“THE last person to rule America who didn’t believe in the First Amendment was King George III ” wrote MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt  back in June — which is true only if you discount that the colonists actually enjoyed robust speech protections relative to their English cousins  if you are insensible of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798  the pro-slavery “gag” rules that bound the House of Representatives from 1835 to 1844  the Civil War  the Espionage Act of 1917  the Sedition Act of 1918  New York Times Co