From Snowden To Manning... To Ben Franklin And Sam Adams? A History Of Leakers Of Secret Gov't Documents
from the there's-a-line dept
We're taking a little break for the holidays, but will be posting a couple of less timely stories to keep things interesting...For all the talk from some about how terrible and "anti-American" Ed Snowden and Chelsea Manning are for distributing secret government documents that revealed misbehavior on the part of the government, the Digsby blog highlights a historical parallel that I hadn't heard about before: the Hutchinson Letters Affair, in which Benjamin Franklin essentially played the role of Snowden and Manning.
The short version is that Franklin obtained -- through means unknown -- a packet of letters written by Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson and Andrew Oliver to Thomas Whately, the assistant to UK Prime Minister George Grenville, concerning how to deal with the increasingly angry colonists in the late 1760s. This was at the time that colonists -- especially in Massachusetts -- were increasingly angry about moves by the UK to raise taxes and remove their rights. Hutchinson more or less suggested accelerating the process.
In the letters, Hutchinson made some damning comments about colonial rights. Even more provocative, Hutchinson recommended that popular government be taken away from the colonists “by degrees”, and that there should be “abridgement of what are called English liberties”. Specifically, he argued that all colonial government posts should be made independent of the provincial assemblies. Finally, he urged his superiors to send more troops to Boston to keep American rebels under control.Upon obtaining these (while in London), Franklin realized that they were somewhat explosive, and he quickly sent copies to some friends in the US, starting with Thomas Cushing (apparently no known relation to our own Tim Cushing), and told him to share them with others, but to not have them published. However, after Cushing and Sam Adams saw them, they figured out how to get them out:
The letters arrived in Massachusetts in March 1773, and came into the hands of Samuel Adams, then serving as the clerk of the Massachusetts assembly. By Franklin's instructions, only a select few people, including the Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence, were to see the letters. Alarmed at what they read, Cushing wrote Franklin, asking if the restrictions on their circulation could be eased. In a response received by Cushing in early June, Franklin reiterated that they were not to be copied or published, but could be shown to anyone.There was apparently then a huge hullabaloo over who leaked the letters, even leading to a duel in England, before Franklin stepped up and admitted to "leaking" the letters, and then defended that action, by noting that the letters were written by "public officials for the purpose of influencing public policy," and thus implying that it was reasonable for the public to know about them. In other words, the same basic reasons behind what Manning and Snowden did. Franklin did get punished for all of this, but it was nothing compared to the fates of Snowden and Manning. As Harry Blutstein writes in the link above:
A longtime opponent of Hutchinson's, Samuel Adams narrowly followed Franklin's request, but managed to orchestrate a propaganda campaign against Hutchinson without immediately disclosing the letters. He informed the assembly of the existence of the letters, after which it designated a committee to analyze them. Strategic leaks suggestive of their content made their way into the press and political discussions, causing Hutchinson much discomfort. The assembly eventually concluded, according to John Hancock, that in the letters Hutchinson sought to "overthrow the Constitution of this Government, and to introduce arbitrary Power into the Province", and called for the removal of Hutchinson and Oliver.[ Hutchinson complained that Adams and the opposition were misrepresenting what he had written, and that nothing he had written in them on the subject of Parliamentary supremacy went beyond other statements he had made. The letters were finally published in the Boston Gazette in mid-June 1773, causing a political firestorm in Massachusetts and raising significant questions in England.
On January 29, 1774, Franklin was hauled up before the Privy Council to explain why he had leaked letters in the ‘Hutchinson Affair’. He was accused of thievery and dishonor, called the “prime mover” of Boston’s insurgents and charged with being a “true incendiary”. Throughout the hearing, Franklin maintained a dignified silence. For his disloyalty to the Crown, he Privy Council held off sending Franklin the gallows or even sentencing him to an afternoon in the stocks. Instead, Solicitor General Alexander Wedderburn was satisfied with the tongue-lashing he meted out to Franklin and the next day the Board of Trade dismissed Franklin from his post as Deputy Postmaster General of the North America colonies.Perhaps those who are slamming Snowden and Manning as "traitors" ought to learn a little history about some of our most famous and respected founding fathers.
Had the Espionage Act been in place in Great Britain in 1774, Franklin would not have been around to lead the War of Independence, nor would he have been around to raise vital funds to support the rebellion and we would not have seen his signature on the Declaration of Independence or the United States Constitution.
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Filed Under: benjamin franklin, bradley manning, chelsea manning, ed snowden, history, hutchinson letters, sam adams
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Yabbut..
Yabbut that was Franklin. He thought the national bird should be the turkey. He doesn't count for anything!
/sarcasm
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Deja vu anyone?
How's that saying go, 'Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it'? Seems the current government has been taking some tips and pointers from their history books, and it's pretty obvious which side they're looking to emulate.
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Re: Deja vu anyone?
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Anybody condemning such leaks should consider that without them they, or their children, will wakeup some morning to find that they have become serfs. When a government is allowed to use secrecy to keep it activities from the population, they can become rulers rather than representatives. When that happens, the only way for the people to change how they are rules is by means of an open rebellion. The leaks give the citizens an opportunity to convince their representatives to do their job properly, or failing that, choose new representatives before it is too late.
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Franklin's Turning Point
The Hutcheson letters were Franklin's tipping point. He left england shortly after his little todo with the Solicitor General and came back to America. Franklin became a turncoat.
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Well
Also, John Yoo think's it's an entirely appropriate way to get information from potential tearror partyists...
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Near-sighted overweight nerd!
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Wait a minute
In other words, his behavior in this situation might have been as much like that of the NSA as it was like that of Snowden. One might wonder what other private correspondence Frankin snooped upon and for what reasons. Perhaps he should be considered the founding father of the NSA, the National Snooping Agency, for abusing his government positon to spy on people's mail.
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postmaster general
@Spaceman Spiff:
In his youth, Ben was quite athletic, and popular among the ladies. He was an accomplished swimmer when such a thing was almost unknown. You can't charaterize someone solely from the afflictions of his old age.
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Re: postmaster general
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Typical of the US government...
Now that they're the largest dog in the pound, they don't really appreciate when others use the same tactics that they employed (and sometimes STILL employ).
Just because the country was founded on these practices, they should now be considered wrong. Typical of bullies!
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Re: Typical of the US government...
See Guerrilla warfare. :-)
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Thailand watch
A small band (less than 200) of violent students are trying to stop the elections by barring the registration of candidates, the police used water cannon and rubber bullets to clear them, and one of the police was shot and killed in return.
The dictators cronies in government agencies are trying to use this as an excuse to seize power. The elected PM isn't really in charge, she negotiates with the government agencies to obey the laws of Thailand.
This morning, an Electoral Commissioner said the EC would resign stopping elections if the elections went ahead in this violence. Exactly what the protestors are trying to achieve, is what he is trying to deliver.
This afternoon, the army chief refused to rule out a coup, asking both sides to stop the violence. (The police and the protestors!). He has been talking up civil war as an excuse for another coup and it looks like he'll get his way unless the Supreme Commander (that outranks him) fires him first.
Meanwhile the straw poles suggest Yingluk will win again by a bigger majority than last time. Maybe even win the Bangkok vote and lots of the Southern provinces, which is why they're so keen to prevent the election. They were set to lose them badly.
BEWARE THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX! Indeed.
Yes I'm off topic, but when a takeover happens the first thing they do is cut the internet cables. So I post on a public forum while I'm still free to do so.
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Re: Thailand watch
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Perhaps those who are slamming Snowden and Manning as "traitors" ought to learn a little history about some of our most famous and respected founding fathers.
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Re: Perhaps those who are slamming Snowden and Manning as "traitors" ought to learn a little history about some of our most famous and respected founding fathers.
Nor true, some fight to allow people to exercise self determinism, and others fight to impose their chosen brand of rule on the people. Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandi were in the first camp, and respected by their enemies. Stalin. Mao and Pol Pot were in the second camp, and terrorised the people they ruled over.
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Technically ...
The end game for Ben Franklin was a revolutionary war. Let's hope it never comes to that. Inane quotes about revolution and liberty aside, war sucks. Violence sucks. And the batting average for successful (violent) revolutions is terrible as of late.
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Re: Technically ...
Key distinction: At the time this occurred, independence had not been declared. His actions were purposely and consciously done to benefit of the public of the colonies. Thus for Franklin's actions to fit the legal definition of treason, the people of the colonies would have had to be considered the enemy of the England. In the same way, Snowden's actions were done purposely and consciously to benefit othe public and for those actions to fit the legal definition of treason, you would have to accept that the public is the enemy of the US government.
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Re: Re: Technically ...
Considering the government has all but come out and admitted that that is exactly how they see the US public*, from their point of view then informing the public of the USG's actions is 'purposely acting to aid it's enemies'.
*As an example: mass surveillance of US citizens is a horribly inefficient way to do things if the aim is to catch foreign enemies(which is supposed to be the entire point), especially in a timely manner, but it makes perfect sense if the aim to is catch domestic enemies/trouble-makers, or get information allowing them to be controlled/'persuaded' in the future.
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Very much an 'ends justify the means' mindset, the problem is as soon as you start thinking that way, nothing is out of bounds, as everything becomes acceptable as long as the 'goal' is achieved, and when the goal is an impossibility, 'perfect safety and security', then things will just get worse and worse as time passes.
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If you count "successful" as "resulting in a better regime", then the batting average has always been abysmal. The American Revolution was a very, very rare counterexample. Nobody should bet on it happening again.
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we are the enemy and must be subjugated at all costs if the british way of rule is to reign triumphant here. our leadership is dedicated that that will come to pass, and it is up to us, the people, to see that it will not.
thanks to courageous whistle-blowers, the ball is in our court and we are aware of it.
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i paid a lot of attention to the apparent events when richard was coldcocked by the rest of the gentry there and think i understand why he was waylayed. he made a number of moves that threatened to improve the lot of the pissant class over there at the expense of the silk pillow bunch, and that didn't go over at all well with them. henry tudor had no trouble sweet-talking all manner of gentry into double-crossing richard and might even have gotten enough inroads into the upper crust to have those nephews snuffed while richard would get the blame.
why mention that now? same crap is going on over there right now, and i don't hear squat from the people there who are being subjugated even more tightly than they had been.
like with ours, the uk easy money bunch seems more worried by far by the general populace than outside forces, and any means to bring the people to their knees in shackles is fair game -- here and there.
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