Just an Interesting Story I found about an Early champion for freedom of speach in the USA .....
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Bernie Sanders wants a new postage stamp to honor a Vermont congressman best known for going to jail.
Unlike some modern lawmakers, Matthew Lyon did not serve time for corruption or drunken driving. Lyon -- a Revolutionary War hero who fought with Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys -- was imprisoned for speaking his mind.
Lyon, Vermont's fourth congressman, spent four months in jail and was fined $1,000 for the "crime" of writing a letter to the editor of a Vermont newspaper criticizing President John Adams. He was convicted under the Sedition Act, a bitterly debated law that attempted to severely limit Americans' constitutional right of free speech.
Vemonters were incensed by the treatment of their congressman, who quickly became a national martyr. Angry voters re-elected Lyon to a second term from his prison cell in 1798.
After his release from prison, thousands of Americans lined Lyon's carriage route back to Congress to cheer him as a hero.
Lyon campaigned for Thomas Jefferson, who defeated Adams to become the nation's third president. The Sedition Act was not renewed, and Jefferson pardoned all those still in prison under the law.
"Matthew Lyon was one of the great heroes of the early days of America," said Sanders, the Vermont independent. "He played a key role in our history at a moment when there was a real struggle about which direction the country would go. Would it be a democratic government where people could speak their minds or an authoritarian government where dissent was punishable? He helped save free speech for us all."
Lyon's story has been lost to most Americans -- even Vermonters, Sanders said. He hopes a stamp will help revive the tale.
Sanders, with the endorsement of 18 other House members, has asked the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to recommend to the postmaster general that a commemorative postage stamp be issued in Lyon's honor.
The citizens commission, created in 1957, meets quarterly in Washington, D.C., to review about 50,000 stamp proposals submitted each year. In 2002, only 121 commemorative stamps were issued.
Sanders' aides said they do not know when the panel will take up the request.
"It's not an easy process, but I think Matthew Lyon deserves this," Sanders said. "He represents what the American spirit is all about."
Lyon's achievements are especially impressive given his background, Sanders said. Lyon immigrated to America from Ireland in 1765 at the age of 15 and had to work as an indentured servant to pay off the cost of his passage.
After the Revolutionary War, Lyon became wealthy by discovering a way to turn wood pulp into paper. He built a mansion in Fair Haven and founded the Fair Haven Gazette, where he served as publisher and editor and railed against Federalists such as Adams.
Lyon was nicknamed "Spitting Lyon, the wild Irishman from Vermont" for his tirades against Adams and others who wanted to scale back Americans' freedoms. At one point, he spat on Federalist congressman Roger Griswold of South Carolina, who retaliated by beating Lyon with a cane on the House floor. Lyon fought back with a fireplace tong.
After serving his second term in Congress, Lyon moved his family from Vermont to Kentucky. Kentucky voters sent Lyon back to Congress in 1802 for eight years. He was one of only three congressmen to be elected from two states.
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Bernie Sanders wants a new postage stamp to honor a Vermont congressman best known for going to jail.
Unlike some modern lawmakers, Matthew Lyon did not serve time for corruption or drunken driving. Lyon -- a Revolutionary War hero who fought with Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys -- was imprisoned for speaking his mind.
Lyon, Vermont's fourth congressman, spent four months in jail and was fined $1,000 for the "crime" of writing a letter to the editor of a Vermont newspaper criticizing President John Adams. He was convicted under the Sedition Act, a bitterly debated law that attempted to severely limit Americans' constitutional right of free speech.
Vemonters were incensed by the treatment of their congressman, who quickly became a national martyr. Angry voters re-elected Lyon to a second term from his prison cell in 1798.
After his release from prison, thousands of Americans lined Lyon's carriage route back to Congress to cheer him as a hero.
Lyon campaigned for Thomas Jefferson, who defeated Adams to become the nation's third president. The Sedition Act was not renewed, and Jefferson pardoned all those still in prison under the law.
"Matthew Lyon was one of the great heroes of the early days of America," said Sanders, the Vermont independent. "He played a key role in our history at a moment when there was a real struggle about which direction the country would go. Would it be a democratic government where people could speak their minds or an authoritarian government where dissent was punishable? He helped save free speech for us all."
Lyon's story has been lost to most Americans -- even Vermonters, Sanders said. He hopes a stamp will help revive the tale.
Sanders, with the endorsement of 18 other House members, has asked the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to recommend to the postmaster general that a commemorative postage stamp be issued in Lyon's honor.
The citizens commission, created in 1957, meets quarterly in Washington, D.C., to review about 50,000 stamp proposals submitted each year. In 2002, only 121 commemorative stamps were issued.
Sanders' aides said they do not know when the panel will take up the request.
"It's not an easy process, but I think Matthew Lyon deserves this," Sanders said. "He represents what the American spirit is all about."
Lyon's achievements are especially impressive given his background, Sanders said. Lyon immigrated to America from Ireland in 1765 at the age of 15 and had to work as an indentured servant to pay off the cost of his passage.
After the Revolutionary War, Lyon became wealthy by discovering a way to turn wood pulp into paper. He built a mansion in Fair Haven and founded the Fair Haven Gazette, where he served as publisher and editor and railed against Federalists such as Adams.
Lyon was nicknamed "Spitting Lyon, the wild Irishman from Vermont" for his tirades against Adams and others who wanted to scale back Americans' freedoms. At one point, he spat on Federalist congressman Roger Griswold of South Carolina, who retaliated by beating Lyon with a cane on the House floor. Lyon fought back with a fireplace tong.
After serving his second term in Congress, Lyon moved his family from Vermont to Kentucky. Kentucky voters sent Lyon back to Congress in 1802 for eight years. He was one of only three congressmen to be elected from two states.
