Then, said Mr Livingston, he will either restrict the members from speaking, or, in some way, prevent the people from knowing what has been said. How is this to be done? By shackling newspapers, and preventing that free communication of sentiment which has heretofore been expressed on public topics.
Mr Livingston avowed with pride the sentiments which he had uttered in the House, and to which gentlemen objected. He could not see how acts made contrary to the Constitution could be binding upon the people; unless gentlemen say Congress may act in contravention to the Constitution.
Mr Otis asked who were to be the judges?
Mr Livingston answered, the people of the United States. We, said he, are their servants; when we exceed our powers, we become their tyrants!*
From ‘Great Debates in American History’ (?1913), edited by Marion Mills Miller (1864-1949).
* After much haggling the Bill crept over the line and became law as the Sedition Act (1798), with a sunset clause automatically repealing it in 1801. It was not renewed, and the Federalist Party that had pushed it through never recovered from the shame of it. The Americans should have learnt from the experience of the Government in England, which had just taken on the Morning Chronicle, and lost: see No Danger in Discussion.