The warring parties during the World War one were mainly England, France, and Russia on the one hand, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the other (William, 2012 pp. 1-2). It is recorded in the various historical books on America that it was so difficult for the Americans to determine the warring parties that led to their divided loyalties. The Americans with the English descent felt the natural support for England. However, the majority of the population of the United States of America at that time consisted of Germans and Irish (Chafee, 1918 pg. 16). The American politicians became worried about this state of affairs occasioned by the emerging division in loyalties. Woodrow Wilson viewed the situation as dangerous and in an unprecedented manner started a vibrant campaign to gain support for the World War One (William, 2012 pg.2). He was the author and founder of the Committee on Public Information. The ministry was meant to stage a propaganda advocacy campaign for the World War One and paint Germany in the bad light (Freund, 1919 pg.3-4). It is then on the backdrop of this emergent anti-German hysteria that the Congress passed various laws regarding the freedoms of speech.
The Espionage and Sedition Acts
The Congress passed the Espionage Act with implications of allowing the postal officials the leeway to ban newspapers and magazines from the mails (Freund, 1919 pg.2). The oppressive Act specified a 10,000 dollars fine or twenty years jail term for people who could interfere with the process of employing militaries whenever it was at war (Holmes, 1919 pg. 6). Moreover, the Act slammed the same penalty measures for anybody who could print or utter words that were against the U.S. government and its militaries. The essence of the Espionage Act was to make it illegal for anyone to criticize the World War One and the government (Holmes, 1919 pg. 1-2). The limited nature of the Espionage Act made the Congress enact the Sedition Act. Its aim was to extend the Espionage Act and cover much broader offenses that included speech and expressions used to depict the government in the wrong light. The Act stressed the penalties and offenses stipulated in the Espionage Act. According to Freund (1919 pg.10), it made it even more repressive to anybody who felt badly affected by the government’s decision to fight against Germany.