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Areopagitica (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)

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Critical Evaluation:

John Milton’s classic defense of freedom of the press and religious liberty was his response to an ordinance of Parliament of June 14, 1643, requiring among other things that all books receive an official censor’s approval prior to publication. Milton saw this act as a renewal of Stuart tyranny and of the Star Chamber decree of 1637, which had also denied freedom of the press. When this decree was abolished in 1640, a flood of political and religious pamphlets had followed, and for three years freedom of the press had prevailed in England. Milton viewed...

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