Silencing “Sedition”: How Abraham Lincoln and John Adams Desecrated the Constitution to Combat Public Reprimand

Authors

Jordan NewportFollow

Abstract

Throughout history, principally during actual or feared times of war, the United States government has seemingly interpreted the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as a mere suggestion and not as the “Supreme Law of the Land.” This has led to well-documented difficulties related to infringement upon individuals’ Constitutional rights. In this article, the governmental action taken to combat “sedition” in two distinct periods of American History will be addressed. I suggest that while people attack Lincoln for suspending habeas corpus, thus providing a gateway to Constitutional violations, this is just another act throughout the course of history in which the United States Government has violated Constitutional rights in favor of “national security.”

Recommended Citation

Jordan Newport, Silencing “Sedition”: How Abraham Lincoln and John Adams Desecrated the Constitution to Combat Public Reprimand, 6 Lincoln Mem’l U. L. Rev. (2019).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.lmunet.edu/lmulrev/vol6/iss2/2