Road to the American Revolution -Words from Thomas Paine, and Howard Zinn

Among the many writings that were published in this era, the work of Thomas Paine stands out as some of the most influential. Paine's writings advocate unity among the colonists, and in doing so, also offers a civilized voice of opposition. His works emphasize the importance of independence and a need to 'protect' the people. Understandably so, the colonists were tired of the mistreatment they had endured from British rule over their government, and the …

…did indeed provide a sense of unity, and perhaps fairness to colonists so that their support was now in favor of the new government. However, an example of how the Bill of Rights ultimately offered little protection of the colonist's rights is seen by the Sedition Act. This law, passed in 1798, limited speech and writing and was a direct violation of the Bill of Rights, but was still enforced and the court deemed it "constitutional."