Sedition and Shame
Today is Sunday, 16 May 2010.
On this date in 1918, Congress passed and President W. Wilson signed one of the most shameful bills ever, the Sedition Amendments to the Espionage Act of 1917.
Certain speech was criminalized, and “…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...or the military or naval forces of the United States, or the flag... shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or the imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both”.
Use of the infinitely elastic adjective “abusive” is quite artful.
Other constitutionally protected free speech was also criminalized.
“Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports...with intent to interfere with the operation...of the military or naval forces of the United States...
or say or do anything...to an investor...with intent to obstruct the sale by the United States of bonds or other securities...
and whoever when the United States is at war, shall willfully cause or attempt to cause...insubordination... in the military or naval forces of the United States,
or shall willfully obstruct or attempt to obstruct the recruiting or enlistment services of the United States
and 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...or the military or naval forces of the United States, or the flag...
or shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any language intended to incite, provoke, or encourage resistance to the United States...
or shall willfully display the flag of any foreign enemy
or shall willfully by utterance, writing, printing, publication, or language spoken, urge...any curtailment of production in this country of any thing...necessary...to the prosecution of the war...
and whoever shall willfully advocate...the doing of any of the acts or things in this section enumerated...or favor the cause of any country with which the United States is at war... "
The poet e. e. cummings, a volunteer ambulance driver in France, was arrested under the Espionage Act on 21 September 1917 for voicing the fact that he didn’t hate Germans, and spent three and a half months in a military detention camp. (See his novel, The Enormous Room.)
Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist Party leader and presidential candidate, was imprisoned under the Act for almost five years for a speech “obstructing recruiting”. He ran for president in 1920 from his jail cell. “Vote for Prisoner No. 9653”.
The Amendments were repealed on 13 December 1920.
Imagine a time when the Republican Party had left some scraps of decency: most of the Senators who opposed the Amendments were … Republicans!
On this date in 1918, Congress passed and President W. Wilson signed one of the most shameful bills ever, the Sedition Amendments to the Espionage Act of 1917.
Certain speech was criminalized, and “…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...or the military or naval forces of the United States, or the flag... shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or the imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both”.
Use of the infinitely elastic adjective “abusive” is quite artful.
Other constitutionally protected free speech was also criminalized.
“Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports...with intent to interfere with the operation...of the military or naval forces of the United States...
or say or do anything...to an investor...with intent to obstruct the sale by the United States of bonds or other securities...
and whoever when the United States is at war, shall willfully cause or attempt to cause...insubordination... in the military or naval forces of the United States,
or shall willfully obstruct or attempt to obstruct the recruiting or enlistment services of the United States
and 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...or the military or naval forces of the United States, or the flag...
or shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any language intended to incite, provoke, or encourage resistance to the United States...
or shall willfully display the flag of any foreign enemy
or shall willfully by utterance, writing, printing, publication, or language spoken, urge...any curtailment of production in this country of any thing...necessary...to the prosecution of the war...
and whoever shall willfully advocate...the doing of any of the acts or things in this section enumerated...or favor the cause of any country with which the United States is at war... "
The poet e. e. cummings, a volunteer ambulance driver in France, was arrested under the Espionage Act on 21 September 1917 for voicing the fact that he didn’t hate Germans, and spent three and a half months in a military detention camp. (See his novel, The Enormous Room.)
Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist Party leader and presidential candidate, was imprisoned under the Act for almost five years for a speech “obstructing recruiting”. He ran for president in 1920 from his jail cell. “Vote for Prisoner No. 9653”.
The Amendments were repealed on 13 December 1920.
Imagine a time when the Republican Party had left some scraps of decency: most of the Senators who opposed the Amendments were … Republicans!
posted by HH at 12:02 PM
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