Linguistic Transformation
Linguistic Transformation
This chapter evaluates four significant developments in First Amendment thought: the free market reformation of the postwar imagination, the reversal of the rhetoric of fire during the same period, African Americans' reinvention of assembly-based forms during their struggle for equal rights, and the religious revival that destabilized the wall of separation as a governing construct. The first two experiences predate Brandenburg; the last two transpired in its wake. Untangling these discursive trends reveals that linguistic transformation is a genus of constitutional revolution. These patterns of reconstitution, in turn, challenge prevailing models of legal change. Every faith tradition has its creation stories; the First Amendment is no exception. The civic myth that recounts the birth of the right to speak one's mind in America begins with the missed opportunities of the World War I decisions, and the “end of the story” is the 1969 decision Brandenburg v. Ohio, in which the promise of expressive liberty is ultimately realized.
Keywords: free market reformation, First Amendment thought, rhetoric of fire, assembly-based forms, equal rights, religious revival, wall of separation
Yale Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
