This paper, about the censorship of ideas in the arrest and trial of the most prominent copperhead orator, is part of a larger study that asks how the First Amendment right of freedom of press and speech has been treated in relation to "hated" ideas at given times in history. What have journalists defined and sought as press and speech freedom rights? What limits have they said were appropriate? Have those changed over time? With special interest in what free expression principles might have been articulated, especially for "hated" ideas, in any such discussion among journalists surrounding the Vallandigham case, this case study examined eleven newspapers’ coverage of Vallandigham’s arrest and military trial in the Department of Ohio in May 1863. It was expected that, because Northern journalists would support the Union government and Southern journalists would support the Confederacy–as functionalist theory suggests–journalists would subordinate, ignore, or deny freedom of expression for the opposition.
Findings show that editors from both sections were not only aware, but concerned about the important principles involved in the case and discussed its constitutionality. However, sectional differences were so marked as to suggest little tolerance for "hated" ideas. Southern and copperhead editors used the case to accuse their opponents of despotism, Lincoln supporters to ridicule copperhead claims. Nevertheless, at least one editor did uphold freedom of expression though despising Vallandigham’s politics, suggesting that journalists at the time were developing a theory of freedom of expression applicable to ideas they might have hated.
Dr. Kittrell Rushing or Dr. David Sachsman 311 Frist Hall Communication Department The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chattanooga, Tennessee 37403-2598 http://www.utc.edu/commdept/conference/
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