Thread by @chunterkap

A free press is an indispensable part of our Constitutional system of checks & balances. It disinfects government by shining a light into the back rooms & dark places where power corrupts. The only thing a free press is enemy to is authoritarianism.

“Republics…derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates.”

#BenFranklin

“[T]hat man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press.”

“I am...for freedom of the press, and against all violations of the constitution to silence by force and not by reason the complaints or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their agents.”

#ThomasJefferson

“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government: When this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved.”

#BenFranklin

But none of the means of information are more sacred, or have been cherished with more tenderness and care by the settlers of America, than the press.”

#JohnAdams

“The liberty of the press is essential to the security of the state.”

#JohnAdams

“If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter...reason is of no use to us; the freedom of speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the slaughter.”

#GeorgeWashington

“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”

#ThomasJefferson

“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

#ThomasJefferson

“The liberty of the press consists in the right to publish with impunity truth with good motives for justifiable ends...[T]he allowance of this right is essential to the preservation of free government – the disallowance of it is fatal.”

#AlexanderHamilton

“Freedom of the press can never be restrained but by despotic governments.”

#GeorgeMason

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