<span>Cracking down on dissent during World War I was part of the larger governmental goal in the United States of promoting war production domestically, since the US needed to supply a great number of weapons to Europe, as well as troops. </span>
The larger goal was uniting Americans around the war effort.
Cracking down on dissent would be a negative action in support of the larger, positive goal the government sought. The government wanted a fully united public in support of the war, and so it put out the message that that freedom of speech might have its limits in times of war.
Northern states were required by law to return fugitive slaves to their masters. This caused tensions because many northerners did not want to send the slaves back. So this angered southerners.
