Harold is right this is a reference to the Sedition Act crisis and the Alien laws of
1800; but of course the national govt. and most southern state governments undermined a
free press from 1820 to 1861 whenever abolitionists sought to use the press to attack
slavery; in DC, where there was no home rule and so Congress had power to make laws,
abolitionists were proseucted for the possession of antislavery materials.  The Lincoln
administration selectively (and actually quite selectively, and not very often)
suppressed some northern papers during the war, not for anti-war sentiments per se (as
Wilson did in WWI) but for spreading rumors about war policy that were untrue and likely
to cause harm; the Confederacy allowed no free press discussion by opponents of slavery
or the war effort.



--
Paul Finkelman
Chapman Distinguished Professor
University of Tulsa College of Law
3120 East 4th Place
Tulsa, Oklahoma  74104-2499

918-631-3706 (office)
918-631-2194 (fax)

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"Harold S. Forsythe" wrote:

>   This is not my period, but I suspect the driving forces were the sharp partisanship
> which had developed by 1800 between Federalists and Jeffersonians, and the stark
> attack on liberties that Jeffersonians (and some Federalists) saw in
> the Alien and particularly the Sedition Act.  Freedom of the press
> as protected in the First Amendment was never undermined again
> so seriously as under the Sedition Act, until the Wilson
> Administration forced through the Espionage Act of 1917.
>
> Harold S. Forsythe
> History & Black Studies
> Fairfield University
>
> Date sent:              Fri, 06 Oct 2000 08:42:16 -0400
> From:                   Randy Cabell <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject:                "The reign of terror is no more."
> To:                     [log in to unmask]
> Send reply to:          Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
>         <[log in to unmask]>
>
> > In digging through some old presidential campaign songs, I ran across
> > "Jefferson and Liberty" which I understand was used not only in his 1800
> > campaign, but was the song of his party for the next 20 years or so.  My
> > American (and Virginia) history is not what it should be, and I wonder to
> > what the words which continually recur are referring.  For example:
> >
> > "The gloomy night before us flies,
> >   THE REIGN OF TERROR IS NO MORE,
> > No GAGS, INQUISITORS, or SPIES,
> >   Its HORDES OF HARPIES are no more."
> >
> > Is this a throw-back to some 25 years before at the beginning of the
> > Revolution, or were things really (perceived) THAT bad under John
> > Adams?  Actually, neither this verse nor the others have much really to
> > say about Mr. Jefferson.  He appears in the Chorus:
> >
> > "Rejoice, Columbia's Sons Rejoice, To Tyrannts never bend the knee,
> >   But join with heart and soul and voice, with Jefferson and Liberty."
> >
> > Randy Cabell
> >
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>
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