framers intended to overturn the common law of seditious libel that was the principal means of stifling political dissent. Yet he notes how robust and rambunctious the early press was, and he takes that paradox into account in tracing the succession of cases and reforms that figured in the genesis of a free press. Mr. Levy's brilliant account offers a new generation of readers a penetrating look into the origins of one of America's most cherished freedoms.

&Levy (former professor of constitutional law, Brandeis U.) revises and updates his 1960 Legacy of Suppression: Freedom and Speech and Press in Early America. He now believes that his original thesis that American legislatures were far more oppressive towards free speech than pre-constitutional common-law courts was overstated. Incorporating more attention to actual press practice in this revision, he sees relatively more unfettered newspaper freedom, but he still supports his previous argument that the framers of the Constitution never intended to abolish the common law of seditious libel, contradicting the assertions of James Madison and numerous Supreme Court justices. This work is cited in Books for College Libraries, 3d ed. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Leonard W. Levy, whose Origins of the Fifth Amendment won the Pulitzer Prize in history, is formerly Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional History at Brandeis University and Andrew W. Mellon All-Claremont Professor of Humanities and History at the Claremont Graduate School. His other writings, many of which have also won awards, include The Palladium of Justice, Blasphemy, The Establishment Clause, Freedom of the Press from Zenger to Jefferson, Original Intent and the Framers' Constitution, and Jefferson and Civil Liberties. He lives in Ashland, Oregon.