"The right to discuss freely and openly, by speech, by the pen, by the press, all political questions, and to examine and animadvert upon all political institutions, is a right so clear and certain, so interwoven with our other liberties, so necessary, in fact to their existence, that without it we must fall at once into depression or anarchy. To say that he who holds unpopular opinions must hold them at the peril of his life, and that, if he expresses them in public, he has only himself to blame if they who disagree with him should rise and put him to death, is to strike at all rights, all liberties, all protection of the laws, and to justify and extenuate all crimes."
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Romantic poets19th-century poets from the United StatesJournalists from MassachusettsPoets from MassachusettsNew York Free Soilers
Original Language: English
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William Cullen Bryant
William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American Romantic poet and journalist.
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