{"id":31812,"date":"2024-01-04T09:26:16","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T08:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=255261"},"modified":"2024-01-05T03:11:41","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T02:11:41","slug":"what-was-the-1918-sedition-act","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/what-was-the-1918-sedition-act\/","title":{"rendered":"What was the 1918 Sedition Act?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States\u2019 entry into World War I triggered a wave of frenzied patriotism across the country. However, as Danny Bird reveals, this hysteria set the nation on a collision course with its most cherished principles <\/p>

By Danny Bird\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 04 January 2024 at 08:26 AM<\/p>

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What was the 1918 Sedition Act?<\/h2>\n

On 16 May 1918, President Woodrow Wilson of the United States signed a piece of federal legislation into law. In fact, this \u2018Sedition Act\u2019 was an amendment to the Espionage Act passed by the US Congress 11 months earlier.<\/p>\n

Despite years of efforts to maintain the country\u2019s neutrality while World War I consumed Europe, America had finally entered the conflict in April 1917<\/a>. Within weeks, any outlet that cast the US war effort in a negative light, and anything that undermined the government\u2019s sale of \u2018liberty bonds\u2019 \u2013 debt securities used to fund the Allied cause \u2013 was criminalised.<\/p>\n

\"Woodrow\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
A former supporter of American neutrality, Woodrow Wilson presented the nation\u2019s war aims as making the world \u201csafe for democracy\u201d. (Image by Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The subsequent Sedition Act expressly persecuted \u201cdisloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language\u201d directed against the government, the national flag and mass conscription (the draft) during wartime. Throughout its enforcement, more than 2,000 Americans were arrested, with some fined upwards of $10,000 and others sentenced to 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s administration, conscious of the public appetite for keeping America out of the war, as well as political opposition from pacifists, anarchists and socialists, fast-tracked the legislation amid a climate of hysteria.<\/p>\n

Why was the 1918 Sedition Act passed?<\/h2>\n

To rally the public behind the war effort, Wilson established the Committee on Public Information (CPI) and appointed a public relations guru, George Creel, to head it up. Finding the word \u2018propaganda\u2019 distasteful, Creel instead regarded his brief as akin to advertising \u2013 selling a positive angle on the conflict to Americans. Meanwhile, the government, in collaboration with legislators on Capitol Hill and the era\u2019s leading newspaper magnates, mounted a concerted effort to get the Sedition Act passed by Congress.<\/p>\n