History 2-3 page paper - "To what extent did WWI alter the status of Americans between 1914-1920"?

SCHENCK v. UNITED STATES (1919) ORIGINS OF THE CASE Charles Schenck, an official of the U.S. Socialist Party, distrib- uted leaflets that called the draft a “deed against humanity” and compared conscription to slavery, urging conscripts to “assert your rights.” Schenck was convicted of sedition and sentenced to prison, but he argued that the conviction, punishment, and even the law itself violated his right to free speech. The Supreme Court agreed to hear his appeal.

THE RULING A unanimous court upheld Schenck’s conviction, stating that under wartime conditions, the words in the leaflets were not protected by the right to free speech.

LEGAL REASONING The Supreme Court’s opinion in the Schenck case, written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., has become famous as a guide for how the First Amendment defines the right of free speech. Holmes wrote:

“ The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.”

Justice Holmes noted that “in ordinary times” the First Amendment might have protected Schenck, but “[w]hen a nation is at war many things that might be said in time of peace . . . will not be endured.”

The analogy that Holmes used to explain why Schenck could be punished for his words has become probably the best-known observation ever made about free speech:

“ Protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting ‘Fire!’ in a theatre and causing a panic.”

Writing for the Court, Holmes implied that during wartime, Schenck’s leaflet was just that dangerous.

DEBS v. UNITED STATES (MARCH, 1919)

The conviction against Eugene Debs for speaking against the war and the draft is upheld.

FROHWERK v. UNITED STATES (MARCH, 1919)

The publisher of a newspaper that had criticized the war is sentenced with a fine and ten years in prison.

ABRAMS v. UNITED STATES (NOV., 1919)

Leaflets criticizing the U.S. expeditionar y force in Russia are found to be unprotected by the First Amendment. Holmes writes a dissenting opinion

calling for the “free trade of ideas.”

RELATED CASES

U.S. CONSTITUTION, FIRST AMENDMENT (1791) “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the free- dom of speech, or of the press.”

THE SEDITION ACT (1918) "(W)hoever . . . shall willfully utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government, . . . Constitution, . . . military or naval forces, . . . flag, . . . or the uniform of the Army or Navy of the United States . . . shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both."

LEGISLATION

LEGAL SOURCES

602 CHAPTER 19

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Supreme Court Justice 1902–1932 ▼