James Madison and Freedom of Speech: Major Debates in the Early Republic [Paperback]

In this book, Juhani Rudanko sheds important new light on James Madison's contributions to the debates on freedom of speech, during the formative period of 1789 to 1801 in the United States. When Madison proposed amendments that eventually formed the core of the Bill of Rights (June 8, 1789), the reaction from the Federalist party majority was initially hostile. Rudanko examines Madison's patterns of argumentation in eventually persuading the House of Representatives to proceed with consideration of the Bill of Rights. The book also presents new insights on key debates of the Sedition Act, examining initial Federalist arguments when the Act was approved, July 1798, and identifies changes in those arguments soon afterwards.Juhani Rudankois Professor of English, University of Tampere, Finland, and author ofThe Forging of Freedom of Speech, (University Press of America, 2003).

Chapter 1 Preface
Chapter 2 Introduction
Chapter 3 The Historical Background
Chapter 4 James Madison and the Debate of June 8, 1789
Chapter 5 The Debate of July 21, 1789
Chapter 6 The Debate of August 13, 1789
Chapter 7 James Madison on Freedom of Speech in 1794
Chapter 8 The Federalist Triumph: The Sedition Act of 1798
Chapter 9 Change in Federalist Arguments: The Report of February 25, 1799
Chapter 10 Defining Freedom of Speech: Madison's Report of 1800
Chapter 11 The Federalist Attempt to Perpetuate the Sedition Act
Chapter 12 Concluding Observations
Chapter 13 Bibliography
Chapter 14 Author Biographical Sketch
Chapter 15 Index