![]() ![]() Uttering, printing, writing, or publishing any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language intended to cause contempt, scorn … as regards the form of government of the United States or Constitution, or the flag or the uniform of the Army or Navy … urging any curtailment of the war with intent to hinder its prosecution advocating, teaching, defending, or acts supporting or favoring the cause of any country at war with the United States, or opposing the cause of the United States. Another section of the law gave the postmaster general the power to ban from the mail any material “advocating or urging treason, insurrection, or forcible resistance to any law of the United States.”Ĭongress passed an amendment to the Espionage Act - called the Sedition Act of 1918 - which further infringed on First Amendment freedoms. The law criminalized attempting to cause insubordination to the war effort, willfully attempting to cause insurrection and obstructing the recruiting or enlistment of potential volunteers. It passed the Espionage Act of 1917, which has been described as an “overt assault upon First Amendment freedoms.” Legal historian Paul Murphy explained in his scholarship that the speech repressions during World War I created the modern civil liberties movement.Ĭongress became concerned with internal dissent, particularly with those whom they suspected of sympathizing with the Germans and the Russians. World War I featured a pattern of serious repression of speech considered disloyal. One congressman stated: “A man is free to speak so long as he speaks for the nation … … against the nation on this floor.” Alexander Long from Congress for an unpatriotic speech made on the House floor. Several congressmen attempted to expel Ohio Rep. He called the President “King Lincoln” and criticized the war in stark terms. Vallandingham faced imprisonment and banishment for delivering an anti-war speech that was highly critical of President Lincoln. Prominent Democratic politician Clement L. ![]() Secretary of War Edwin Stanton approved of the destruction of a Washington, D.C. Government officials shut down newspapers, such as the Chicago Times, for criticizing President Lincoln and his cabinet members. His administration created military tribunals to deal with disloyalty. When the Civil War began in April 1861, the Lincoln administration censored telegraph dispatches to and from Washington. ![]() People were arrested for supporting the Confederacy – even wearing buttons or singing Confederate songs President Abraham Lincoln seized the telegraph lines, suspended habeas corpus and issued an order prohibiting the printing of war news about military movements without approval. The Civil War period was also a time of government repression of freedom of speech and the press. The Sedition Act of 1798 criminalized the “writing, printing, uttering or publishing any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings about the government of the United States.” The law was used by the Federalist Party to silence Democratic-Republic newspaper editors – men like Matthew Lyon, Benjamin Bache, and William Duane. Bill of Rights (including the First Amendment) were the same leaders who passed the Sedition Act of 1798 – a law inimical to freedom of speech. The law and its companion Alien Acts were a product of the times – a silent war with France. It is one of the great ironies of history, that many of the same political leaders that ratified the U.S. Some colonies passed laws declaring it treasonous to support the British King.Įven after the United States declared its independence from England, restrictions on speech continued. Those who were considered loyal to the King of England – loyalists – were subject to a host of onerous restrictions by colonial leaders. The Revolutionary War era featured numerous restrictions on free speech and free press. ![]() Restrictions on speech during Revolutionary War Era and early years ![]()
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