Freedom of the Press

We all have heard stories about Benjamin Franklin. We know about his inventions, his diplomacy, and his common sense.

Near the end of his life, he wrote his last will and testament. He passed over his illegitimate son William, who was on the opposite side during the War for Independence, and they became bitter enemies.

So Ben left almost his entire estate to his daughter Sarah Bache and to her son, Benjamin Bache. He left his printing press.

 By the late 1790s, Benjamin Bache started his own newspaper, and he did not like President John Adams's administration. His comments on Adams' government were not well received.

 In 1798, Congress passed a law called the Alien and Sedition Acts. The law made it a crime to criticize the government in print.

Benjamin Franklin Bache was true to his grandfather and was not deterred. He publicly attacked the foreign and domestic policies, so Mr. Bache was thrown into prison.

When Thomas Jefferson became President, two years later, he pardoned all those convicted under the Sedition Act. It was too late for Benjamin Franklin Bache. He died in prison a few months before.
He stood by his ideas to his death.

Information from Shocking Secrets of American History by Bill Coate.

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