# Free Speech, A History

**URL:** <https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/free-thoughts/free-speech-a-history>

**By** Jacob Mchangama, Trevor Burrus

**Published:** April 22, 2022

---

Where does our idea of free speech come from and why is it so powerful?

## SUMMARY:

Jacob Mchangama takes us from Athens and the Abbasid Caliphate, through the early Dutch Republic and the English Levellers, to James Madison and beyond to explain how religious, academic, and press freedom informed what we believe today and answer the question of what to do with social media.

## FURTHER READING:

[_Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096TTCL5L/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1), by Jacob Mchangama