Question

What was the Sedition of Act 1918 and do you believe it depends on someone's freedom of speech, Why or Why not?

Answer 1

The Sedition Act of 1918 (Pub.L. 65–150, 40 Stat. 553, enacted May 16, 1918) was an Act of the United States Congress that extended the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover a broader range of offenses, notably speech and the expression of opinion that cast the government or the war effort in a negative light or interfered with the sale of government bonds. In my opinion, the United States Government enacting this law was bad because it limited free speech during a time of war and they didn’t want to look bad so they basically told their citizens to shut up. People should be allowed to say what they want without getting arrested for it, but at the time the United States was trying to win a war so they clamped down hard on anyone who opposed the war effort. The targets of prosecution under the Sedition Act were typically individuals who opposed the war effort, including pacifists, anarchists, and socialists. Violations of the Sedition Act could lead to as much as twenty years in prison and a fine of $10,00”. More than two thousand cases were filed by the government under the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918, and of these more than one thousand ended in convictions. The Sedition Act of 1918 was repealed in 1920, although many parts of the original Espionage Act remained in force.