Civil Liberties of the Early Twentieth Century :: essays research papers

All without history civil liberties hit been established, fought for, and abused. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, the civil liberties in the get together States of the States were tested. There were many events where the freedoms that our founding fathers had fought for Passive Voice (consider revising). Prejudice, fear, and racism whole played a role during these events, during many of which they decided the outcome. Two events that institute when the civil liberties in America were tested were during the trial of Sacco and Vanzettii and Schenek v. United States.Schenek v. United States was a trial in 1919 that reaffirmed the conviction of a man for move antidraft leaflets among members of the armed forces. This trial upheld the Espionage and Sedition functions, which by many deemed unconstitutional. The Espionage Act of 1917 was a United States federal law, which made it a crime for a individual to convey information with role to interfere with the opera tion or success of the armed forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies. The Sedition Act forbade Americans to use disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the United States brass, flag, or armed forces during war. The act also allowed the Postmaster General to deny mail spoken language to dissenters of government policy during war cartridge clip. These two laws denied the freedom of speech that our sacred point of Rights was supposed to uphold. The antidraft flyers that Schenek passed out claimed to be freedom of speech so the government could not stop the circulation of Scheneks pamphlets. However, by passing out antidraft laws, Schenek had the intent to interfere with the operation of success of the armed forces of the United States. By doing this, he broke the law. He was sentenced to six months in prison for breaking an unconstitutional law. The government was trying to reduce the freedom of speech during a time of war so that the nation would be united as one. The antonym of some feared Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet so they took action by reducing some freedoms and imprisoning many people unconstitutionally. The scare of not being united at a lower place a time of war was the cause of the Espionage and Sedition acts. These acts immediately caused the below the belt conviction of Schenek and put him in prison. Although he was utilizing his freedom of speech, the unfair laws passed through the government by Woodrow Wilson, Congress, and the Supreme Court forbade him his civil liberties.