ESPIONAGE ACT OF 1917
One of the most controversial laws ever passed
in the United States, the Espionage Act of 1917
(ch. 30, tit. I § 3, 40 Stat. 217, 219), and an
amendment to it passed in 1918 sometimes
referred to as the Sedition Act, were an attempt
to deal with the climate created in the country
by WORLD WAR I. While most of the Espionage
Act was straightforward and non-controversial,
parts of this legislation curtailed FREEDOM OF
SPEECH in such a way as to draw an outcry from
civil libertarians. It resulted in several important
U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding free-
dom of speech that continue to be studied.
With World War I raging in 1917, the
administration of President WOODROW WILSON
decided that there needed to be a law protecting
the United States against “the insidious methods
of internal hostile activities.” While the United
