# Ep. 252: America's first free speech crisis — the Sedition Act of 1798

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/so-to-speak-the-free-speech-podcast-705607/ep-252-america-s-first-free-speech-crisis-the-sedition-act-of-1798
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/so-to-speak-the-free-speech-podcast-705607/ep-252-america-s-first-free-speech-crisis-the-sedition-act-of-1798.md
Podcast: [So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/so-to-speak-the-free-speech-podcast-705607)
Published: 2025-09-15T19:58:00+00:00
Episode link: https://sotospeak.libsyn.com/ep-252-americas-first-free-speech-crisis-the-sedition-act-of-1798
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sotospeak/STS_252_FC_01.mp3?dest-id=601059
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/so-to-speak-the-free-speech-podcast-705607/episodes/ep-252-america-s-first-free-speech-crisis-the-sedition-act-of-1798
Duration seconds: 4091

## Resource

We're joined by award-winning author, Charles (Charlie) Slack , to discuss his book, Liberty's First Crisis: Adams, Jefferson and the Misfits Who Saved Free Speech . Slack focuses on the infamous Sedition Act of 1798 , which sparked the first major controversy over freedom of speech in America. Timestamps : 00:00 Intro (including note about Charlie Kirk) 03:59 Book origins 12:05 What were the Alien and Sedition Acts? 16:00 Prosecutions under the Act and their free speech implications 25:35 Free speech during the Revolutionary era 28:14 Adams' perspective on the Sedition Act 46:02 Was Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase a partisan hack? 53:57 Sedition Act fallout 01:01:02 Outro Read the transcript here. Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more. If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org .

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## Transcript

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