TY - JOUR
T1 - Defining responsibility
T2 - Printers, politics, and the law in early Republican Mexico City
AU - Zeltsman, Corinna
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by Duke University Press.
PY - 2018/5/1
Y1 - 2018/5/1
N2 - This article explores how printers and their collaborators shaped the implementation and interpretation of freedom of the press laws in early republican Mexico City. Far from passive reproducers of texts written by elites, printers and other behind-the-scenes actors facilitated republican politics by navigating legal categories such as responsibility and authorship that were defined by liberal law yet under debate and unevenly enforced. Focusing on the production, dissemination, and fallout over a controversial 1840 promonarchist pamphlet written by the Yucatecan senator José Mariá Gutiérrez Estrada, the article uncovers a trio of collaborators, especially the young "printer citizen" Ignacio Cumplido, who undermined official efforts to consolidate state authority over political speech and deployed high-minded liberal principles as political strategy. By shifting focus from the pamphlet's well-reasoned arguments to its places of production, reception, and regulation, the article provides insight into how freedom of the press was implemented, manipulated, and debated on the ground.
AB - This article explores how printers and their collaborators shaped the implementation and interpretation of freedom of the press laws in early republican Mexico City. Far from passive reproducers of texts written by elites, printers and other behind-the-scenes actors facilitated republican politics by navigating legal categories such as responsibility and authorship that were defined by liberal law yet under debate and unevenly enforced. Focusing on the production, dissemination, and fallout over a controversial 1840 promonarchist pamphlet written by the Yucatecan senator José Mariá Gutiérrez Estrada, the article uncovers a trio of collaborators, especially the young "printer citizen" Ignacio Cumplido, who undermined official efforts to consolidate state authority over political speech and deployed high-minded liberal principles as political strategy. By shifting focus from the pamphlet's well-reasoned arguments to its places of production, reception, and regulation, the article provides insight into how freedom of the press was implemented, manipulated, and debated on the ground.
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U2 - 10.1215/00182168-4376666
DO - 10.1215/00182168-4376666
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85047107509
SN - 0018-2168
VL - 98
SP - 189
EP - 222
JO - HAHR - Hispanic American Historical Review
JF - HAHR - Hispanic American Historical Review
IS - 2
ER -