Sedition+Act+of+1918

__**Background:**__ Two hundred and twelve years ago, Federal legislation passed an act placing limits on freedom of speech during wartime. The act expired in 1801, only to be brought up again in 1918, during World War One. This was the **Sedition Act of 1918**. (Garraty 624)

On May 16, 1918, **President Woodrow Wilson** signed into law, the Sedition Act of 1918, which had been proposed by the United States Congress. This law made it illegal to “utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language” about the government, constitution, army, or navy, making them more powerful during wartime. The Act also gave the Postmaster General authority to refuse to deliver mail that he or she believed was violating the law and that contained language criticizing the government and war effort. The law was made to protect the national interest and unite the country during war. (Garraty 624) As soldiers were across seas building protective trenches and retaliating against the Germans with machine guns and poison gas, the US government was attempting to keep the home front mollified. Wilson’s idea behind the Sedition Act of 1918 was to "require illiberalism at home to reinforce the men at the front.” He claims, “We couldn't fight Germany and maintain the ideals of Government that all thinking men shared...once led into war, [Americans] will forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance" (groves.com). The Sedition Act was therefore applied to keep the unpatriotic citizens taciturn and make sure that everyone, or at least anything said or written for all to hear, was in support of the government and our position in the war.

__**What was the Sedition Act?**__ (google images) The Sedition Act was a set of amendments to the **Espionage Act of 1917**. The Espionage Act made it a crime to aid enemies of the United States or to interfere with the war effort or with military recruitment. (Wikipedia) The Sedition Act added to the Espionage Act and the protection of the country during wartime, by suppressing the speech and expression of opinions that castigated the government, the war effort, or the sale of government bonds. It played a strong role in the First Red Scare. (Wikipedia) The government strongly enforced the law to the point where it was too firmly implemented. over 1,500 people were arrested, at least 200 were sentenced to 10-20 years in jail, 250 were deported, and many citizens were disconcerted.

__**The Sedition Act in the Courtroom:**__ Judges and juries were licensed to exercise the act extensively. They were even allowed to base their court decisions by inferring unlawful intent from the way the defendant spoke. They could convict people whether or not they showed actual bad effects. Only a limited amount of judges tried to honor the first amendment and the values of free speech. (answers.com)

Socialist, **Eugene Debs**, was one man greatly affected by the Sedition Act. Debs often delivered motivating speeches protesting Woodrow Wilson and the war efforts. On June 30, 1918, Debs was arrested and charged with 10 counts of sedition. Wilson referred to him as a “traitor to his country.” He was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in jail. Still, many American socialists, communists, and anarchists honored Debs and the inspiration he embedded in the lives of many others. (Wikipedia) (google images)

**Ricardo Flores Magon** was a respected social reform activist and Mexican anarchist who spent many years of his life publishing revolutionary newspapers. Upon the US’s entrance to WWI, Magon denounced the war and nay wartime preparations. In 1918, he issued his final Manifesto announcing that “the war signaled the demise of existing society and that working people everywhere should rise up, end the war and overthrow their own governments and take possession of the means of production and run things for themselves.” (katesharpleylibrary.net) As a result, Magon was imprisoned for 20 years. (google images)

Other cases include: //**United States v. Nagler**// (1918), where the defendant was convicted of publicly criticizing the YMCA and the Red Cross; //**United States v. Motion Picture Film “The Spirit of ‘76”**// (1917), in which the federal court argued that because the film portrayed atrocities committed by the British soldiers during the Revolutionary War, it was convincing people that now we could not trust the British as our ally during WWI. The defendant was jailed for 10 years; //**Stokes v. United States**// (1920), when Rose Pastor Stokes was sentenced to 10 years in jail for writing in a newspaper, “I am for the people, while the government is for the profiteers." (answers.com)

__**Public Response:**__ Many argued that freedom of speech in the United States is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. It states: "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or the press.” (fbiwallofshame.com) Now that the United States was recanting this amendment with the new Sedition Act of 1918, many were angered and felt betrayed by their own country. The average citizens were not the only ones protesting the Sedition Act. Among them were well-known Republicans like Henry Cabot Lodge and Hiram Johnson speaking in defense of free speech and berating the administration for neglecting to use the laws already in place. Former president Theodore Roosevelt also voiced his opinion. Even the well known, Howard Zinn, was among those who argued that the involvement in the war was contemptable. (groves-us-history.com) People were wearing down the government, and Wilson began to give in. Originally he convinced himself that the bill was an agreeable political compromise. Soon, however, he began to fear the crowds and other proposals that might create some kind of authoritative process against him. He hoped to avoid hearings that would embarrass the administration for what he began to realize was a failure. Eventually in March 1919, President Wilson reduced the sentences of about 200 prisoners convicted under the act. On December 13, 1920, Congress repealed the act. Twenty years later the **Alien Registration Act** was put in its place and announced as the first American peacetime sedition act, as suggested by Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer. (Wikipedia) (google images)