historical documents that supposedly illustrate the original understanding of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.^[298]  The selection chosen by Kurland to illustrate the original understanding of press freedom includes the 1825 Blanding opinion and several other documents from nineteenth century^[299], but the selection omits most of the historical sources of American libertarian thought discussed in this monograph.^[300]  There are several difficulties with looking to Blanding as a source for ascertaining the “original meaning” of the press clause.  Blanding did not actually interpret the First Amendment at all; it was a state law case. The opinion did not discuss American common law or American traditions in any depth.  Rather, Blanding simply applied the British common law as it stood in 1825, citing several English cases decided in the decades subsequent to the adoption of the First

[298] Kurland, P. and Lerner, R., eds., The Founders’ Constitution (1987)

[299] Id., Vol. 5, Amendment I (Speech and Press), Document 31. Indeed, The Founders Constitution includes more information from the time subsequent to the adoption of the First Amendment, and less information that actually was available at the time of adoption of the First Amendment.    Id., Vol. 5, Amendment I (Speech and Press) (of documents reproduced in this section, sixteen are from prior to the adoption of the First Amendment and seventeen are from the period subsequent to adoption. There is also a list of additional references, of which 41 are from prior to the adoption of the First Amendment and fifty five are from the period subsequent to adoption.

[300] For example, The Founder’s Constitution fails to reference John Adams’ Essay on Canon and Feudal Law, Jonathan Mayhew’s famous sermon on unlimited submission, Richard Price’s Reflections on the Importance of the American Revolution, George Mason’s speech opposing prosecution for seditious words in the Virginia Ratifying convention, and the correspondence of the first two Attorneys General rejecting prosecutions based on publications as violative of press freedom, among other significant omissions from the collection of documents providing background for the press freedom guarantee.    The Founders’ Constitution does, however, include an excerpt from Burgh’s treatise, rejecting the category of criminal libel.   Levy produced an even more one sided collection of source documents that provide support for his argument that the framers of the First Amendment had a common law view of press freedom. Levy, L., ed. Freedom of the Press from Zenger to Jefferson (1966). This collection simply omits any documents at all that might support for a different historical view from Levy’s, except for James Alexander’s account of the Zenger trial.