"Treasonable Expressions": James Bell and the Emerging Legal Right to Criticize Government

James Bell's 1798 prosecution for verbally criticizing government while in his own tavern has been considered a missing Alien and Sedition Acts case. This article challenges that contention. Using previously undiscovered primary sources, it answers integral questions such as: (1) Why was Bell the subject of government prosecution? (2) What prompted Bell to utter his "treasonable expressions"? (3) Was Bell's case a Sedition Act prosecution? (4) What was the outcome of this case? His prosecution is set against the backdrop of his role in the Stony Ridge Convention, which some regard as the genesis of the Bill of Rights.