Publication Date
1968
Abstract
THE use of streets and parks for expression of one's ideas has been a part of American political history since the early years of the Republic. The town meeting in New England and the courthouse rally in the South have brought citizens together to hear their neighbors and long-winded politicians speak on the issues, hopes, and fears of the day. The campaign barbecue, the sidewalk sermon, and the Fourth of July oration have reflected in a special way some aspect of the American culture. But the accessibility and the availability of this ready-made public forum provide more than a political safety valve for the hot air of community complainers, cajolers, and candidates. The forum can be the germination point for the introduction of new ideas in a locale. As long as a community remains relatively homogeneous, the public forum becomes for many fertile ground in which dissident and revolutionary elements can prosper and persuade. In the South, at least, many notions foreign to the people were paraded before the public eye after the Civil War. Socialism and Darwinism stepped onto the Southern stage, and the political turmoil after 1865 produced rivalry among more traditional ideologies such as populism, democracy, and republicanism.
Recommended Citation
Stephenson,, D. Grier Jr
(1968)
"A Seat on the Sidelines: The Georgia Appellate Judiciary and the Public Forum,"
Georgia Law Review: Vol. 3:
No.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/glr/vol3/iss1/6