Question

How do members of the democratic republican society defend their right to form society that comments on public affairs

Answer 1

Democratic-Republican Societies were locally-organized political agrupations that arose in the US territory during 1793-94 aiming to promote and work towards democracy and republicanism and to extinguish aristocratic ideas.

The first society was established in 1793: the Germans of Philadelpia. More than 35 new ones flourished until 1975. Many of their leaders ended up becoming part of Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party, that he founded at a national level.

The societies claimed for equal justice and knowledge diffusion. But the main and ultimate goal was to "support and perpetuate the EQUAL RIGHTS OF MAN" as, for instance, the society in NY explicitly stated. These rights included freedom of speech, opinion, press, assembly which in turn granted the right to express opinions regarding the job done by government representatives, to demand explanations about public policies and acts, the right to translate those opinion into written format and to spread them by using the press.