“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
In a time of political turmoil, when criticism of the government could land you behind bars, Matthew Lyon, a congressman and fierce critic of the Federalist administration of John Adams, dared to defy the Sedition Act, a law that criminalized free speech. This would...
The Sedition Act of 1798 marked one of the most extreme restrictions on free speech in American history, criminalizing criticism of the government and making it illegal to publish anything that could “bring them or either of them into contempt or disrepute.” The law...
