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With this chapter we close the eighteenth century, remarkable for many contributions to human progress, not the least of which was the distinct assumption of political functions by the newspaper press.

Theoretically the Revolutionary War marked the assumption of political functions by the great mass of the people, but actually a majority remained non-active; in fact, until the time of President Monroe, many, even of the white people of the United States,—democracy though it professed to be,—had no actual voting power. In the meantime the will of the people was expressed through the newspaper press.

The Alien and Sedition Laws were the last attempts by the government in power to check the development of the Fourth Estate and the exercise of its acquired political power. Those who believed in government by a select minority felt that such power in the hands of irresponsible persons, such as editors and printers, was a danger to the community; especially dangerous to those who were the political representatives of the old order of things.