Sep 15, 2025
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
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.