Page:American Historical Review, Vol. 23.djvu/333

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The Newspaper during the Civil War
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ference with the freedom of the press was comparatively shght, and that voluntary restraint or popular pressure had far greater effect in keeping improper material out of newspapers than official repression. Just as the deep-laid schemes of the conspiracy known as the "Order of American Knights", with its elaborate plans for a Northern uprising in support of the Confederacy, failed without governmental prosecution, so the administration survived the attacks and errors of hostile or indiscreet journalists. There was during the war no real suppression of opinion.