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Freedoms of Assembly and Association in Digital Technologies

citizensandtech.org · saved by 1 readers

When a pro-slavery mob set fire to Pennsylvania Hall in downtown Philadelphia on the night of May 17 1838, there was no doubt that the arson was a threat to basic freedoms. Designed as a “Temple of Free Discussion,” the building was designed to house meetings focused on the abolition of slavery and women’s rights. Abolitionists had been forbidden from other buildings, so they decided to crowd-fund their own, organizing a network of a hundred thousand people to give money, materials, and labor to its construction. In Pennsylvania Hall’s first four days, the event space reportedly attracted thousands of visitors of all genders and races. Political tensions were already high. Just months earlier, the state of Pennsylvania had extended voting rights to white men without land while stripping the vote from Black citizens. On the fourth day after its opening, a mob set the building aflame. With fire companies refusing to protect the building (they saved only the adjoining ones), the meeting h

When a pro-slavery mob set fire to Pennsylvania Hall in downtown Philadelphia on the night of May 17 1838, there was no doubt that the arson was a threat to basic freedoms. Designed as a “Temple of Free Discussion,” the building was designed to house meetings focused on the abolition of slavery and women’s rights. Abolitionists had been forbidden from other buildings, so they decided to crowd-fund their own, organizing a network of a hundred thousand people to give money, materials, and labor to its construction. In Pennsylvania Hall’s first four days, the event space reportedly attracted thou

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