By Free Republic | Created at 2024-09-30 17:09:58 | Updated at 2024-09-30 19:38:22
2 hours ago
Why Slaveholders Restricted Free Speech
RealClear History ^ | 30 Sep, 2024 | Jonathan W. White
Posted on 09/30/2024 10:03:18 AM PDT by MtnClimber
In the years before the Civil War, slaveholders were the greatest threat to free speech in the United States. White Southerners used state laws, a congressional gag rule, suppression of the mail, and physical violence to silence abolitionist speech because they believed it was dangerous.
In 1830, for example, Louisiana penalized anyone using “language in any public discourse, from the bar, the bench, the stage, the pulpit, or in any place whatsoever,” as well as “in private discourses or conversations,” that had “a tendency to produce discontent among the free colored population of this State, or to incite insubordination among the slaves therein.” In other words, those who spoke out against slavery or racial discrimination would be in violation of this law. The mandated punishment ranged from three to 21 years of hard labor to death.
Other states enacted identical statutes. As one South Carolina newspaper declared, the topic of slavery “shall not be open to discussion.”
Speaking out against slavery in the U.S. took courage. If anti-speech laws were not enough, mobs filled in the gaps. Some abolitionists were brutally beaten while others were murdered.
Abraham Lincoln engaged this issue in a speech he delivered at the Cooper Union in New York City in February 1860. Speaking directly to white Southerners, he said, “You consider yourselves a reasonable and a just people. Still, when you speak of us Republicans, you do so only to denounce us a reptiles, or, at the best, as no better than outlaws.” Lincoln pointed out that Southern Democrats were more likely to “grant a hearing to pirates or murderers” than to Republicans.
Indeed, when white Southerners gathered together, Lincoln said that “an unconditional condemnation” of Republicans was “the first thing to be attended to.”
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearhistory.com ...
TOPICS: History; Society
KEYWORDS: democrats
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1 posted on 09/30/2024 10:03:18 AM PDT by MtnClimber
To: MtnClimber
DemocRATs have not changed so much.
2 posted on 09/30/2024 10:03:28 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page. More photos added.)
To: MtnClimber
Liberals have been pissed at conservatives ever since conservatives freed the slaves
3 posted on 09/30/2024 10:04:32 AM PDT by Bob434
To: MtnClimber
Their position on gun control has also been consistent.
4 posted on 09/30/2024 10:05:06 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (My decisions about people are based almost entirely on skin color. I learned this from Democrats.)
To: MtnClimber
Just another liberal trying to beat down White people. More lies from the Left.
5 posted on 09/30/2024 10:05:24 AM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie (O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and His mercy endureth forever. -- Psalm 106)
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