Jr. Zechariah Chafee

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1885, Zechariah Chafee Jr. studied at Brown University and later earned his law degree from Harvard. He went on to teach at Harvard Law School, where he became one of the leading American voices on constitutional law and civil liberties.

Chafee is best known for arguing that freedom of speech deserves strong protection, especially in times of political pressure and war. His 1920 book Freedom of Speech, later expanded as Free Speech in the United States, became a major influence on how lawyers, judges, and scholars understood the First Amendment.

Remembered as both a legal scholar and a public advocate, he played an important role in bringing civil liberties into mainstream American law. His work still matters today because it helped define how free expression is discussed in the United States.