The entry of the United States into World War 1 and the need to control the aggressive opposition of its involvement led to the passage and enforcement of the Selective and Espionage Acts. In April 1917, America entered World War I leading to a legal storm (Newton-Matza, 2017), and a month later, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Selective Services Act. The Act required that the U.S government raise a national army to serve in the war. By this time, however, labor activists, dissidents, and radicals had gained considerable influence. Pacifists wanted the U.S. to remain neutral, and some groups actively opposed the Act. Irish, German and Russian immigrants, were prominent among the dissenters. This made the Wilson administration raise the issue of loyalty to the U.S. The President and Congress passed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 to stifle active opposition to the U.S. war effort. The Acts criminalized any thought or interpreted language to be profane, disloyal, scurrilous, or abusive to the U.S. government or military, or any speech intended to incite insubordination or mutiny.
The First Amendment of the constitution’s freedom of speech was outright. According to Smith (2003), in Schenk v. the United States, the circumstances in which words are said are essential to determine how the constitution will be interpreted; the environment during the war is different from peace. Debs (1918) differed with Schenk v United States, and she thought it was dangerous to enact the constitutional right of freedom of speech when the country is fighting for democracy in the world. In his opinion, the government can jail individuals but not the spirit of the Socialist movement. However, in Holmes’s dissent in Abrams v. the U.S., Holmes stands with Debs’s opinion on freedom of speech. Holmes believes that the constitution denied the defendants their rights, and he disagrees with the First Amendment (Smith, 2003). He points out that one needs to be extremely vigilant when expressing their opinions, more so if they are likely to cause death as they may go against the law hence will necessitate a quick check for the country’s safety.
References
Debs, E. V. (1918). The Canton, Ohio speech, anti-war speech. EV Debs Internet Archives. Web.
Newton-Matza, M. (2017). The Espionage and Sedition Acts: World War I and the Image of Civil Liberties. Routledge.
Smith, S. A. (2003). Schenck v. United States and Abrams v. United States (pp. 20-35). Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.