Convicted of violating the unconstitutional Sedition Act of 1798, Congressman Lyon was seen by his constituents as a martyr for free speech - and a hero. And he won his reelection bid - while in jail - by a landslide.
The post Elected from Prison: Matthew Lyon first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.Attorney General Sessions has told us repeatedly that federal laws are to be enforced no matter what. And if you don’t like it, wait for congress to repeal, or the federal courts to overturn the law in question. But the principle author of the Declaration of Independence disagreed. In response to the Sedition Act of…
In 1798, President John Adams signed a bill into law criminalizing speech critical of the federal government. Today, the feds take a more subtle approach to controlling speech, but the spirit of the Sedition Act lives on. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts.…