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It is worth remembering that The Federalist Papers were written under pseudonym Publius. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay believed in the importa

It is worth remembering that The Federalist Papers were written under pseudonym Publius. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay believed in the importance of anonymity as a tool for public discussion. A surveillance state can destroy this tool as well.

grzm 10y ago
Well put. Are you aware of other examples of support for anonymity from that time?
- CalChris 10y ago
  Pseudonymity was a common practice at the time. Also, the Federalist Papers were written before the First Amendment. Indeed freedom of the press was proposed in No. 84. http://alturasinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Saladino-Article-on-Pseudonyms.pdf http://alturasinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Salad... The Articles of Confederation mention Freedom of speech and debate in Congress but that's it. Otherwise, this was left to the States.
  - grzm 10y ago
    Thanks for the link!
  - forgettableuser 10y ago
    It is worth reminding that the freedom of speech was understood at the time as one of our unalienable rights as individuals. Notice the phrasing of the First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging _the_ freedom of speech The article "the" before "freedom" was deliberate. "The" freedom of speech is an absolute given. And it is not that Congress authorizes or allows freedom of speech. It is "Congress shall make no law". Part of the debate on writing the Bill of Rights was not that rights needed to be granted to the people and the states, but that it was not necessary because it was understood that these rights already exist and come from our humanity and cannot be denied. A document like the Bill of Rights could be misconstrued and abused to flip the tables and make people assume their rights are granted as a privilege of the ruling government, instead of a truth that it is inherently in every person and they delegate their powers to the government.
    - CalChris 10y ago
      If you're saying that freedom of speech implicitly and only implicitly existed as a Right of Man before the First Amendment was ratified, that would be mistaken. There was a Bill of Rights passed in the English Parliament after the overthrow of James II. Our Bill of Rights was a descendent of their Bill of Rights. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_Rights_1689 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_Rights_1689 As for unalienable, we 'aliened' those rights by limiting who they applied to. Whenever you hear States' Rights, that's just a dog whistle translation of aliening some people's rights.
      - forgettableuser 10y ago
        While they certainly enjoyed the conventions English law afforded them, it was always understood that these rights are natural rights born with their humanity. To lead a revolution and form a new government, they understood that this could not be justified if they had to appeal to the King's law. Instead they argued based on the natural rights of man and drew upon bodies of political philosophy and thinking such as John Locke which gave the legal basis. These ideas are all over the Declaration of Independence: "When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth," "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government" The bottom 2/3's of the Declaration of Independence are a list of specific grievances against the King and how "He" violated their rights. While most school children are only introduced the preamble to the Declaration, the drafters felt that the actual important part was the list at the bottom because this was considered both a moral and legal document, justifying revolution. Trying to argue in only technical legal terms within the King's law would give them neither which is why the political philosophy of natural rights is embraced.
      - int_19h 10y ago
- forgettableuser 10y ago
  David Hume's "A Treatise of Human Nature" was published anonymously.

grzm 10y ago

Well put. Are you aware of other examples of support for anonymity from that time?

CalChris 10y ago
Pseudonymity was a common practice at the time. Also, the Federalist Papers were written before the First Amendment. Indeed freedom of the press was proposed in No. 84. http://alturasinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Saladino-Article-on-Pseudonyms.pdf http://alturasinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Salad... The Articles of Confederation mention Freedom of speech and debate in Congress but that's it. Otherwise, this was left to the States.
- grzm 10y ago
  Thanks for the link!
- forgettableuser 10y ago
  It is worth reminding that the freedom of speech was understood at the time as one of our unalienable rights as individuals. Notice the phrasing of the First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging _the_ freedom of speech The article "the" before "freedom" was deliberate. "The" freedom of speech is an absolute given. And it is not that Congress authorizes or allows freedom of speech. It is "Congress shall make no law". Part of the debate on writing the Bill of Rights was not that rights needed to be granted to the people and the states, but that it was not necessary because it was understood that these rights already exist and come from our humanity and cannot be denied. A document like the Bill of Rights could be misconstrued and abused to flip the tables and make people assume their rights are granted as a privilege of the ruling government, instead of a truth that it is inherently in every person and they delegate their powers to the government.
  - CalChris 10y ago
    If you're saying that freedom of speech implicitly and only implicitly existed as a Right of Man before the First Amendment was ratified, that would be mistaken. There was a Bill of Rights passed in the English Parliament after the overthrow of James II. Our Bill of Rights was a descendent of their Bill of Rights. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_Rights_1689 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_Rights_1689 As for unalienable, we 'aliened' those rights by limiting who they applied to. Whenever you hear States' Rights, that's just a dog whistle translation of aliening some people's rights.
    - forgettableuser 10y ago
      While they certainly enjoyed the conventions English law afforded them, it was always understood that these rights are natural rights born with their humanity. To lead a revolution and form a new government, they understood that this could not be justified if they had to appeal to the King's law. Instead they argued based on the natural rights of man and drew upon bodies of political philosophy and thinking such as John Locke which gave the legal basis. These ideas are all over the Declaration of Independence: "When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth," "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government" The bottom 2/3's of the Declaration of Independence are a list of specific grievances against the King and how "He" violated their rights. While most school children are only introduced the preamble to the Declaration, the drafters felt that the actual important part was the list at the bottom because this was considered both a moral and legal document, justifying revolution. Trying to argue in only technical legal terms within the King's law would give them neither which is why the political philosophy of natural rights is embraced.
    - int_19h 10y ago
forgettableuser 10y ago
David Hume's "A Treatise of Human Nature" was published anonymously.