John Milton
1608-1674

 Today in class we learned about what my professor called the “Eight Values of Free Expression”. They were all very interesting and well I could talk about all of them, what piqued my interest the most was John Milton’s Marketplace of ideas. First, to be able to understand the idea of the marketplace you must understand the history and context it was created in. In 1643 at the start of the English Civil War British Parliament issued a “Licensing Order” which required all publications be approved by English government. Milton, being previously censored for his controversial ideas, believed that this order prevented not only truth but academic and moral growth. All of this led to Milton writing  “Aeropagitica” a declaration for freedom and how important it is to society. Milton printed this out before government approval and handed it out to the English people.  

 

Milton’s work is still being studied today because Aeropagitica is mentioned in first amendment debates around the United States along with being factors in multiple first amendment supreme court cases. Milton talks about the harms of prior restraint, the importance of self-discipline, and the importance of becoming well rounded. All of these come together to create Milton’s idea of the marketplace of ideas. The marketplace is the idea that with free publication of both good and bad ideas, left and right opinions, debate and dispute people will come to appreciate both sides and learn from each other. People would share ideas, uncover truths, and make new discoveries allowing human growth and truth to be the outcome of this marketplace of ideas. Milton saw the English Parliaments new order as not only a censorship to the media but a wall for both the individual and the countries growth. He wanted his fellow man to prosper and even though he did not know it at the time it would later become another shining example of how important the first amendment is to the United States and why the freedom of speech is so important to be able to uncover the truths of not only the world but to keep the democracy in check by the people.  

 

Article that Sullivan sued
NYT over

The supreme court took the case
New York Times Co v. Sullivan witch was a civil dispute of Sullivan suing the Times for defamation over inaccuracies in an article. Even though Sullivan was not mentioned in the article and the errors were minor it still sparked a large first amendment debate going to the supreme court. The court used this court to create a standard on defamation cases. They found that to sue for defamation the publisher must either have known that the statement they posted was false but accredited it as true or recklessly published without confirming the facts stated. Milton’s “Marketplace of Ideas” was used to better describe what the first amendment creates, an open field of press so  the people are able to see the good and the bad that goes on in the world, but it would be unfair to lie in attempt to ruin a person's reputation or sway public opinion. In the long and short Sullivan was upset that he was caught doing something he should not have and the supreme court used him and the marketplace of ideas as an example to say that the people of the U.S are not allowed to sue simply because they do not like a presented message, and that the first amendment protects all people good or bad. 

 

It is for all of these reasons that I was fascinated by the “Marketplace of Ideas” theory. The U.S. and the first amendment specifically allow the people to become fully emersed in the world and take in all parts of life. U.S. citizens can use other good and bad experiences to shape their thought process, they can see a person for who they really are, and they can collaborate with one another to create the best possible outcome.  

Thank you for reading and enjoy the rest of your day!