[Americana] Wortman, Tunis. A Treatise, Concerning Political Enquiry, and the Liberty of the Press

New-York: Printed by George Forman, for the Author, 1800. First edition. 8vo. 296 pp. Three-quarter straight grain burgundy morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, stamped in gilt; all edges trimmed; ownership signature of John Chapman Hunter, Presiding Justice of the court in Fairfax County, Virginia, on title-page and page 3; foxing and dampstaining to text; top of title-page repaired, affecting "A" in title; pencil annotations at rear; contemporary ink scrawl at bottom of final page. Evans 39150; Sabin 105514; Reese, The Federal Hundred 85

First edition of this important work on freedom of speech and the press in the early years of the Republic.

Writing in the wake of the Alien and Sedition Acts, Wortman argues that the premise of the Declaration of Independence that the people have the right to dissolve political bonds implies an "unlimited right" of individuals and society to express political opinions. For Wortman, a society interested in furthering knowledge or truth must leave speech "entirely unshackled." He held that open debate furthered the ability of society to arrive at the wisest course of action. He argued that the effect of the Alien and Sedition Acts was self-defeating, since coercion could not suppress thought, but only its expression, and so would inevitably lead to a lack of faith in the government, which he viewed as a worse consequence than any breach of the peace.

[Americana] Wortman, Tunis. A Treatise, Concerning Political Enquiry, and the Liberty of the Press