Espionage and Sedition Acts in America during WW1

Central Historical Question:

Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war?

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Historical Background:

Public opinion on WWI was divided in the U.S. Some Americans, notably socialists, Christian pacifists, anarchists, women’s groups, unionists, and intellectuals, opposed the war. Some of these pacifists believed war was immoral, while “radicals” believed the government was entering war not to “make the world safe for democracy,” as Wilson claimed, but rather to serve the interest of capitalists. Other Americans strongly supported U.S. entry into the war in light of the Zimmerman telegram and the sinking of the Lusitania. In 1916 President Wilson won re-election running on the slogan “He Kept Us Out of War.” After the revelation of the Zimmerman telegram and Germany beginning a program of unrestricted submarine warfare that threatened U.S. commercial shipping, Wilson declared war in April 1917. That same month Wilson established the Committee on Public Information, a propaganda agency that galvanized public support for U.S. war aims. The president pushed through Congress the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918, which suppressed anti-British, proGerman, and anti-war opinions. Over 1,500 people were prosecuted and over 1,000 convicted under these laws, many for small acts of dissent. His administration saw the arrest and deportation of many foreign-born, antiwar radicals and drew closer to pro-war unions.

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Woodrow Wilson’s Flag Day Speech April 14, 1917 Two months after the declaration of war on Germany, President Wilson gave a speech on Flag Day,1917. In the speech, Wilson stated the administration’s position on the opposition to the war.

My Fellow Citizens: We meet to celebrate Flag Day because this flag which we honor and fight for is the symbol of our unity, our power, our thought and our purpose as a nation. It has no other meaning than that which we give it from generation to generation. The choices are ours. It floats in majestic silence above the people making those choices, whether in peace or in war.

We were forced into the war. The extreme insults and aggressions of the Germans left us no choice but to take up arms in defense of our rights as a free people and of our honor as a independent country.  

    The masters of Germany use any method that helps their goal.  They are using men, in Germany and all over the world, as their spokesmen. They are using the socialists, the leaders of labor movement, and the thinkers they before tried to silence to help Germany in the war. …The evil method is being used in this country But it will not work. The traitors betray themselves always in every accent. Friends of the German Government have already been identified through these thinly disguised disloyalties.

   For us there is one choice. We have made it. Woe be to the man or group of men that seeks to stand in our way when every belief we hold dearest is to be proven and made secure for the protection of all nations.

1. According to President Woodrow Wilson the Germans have spies spokesmen helping them fight the war around the world, including;
a. Some politicians in America
b. Some leaders of the Unions
c. Some intellectuals
d. None of the above.

2. What beliefs in American Society might Woodrow Wilson be using to justify his actions as the responsibilities of the President? Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war? Explain your answer with evidence:

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Don't talk, the web is spun for you with invisible threads, keep out of it, help to destroy it--spies are listening  Boston : Walker Lith. & Pub. Co., [1918?]

1. This Poster made by the American Government might be used to justify restricting people's;
a. freedom of religion
b. freedom of speech
c. freedom to join the army
d. freedom of the press

2. How might this poster have an impact on people in America's relationships with each other?Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war? Explain your answer with evidence:
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The Sedition Act of 1918 (Modified) This is an excerpt from the Sedition Act, signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson in 1918. Along with the Espionage Act, the law shrunk the rights of Americans. Wilson and the United States Congress claimed dissent would harm America's effort to win the war. Congress repealed the act in December 1920, two years after the end of WWI.

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 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 . . . or shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any language intended to incite, provoke, or encourage resistance to the United States . . . shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or the imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both. Source: The Sedition Act of 1918 was passed by the United States Congress on May 16, 1918.

1. The Sedition Act of 1918 was an American Law that made it illegal to;
a. write anything that was against what the government was doing.
b. say anything that was against what the government was doing.
c. think that was against what the government was doing.
d. all of the above

2. What might be the consequences of the U.S. Government's decision to create the Sedition Act? Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war? Explain your answer with evidence:

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Now for a round-up / W.A. Rogers. Rogers, W. A. 1918?   Uncle Sam gathering men ("Spy," "Traitor," "IWW," "German money" and "Sinn Fein") in front of United States Capital with flag, "Sedition law passed."	Swat the Fly, But Use Common Sense Literary Digest, 3/6/20. Originally from the Newark News (Pease)

1. True/False; The "Now for the Roundup" cartoon makes it look like Uncle Sam is violating the rights of the people he is dragging in his hands. True / False (explain your answer with evidence)

2. What might cause different groups of people in American society to have different beliefs about the Sedition Act? Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war? Explain your answer with evidence:

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Eugene V. Debs Speech (Modified) Eugene V. Debs was a founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), U.S. presidential candidate of the Socialist Party of America, and one of the most famous American socialists. This excerpt is from a speech he gave across the street from a jail, where he had just visited three socialists who were in prison for opposing the draft. Socialist leader Eugene Debs delivered this speech in June 1918.

Comrades, friends and fellow-workers,

Three of our most loyal comrades are paying the penalty for their devotion to the cause of the working class. They have come to realize, as many of us have, that it is extremely dangerous to exercise the constitutional right of free speech in a country fighting to make democracy safe in the world. Every one of the aristocratic conspirators and would-be murderers claims to be a great patriot; every one of them insists that the war is being waged to make the world safe for democracy. What humbug! What rot! What false talk! 

These tyrants, these red-handed robbers and murderers, say they’re the “patriots,” while the men who have the courage to stand face to face with them, speak the truth, and fight for their exploited victims—they are called the disloyalists and traitors. If this be true, I want to take my place side by side with the traitors in this fight. . . . 

1. True or False. Eugene Debs knew giving this speech was illegal and that he could be arrested and put in jail for giving it. True / False

2. Why would Debs, and others who were arrested under the Espionage Act, choose to act in ways that were illegal knowing what the consequences might be? Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war? Explain your answer with evidence:

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Schenck Pamphlet (Modified) Charles Schenck was a Socialist who in 1917-1918 printed and distributed more than 15,000 anti-war pamphlets, including some to drafted American men. The excerpt below comes from one of his pamphlets.

ASSERT YOUR RIGHTS. 
The Socialist Party says that any officers of the law entrusted with the administration of conscription violate the United States Constitution when they refuse to recognize your right to express your opposition to the draft 
To draw this country into the horrors of the present war in Europe, to force the youth of our land into the bloody trenches of war-crazy nations, would be a crime the magnitude of which defies description. No pleas about a "war for democracy" can cloud the issue. 
Democracy can not be shot into a nation. It must come spontaneously and purely from within. To advocate the persecution of other peoples through the fighting of a war is an insult to every good and wholesome American tradition. You are responsible. You must do your share to maintain, support, and uphold the rights of the people of this country. In this world crisis where do you stand? Are you with the forces of liberty and light or war and darkness?

1. Charles Schenck made pamphlets arguing;
a. People should be required to sign up for the draft.
b. the draft is unconstitutional
c.  The war is to defend American traditions
d. everyone had the responsibility to defend the rights of the people in America

2. What might the American Government believe letting people like Charles Schenck be able to have complete freedom of speech be dangerous? Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war? Explain your answer with evidence:

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Schenck v. United States (Modified) The excerpt below comes from the Supreme Court’s unanimous opinion in Schenck v. United States, 1919.

OPINION BY JUSTICE OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, JR. 

The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done. The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting “Fire!” in a theater and causing a panic. 
The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such situations and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the great evils that Congress has a right to prevent.  
When a nation is at war many things that might be said in time of peace are a problem to its war effort. The government cannot handle those statements as long as men are fighting in the war. No Court could regard those statements as protected by any constitutional right.

1. True or False. When Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote a man should not be protected under free speech, if what they said put other people in danger. (shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater could cause a panic that could kill people.) true / false

2. How could a belief that freedom of speech has limitations shape American society? Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war?  Explain your answer with evidence:

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As Gag-Rulers Would Have It Literary Digest, 2/7/20.

Originally from the Jersey City Journal (Satterfield).

1. The creators of the cartoon "As the Gag-Rulers Would Have It" are implying the Sedition Act would prevent people from;
a. Expressing their opinions
b. Having their Freedom of Speech
c. Having their Freedom of Press
d. None of the Above

2. How might this cartoon be used to explain how some people thought the Sedition Bills would lead to long term changes in American Society? Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war? Explain your answer with evidence:

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Central Historical Question: 
Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war?

Use evidence to support your argument!