Northern Declarations of Freedom of the Press: The Relative Importance of Philosophical Ideas and of Local Politics

In recent works on the Enlightenment and the origin of modern Western thought, there is often a dichotomy between Moderate versus Radical Enlightenment. This essay evaluates the early experiences of freedom of print in Sweden and Denmark against the backdrop of such assertions. Sweden and Denmark were widely diverging polities but they obtained officially recognized freedom of the press at almost the same time. The conclusion is that by the second half of the eighteenth century, the Enlightenment, whether “Radical” or “Moderate,” had created a universal paradigm shift.