Another way to celebrate the 4th of July | Opinion

On July 4, 1798, the U.S. Senate passed the Sedition Act, making it illegal to criticize the federal government or its allies in Congress. Today, the nation once again faces the threat of persecution for political speech. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric and performance during his first term demonstrate his willingness to use the executive branch’s enormous power to target his political opponents.

As part of his campaign, Trump has promised to investigate NBC and MSNBC’s coverage if he wins reelection this fall. This threat is not just empty words. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates radio, television, cable and satellite, ensuring a “competitive framework” for communications. Traditionally, the FCC is independent, but its commissioners are appointed by the president, and Trump could put significant pressure on the FCC to revoke MSNBC’s license in retaliation for critical coverage.

The Sedition Bill of 1798 made similar threats against political speech. It prohibited citizens from assembling or conspiring “with intent to oppose any measure of the Government of the United States” and forbade the writing, printing, utterance, or publication of “false, libelous, or malicious writings against the Government of the United States, or either House of the Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States.”

William Duane was one of the most prominent targets of the Sedition Act. Duane Aurora Daily AdvertiserThe Philadelphia Press was a prominent Democratic-Republican newspaper that had long been a thorn in the side of the Washington and Adams administrations. U.S. Attorney William Rolle filed several charges against Duane, accusing him of making “false, scandalous, slanderous and malicious allegations.”

Looking back at history, media personnel will not be the only targets in the second term of the Trump administration. Some of the earliest charges, dating back 226 years, were against Vermont Rep. Matthew Ryan. On October 6, 1798, Ryan was arrested for publishing a series of letters attacking President John Adams. The arrest warrant described Ryan as “a malicious and seditious person, possessed of a depraved mind and a wicked and nefarious disposition.” Ryan was convicted and sentenced to four months in prison and a $1,000 fine (about $26,000 in today’s value).

But Ryan was not the only Democratic-Republican who felt a clear threat. Senator Henry Tazewell promised James Madison “an interesting account of whatever happens if I am not guillotined.” Vice President Thomas Jefferson wrote to a friend that “my every action in Philadelphia, here, and everywhere is watched and recorded.” Jefferson stopped making political comments in his letters to friends and family, fearing that they would be opened and used against him.

We may see similar attacks on politicians in 2025. Opponents of Trump’s policies have expressed concern that he will use other branches of the executive branch to exact revenge. In a social media post, Trump wrote that the members of the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 attack “should go to jail.” Many of the lawmakers who served on the committee are taking the threat seriously. Rep. Adam Schiff said he was “having ‘real-time conversations’ with his staff about how to keep himself safe if Trump is re-elected.”

The first term of the Trump administration has given Schiff plenty to worry about. In 2019, former FBI Director James Comey learned that his 2017 tax records were the subject of a rare audit that the Internal Revenue Service jokingly called a “death without benefit autopsy.” That same year, former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe’s records were also selected for audit. These types of audits are rare — only one in 30,600 returns are selected — and are expensive and time-consuming. Both Comey and McCabe were harsh critics of then-President Trump, making it hard to imagine that their audits were a coincidence.

There is one crucial difference between the Sedition Act and today: in 1798, the president was not the driving force behind attacks on the enemy. Congress wrote the law, and Secretary of State Timothy Pickering led the prosecutions. President Adams is not entirely above blame; he signed the law and authorized some of the prosecutions.

The Sedition Act expired as scheduled on March 3, 1801, the day before Thomas Jefferson’s inauguration. Other bills restricting free speech, such as the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918, have similarly come and gone. But the threat posed by a second Trump administration would pose a danger to civil liberties on an entirely different scale. Not since Matthew Lyon in 1798 has a member of Congress been prosecuted for political speech. We have never seen what political persecution could look like, pursued by the power of the president, many branches of the executive branch, and most importantly, the Department of Justice.

Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinski He is a presidential historian and author of a forthcoming book. The Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Founded the RepublicShe is on social media Follow.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.