Sedition Act of 1918
573930
217303524
2008-06-05T13:28:16Z
124.125.246.139
The '''Sedition Act of 1918''' was an [[law|amendment]] to the [[Espionage Act of 1917]] passed at the urging of President [[Woodrow Wilson]], who was concerned that dissent, in time of war, was a significant threat to morale. The passing of this act forbade Americans to use "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the [[United States government]], [[Flag of the United States|flag]], or [[United States army|armed forces]] during war. The act also allowed the [[United States Postmaster General|Postmaster General]] to deny mail delivery to dissenters of government policy during wartime.
[[Freedom of speech in the United States]] is guaranteed by the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution]], which states in part: "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or the press". The [[United States Supreme Court]] upheld the Sedition Act at the time it was in effect in [[Debs v. United States]], but subsequent Supreme Court decisions (such as ''[[Brandenburg v. Ohio]]'' in 1969) make it less likely that a similar law would be considered constitutional today.
The Espionage Act made it a crime to help enemies of the United States, but the Sedition Act made it a crime to utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the United States' form of government.
U.S. citizens, including members of the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] union, were also imprisoned during World War I for their anti-war dissent under the provisions of the Sedition Act. Anti-war protesters were arrested by the hundreds as speaking out against the draft and the war became illegal under this law.
In his 1941 book ''[[Censorship 1917]]'', [[James Mock]] noted that most U.S. newspapers "showed no antipathy toward the act" and "far from opposing the measure, the leading papers seemed actually to lead the movement in behalf of its speedy enactment." And as mentioned in his book, "The Great Influenza" [John M. Barry], he noted that it was because of their willingness to so blindly follow and even lead this movement back then that explains why we today have so little information on specific numbers of deaths in particular locations caused by the 1918 influenza pandemic that swept this nation and the entire world at that time. They wished us not to know for fear that it might lower the morale of the civilians supporting the war effort and the morale of the troops fighting the war, even though hundreds, nay thousands of them were dying of the disease every day at the time. All they would ever say is, "There is no need to worry. There is no epidemic."
Congress repealed the Sedition Act in 1921.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sauter|first=Mark A.|coauthors=James J. Carafano|year=2005|title=Homeland Security: A Complete Guide to Understanding, Preventing, and Surviving Terrorism|publisher=[[McGraw-Hill]]|location=New York|isbn=0-07-144064-X|pages=p10}}</ref>
==Text of the Sedition Act==
===Section 3===
:''Whoever, [[Military history of the United States|when the United States is at war]], shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the [[United States armed forces|military]] or [[United States Navy|naval forces of the United States]], or to promote the success of its enemies, or shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements, or say or do anything except by way of [[bona fide]] and not disloyal advice to an [[Investment|investor]] or investors, with intent to obstruct [[War bonds|the sale by the United States of bonds]] or other securities of the United States or the making of loans by or to the United States, and whoever when the United States is at war, shall willfully cause or attempt to cause, or incite or attempt to incite, insubordination, disloyalty, [[mutiny]], or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall willfully obstruct or attempt to obstruct [[Conscription|the recruiting or enlistment services of the United States]], and whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of [[Federal Government of the United States|government of the United States]] or the [[Constitution of the United States]], or the military or naval forces of the United States, or the [[flag of the United States]], or the uniform of the Army or Navy of the United States into contempt, scorn, contumely, or disrepute, or shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any language intended to incite, provoke, or encourage resistance to the United States, or to promote the cause of its enemies, or shall willfully display the flag of any foreign enemy, or shall willfully by utterance, writing, printing, publication, or language spoken, urge, incite, or advocate any curtailment of production in this country of any thing or things, product or products, necessary or essential to the prosecution of the war in which the United States may be engaged, with intent by such curtailment to cripple or hinder the United States in the prosecution of war, and whoever shall willfully advocate, teach, defend, or suggest the doing of any of the acts or things in this section enumerated, and whoever shall by word or act support or favor the cause of any country with which the United States is at war or by word or act oppose the cause of the United States therein, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or the [[Prison|imprisonment]] for not more than twenty years, or both: Provided, That any employee or official of the United States Government who commits any disloyal act or utters any [[patriotism|unpatriotic]] or disloyal language, or who, in an [[abuse|abusive]] and violent manner criticizes the Army or Navy or the flag of the United States shall be at once dismissed from the service..''
===Section 4===
:''When the United States is at war, the [[United States Postmaster General|Postmaster General]] may, upon evidence satisfactory to him that any person or concern is using the mails in violation of any of the provisions of this Act, instruct the postmaster at any [[post office]] at which [[mail]] is received addressed to such person or concern to return to the postmaster at the office at which they were originally mailed all letters or other matter so addressed, with the words "Mail to this address undeliverable under [[Espionage Act of 1917|Espionage Act]]" plainly written or stamped upon the outside thereof, and all such letters or other matter so returned to such [[postmaster]]s shall be by them returned to the senders thereof under such regulations as the Postmaster General may prescribe.''
==See also==
* [[Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798]]
* [[Australian sedition law]]
* [[Palmer Raids]]
* ''[[Debs v. United States]]''
==References==
<references/>
==External links==
* [http://www.seditionproject.net/index.html The Montana Sedition Project]
* [http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/8/5/nashville_now_and_then_you_watch_your_mouth Example of a prosecution brought soon after the Sedition Act became law]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sedition Act of 1918}}
[[Category:1918 in law]]
[[Category:Sedition|Sedition Act of 1918]]
[[Category:United States federal defense and national security legislation]]
[[Category:Legal history of the United States]]
[[Category:Censorship in the United States]]
[[Category:Political repression in the United States]]
[[Category:History of the United States (1865–1918)]]
[[Category:Industrial Workers of the World]]
[[Category:United States repealed legislation]]