Drawing on sources ranging from political philosophers to court records and newspaper essayists, Printers and Press Freedom traces the development of a widespread conception of the press as necessarily exempt from all government restrictions, but still liable for the defamation of individuals. In this study, Smith carefully analyses libertarian press theory and practice in the context of republican ideology and Enlightenment thought. `Scholars of the period and of the history of American journalism will turn to this trenchantly argued little monograph with interest and profit.' Journal of American History