The Past Revised: The Dangers of Censorship

John Milton said, “[It is almost] as good to kill a man as to kill a good book; [he] who kills man kills a reasonable creature, God’s image; but he who destroys a good book kills reason itself.” Liberal censorship must be abolished. The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…etc.” Granted, the Amendment made no mention of censorship beyond the government, however the problem of censorship does extend further than our government preventing a document from being published and distributed. One might argue that while the First Amendment gives us the freedom of speech and of the press, it does not give us the right to force others to hear what we say or read what we write. This is true, but if a book is banned from libraries and bookstore shelves, then we are not giving those people who choose to hear and read the opportunity to do so.

It is unfortunate that, as a rule, many of the people who challenge controversial books have not even bothered to read them. When Christian missionaries came to America, for example, to convert the natives, they destroyed the books and records of the people because they were considered promoters of bigotry and heresy. In that moment of tragic narrow-mindedness, a large portion of our continent’s history was lost.

At the Dartmouth College Commencement on 14 June 1953, President