U.S. Congress passes Sedition Act

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On May 16, 1918, the United States Congress passes the Sedition Act to safeguard America's involvement in World War I.

Crafted alongside the Espionage Act of the previous year, the Sedition Act was spearheaded by A. Mitchell Palmer, the U.S. attorney general under President Woodrow Wilson. The Espionage Act, enacted shortly after the U.S. entered the war in early April 1917, criminalized conveying information meant to impede the war effort or aid the nation's adversaries.

Targeting socialists, pacifists, and anti-war activists, the Sedition Act imposed severe penalties for making false statements hindering the war effort, insulting or abusing the government, flag, Constitution, or military, agitating against war material production, or advocating such acts. Violators faced fines up to $10,000 or imprisonment for up to twenty years, aligning with penalties under the Espionage Act.

Though deemed essential by Wilson and Congress to suppress dissent during wartime, modern legal scholars view the act as violating the First Amendment. One notable case involved Eugene V. Debs, a pacifist labor leader convicted under the Sedition Act for anti-war remarks. His conviction, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, set a precedent for restricting free speech in wartime, as seen in the Schenck v. United States case.

Debs' sentence was commuted in 1921 upon the act's repeal. While elements of the Espionage Act endure, sedition as a crime was largely invalidated by the Sullivan v. New York Times case in 1964, affirming the protection of press criticism under the First Amendment.

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