Americans are more supportive of free speech than anyother people. 95 % of Americans think it’s “very important” to be able tocriticize the government without censorship and 77% support the right to offendreligious feelings. But in 17th Century colonial America,criticizing the government, officials or the laws was punishable as seditiouslibel and could result in the cropping of ears, whippings, boring of the tongueand jail time. Religious speech was also tightly controlled. Blasphemy waspunishable by death in several colonies and religious dissenters such asQuakers were viciously persecuted in Puritan New England. Despite the harshclimate of the 17th century, the boundaries of political speech andreligious tolerance were significantly expanded. In this episode we’llexplore:

How the crime of seditious libel was exported to colonial America

crime of seditious libel was exported to colonial America Why peddlers of “fake news” were seen as enemies of the state

Why a Harvard student was whipped for blasphemy

Why four Quakers were hanged in Boston and many more whipped, branded and jailed

How colonies like Pennsylvania, Carolina and Maryland combined religious tolerance with laws against religious offense,

Maryland combined religious tolerance with laws against offense, HowRoger Williams´ ”Rogue Island” and West New Jersey adopted policies of radical religious toleration

The dangers of mixing alcohol and politics in Maryland

How William Penn promoted religious tolerance and political intolerance

How the colonies operated a strict licensing regime to suppress printing

HowJohn Wise protested taxation without representation and became “America’s First Great Democrat”

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– American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Neal, L.S. & Corrigan, J. (2010): Religious Intolerance in America: A Documentary History. The University of North Carolina Press.

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Primary literature