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

WHY IT MATTERED During the course of World War I, the federal govern- ment brought approximately 2,000 prosecutions for violations of the Espionage Act of 1917 or the Sedition Act of 1918, the same laws under which it convicted Schenck, Debs, and Frohwerk.

By the fall of 1919, however, Holmes had changed his mind. The case of Abrams v. United States concerned leaflets that criticized President Wilson’s “capitalistic” government for sending troops to put down the Russian Revolution. Justice Holmes, joined by Justice Louis Brandeis, dissented from the majority of the Court, which upheld the conviction. In his dissent, Holmes emphasized the importance of a free exchange of ideas so that truth will win out in the intellectual marketplace. His reasoning won him acclaim as a pro- tector of free speech.

The belief that truth will eventually win out in the marketplace of ideas has become important legal justi- fication for promoting freedom of speech.

HISTORICAL IMPACT Disagreements about what kinds of speech are “free” under the First Amendment continue. During the 1950s, when people were jailed for supporting Communism, and during the Vietnam War, when war protestors sup- ported draft resistance, these issues again reached the Supreme Court.

The Court has also been asked to decide if young people in schools have the same First Amendment rights as adults. In Tinker v. Des Moines School District (1969), the Court ordered a school to readmit students who had been suspended for wearing black arm bands in protest of the war in Vietnam.

This so-called symbolic speech, such as wearing an armband or burning a draft card or a flag to express an opinion, has sparked heated debate. In Texas v. Johnson (1989), the Court, by a narrow five to four vote, inval- idated a law under which a man who burned an American flag to protest Reagan administration poli- cies had been convicted. The decision so outraged

some people that members of Congress considered amending the Constitution to prohibit any “physical desecration” of the flag. The amendment did not pass. Our freedoms of expression continue to depend upon the words in the first article of the Bill of Rights, written more than 200 years ago.

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THINKING CRITICALLYTHINKING CRITICALLY

CONNECT TO HISTORY 1. Analyzing Primary Sources Read Justice Holmes’s

dissent in Abrams v. United States. Compare it with the opinion he wrote in Schenck v. United States. Explain the major difference or similarity in the two opinions.

SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R22.

CONNECT TO TODAY 2.

Visit the links for Historic Decisions of the Supreme Court to research articles about free speech issues. Select several of these issues—such as whether hate groups have a right to march—to discuss with other students in your class. Choose one issue and, as a group, write down as many arguments as you can on both sides of the issue. Then present a debate to the class.

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In 1965 Mary Beth Tinker and her brother, John, were suspended from school for wearing armbands that symbolically criticized the Vietnam War.

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Eugene Debs was arrested for antiwar speeches like the one he gave at this 1916 presidential campaign stop.

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