Freedom of speech, news and the classical republican tradition in seventeenth-century England

Abstract

This article examines how printed newsbooks shaped conceptions of freedom of speech and the classical republican tradition in Britain. After exploring the persistent concern of parliamentary and then royalist newsbooks to provide true information to the public, the article considers how newsbooks increasingly condemned press control and state secrecy as tyrannical. Its final sections explore the contributions of Marchamont Nedham and examine how John Streater significantly advanced arguments for free speech as a foundational liberty for the free state, developing earlier claims in newsbooks. The article suggests that the invention of printed news encouraged more populist strands of classical republicanism.