Let Freedom Ring"This book narrates some half dozen cases on freedom with which the writer happened to be connected. They all occurred between the years 1922 and 1927 and have one common characteristic, fear." cf. p. xvi. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
American Civil Liberties American Mercury anarchist answer appeared aroused arrest asked believe Bible Boston Bryan called Captive Chase citizens Civil Liberties Union Clarence Darrow colored Constitution courtroom crime crowd Darrow Dayton defendants Detroit District Attorney evidence evolution fact fear free speech freedom guilty H. L. Mencken Hapgood held Henry Sweet injunction insisted iron police issue jail Joe Mack Judge jury Justice Ku Klux Klan lawyers Liveright magazine Malone meeting Mencken ment morals murder Nant-y-Glo negro never newspaper obscene opinion permit play Powers Hapgood prosecution Prosecutor protection question refused religion reported Sacco and Vanzetti Sacco-Vanzetti Scopes speech and assemblage statute street suppression Supreme Court Sweet Tennessee testified theater theory thought tion to-day trial Vintondale violation Waldorf Theatre Ward Society Watch and Ward William Jennings Bryan witness women words York zetti
Popular passages
Page 78 - The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.
Page 79 - To courageous, self-reliant men, with confidence in the power of free and fearless reasoning applied through the processes of popular government, no danger flowing from speech can be deemed clear and present, unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before there is opportunity for full discussion.
Page 130 - They believed that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; that without free speech and assembly discussion would be futile; that with them, discussion affords ordinarily adequate protection against the dissemination of noxious doctrine; that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people; that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government.
Page xxv - Tennessee, that it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the universities, normals, and all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.
Page xiii - That at any rate is the theory of our Constitution. It is an experiment, as all life is an experiment. Every year, if not every day, we have to wager our salvation upon some prophecy based upon imperfect knowledge. While that experiment is part of our system I think that we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe and believe to be fraught with death, unless they so imminently threaten immediate interference with the lawful and pressing purposes...
Page xiii - If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union, or to change its republican form, let them stand, undisturbed, as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it.
Page 192 - The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail — its roof may shake — the wind may blow through it — the storm may enter — the rain may enter — but the King of England cannot enter ! — all his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement...
Page 79 - Fear of serious injury cannot alone justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears. To justify suppression of free speech there must be reasonable ground to fear that serious evil will result if free speech is practiced. There must be reasonable ground to believe that the danger apprehended is imminent.
Page 130 - They recognized the risks to which all human institutions are subject. But they knew that order cannot be secured merely through fear of punishment for its infraction; that it is hazardous to discourage thought, hope and imagination; that fear breeds repression; that repression breeds hate; that hate menaces stable government; that the path of safety lies in the opportunity to discuss freely supposed grievances and proposed remedies; and that the fitting remedy for evil counsels is good ones. Believing...
Page 125 - The very idea of a government, republican in form, implies a right on the part of its citizens to meet peaceably for consultation in respect to public affairs, and to petition for a redress of grievances.