Biography
Luther Baldwin was an army veteran and garbage boat captain who in July of 1798, was drinking at a tavern in Newark, New Jersey while a parade procession for visiting President John Adams was occurring. When his friend Brown Clark noted how the firing of cannons at the back of the parade towards the president at the front was ironic because it was as if they were firing at the President, Baldwin responded that the president was a, “damned rascal” and that he, “did not care if they fired thro’ his arse.” For this statement Luther was tried and convicted of uttering seditious words that defamed President Adams. He was found guilty on October 3, 1798 and jailed for two months. Luther Baldwin was a New Jersey laborer prosecuted under the Sedition Act of 1798 after a tavern wisecrack: while a cannon salute was being fired for President Adams, Baldwin reportedly said "he did not care if [the cannon] fired through [Adams's] arse." Convicted of speaking sedition; fined $100 plus costs and jailed until he could pay. The case became the most-cited example of how trivially the Federalists were applying the Act.
