![]() The committe used all branches of the media and the arts to launch an anti-German propaganda campaign and to portray the war in a positive fashion. President Wilson established a Committee on Public Information, under the leadership of George Creel, to sell the war to the American people and call into question the loyalty of anyone who dissented against the nation's involvement in the war. Nor was the administration content to curtail criticism or dissent merely through legislation by the federal government. This left room for a very broad interpretation of the ambiguous phrase "bad tendency" as meaning anything in any way critical of the government. the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the act by applying what the Court called the "bad tendency" test. In a time when almost any expression of disagreement with the government could be construed as "disloyal" or "abusive" this law had a "chilling effect" on free speech. This law provided for imprisonment for any "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the government, its policies, or the flag. He banned, for example, three Socialist publications from the mails and suppressed all anti-British and pro-Irish publications.įar more dangerous a threat to civil liberties was the Sedition Act. Burleson of Texas, demonstrated a lack of tolerance and judgment in establishing a capricious censorship. It empowered the President to establish censorship of materials passing between the United States and any foreign country. While those provisions forbidding commerce with enemy nations "or their associates" and empowering the President to impose an embargo on any imports posed no real threat to individual freedoms, another section did. The Trading with the Enemy Act was another law designed to suppress expression of any anti-war sentiment. ![]() The basis for this decision was that the government could outlaw any action which posed a "clear and present danger" to national security. declared that the law did not violate the first amendment. When his conviction was appealed on the grounds that the Espionage Act was unconstitutional, the Supreme Court in the case of Schenck v. One man who ran afoul of this act was convicted for printing a pamphlet denouncing the draft. Thus one ran the risk of being prosecuted under this law merely for speaking out against the draft. This law provided for up to twenty years imprisonment for obstructing recruitment or causing insubordination in the military. One example of legislation impinging upon free speech and press was the Espionage Act. This hysterical overreaction by the government was reflected by the state governments and the American people at large. ![]() ![]() Fearful that allowing any criticism of the government or American involvement in the war would impede military victory, President Wilson both encouraged private repression of any dissent and pushed legislation to suppress any criticism or dissent. This was especially true for the first amendment rights of free speech and free press. Describe the impact of World War I on civil liberties in the United States, noting specific laws and Supreme Court decisions.Ĭivil liberties, those guarantees of individual freedoms in the Bill of Rights, were among the casualties of World War I. ![]()
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