《迫在眉睫的危机》对内战前美国人言论自由权的影响

On the Impact of The Impending Crisis of the South to the U.S. People's Freedom of Speech before the Civil War

《迫在眉睫的危机》是美国内战前南方白人欣顿·赫尔泼写给南部"非奴隶所有者"白人的一本书。该书在北卡莱罗纳州引发了著名的"沃斯案",此案是内战前南部州法院限制公民言论自由的典型案例;它还引起了1859—1860年联邦国会中民主、共和两党的激烈争论,造成了第36届国会众议院议长选举危机。围绕"沃斯案"以及议长竞选危机这些争论,民主党人认为言论是有限度的,反奴隶制言论不受南部州法律的保护;共和党人却认为言论和出版自由权是南、北方人民不可剥夺的权利,在奴隶制和自由出现冲突时,应该选择自由。

The Impending Crisis of the South;How to Meet It was a book written by Hinton Helper for the nonslavery whites in the south.It caused a famous case State v.Worth,which is a typical case limiting freedom of speech in the southern state court.It also caused fierce debates between Democratic Party and Republican Party,and led to a crisis of the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.Finally,the Democrats believed that freedom of speech should be limited,and anti-slavery speech was unprotected under the southern state law.However,the Republicans thought freedom of speech and freedom of the press were the inalienable rights of the American people.If the slavery and freedom of speech conflicted to each other,they should choose the latter.