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Virginia’s House of Burgesses passes the Virginia Declaration of Rights. The State of Virginia jails 50 Baptist worshipers for preaching the Gospel contrary to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.Įighteen Baptists are jailed in Massachusetts for refusing to pay taxes that support the Congregational church.
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His trial establishes the principle that truth is a defense to libel and that a jury may determine whether a publication is defamatory or seditious. Zenger is defended by Andrew Hamilton and acquitted. New York publisher John Peter Zenger is tried for libel after publishing criticism of the Royal Governor of New York. Mason’s proposal provides that “all Men should enjoy the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion.”Ĭonnecticut passes the first dissenter statute and allows “full liberty of worship” to Anglicans and Baptists. It provides the philosophical basis for George Mason’s proposed Article Sixteen of the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, which deals with religion. John Locke’s Letter Concerning Toleration is published. The new Charter of Rhode Island grants religious freedom. The document includes a right to petition and a statement about due process. The Massachusetts General Court formally adopts the first broad statement of American liberties, the Massachusetts Body of Liberties. This important document sets out the rights and liberties of the common man as opposed to the prerogatives of the crown and expresses many of the ideals that later led to the American Revolution. The Petition of Right is a statement of the objectives of the 1628 English legal-reform movement that leads to civil war and the deposing of King Charles I in 1649. This document, known as the Magna Carta, establishes the principle that no one, including the king or a lawmaker, is above the law, and establishes a framework for future documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
Significant historical events, court cases, and ideas that have shaped our current system of constitutional First Amendment jurisprudence, compiled by the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center.Ībuses by England’s King John cause a revolt by nobles, who compel him to recognize rights for both noblemen and ordinary Englishmen.
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“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” – The First Amendment to the U.S.