American Government - Research Paper Example

The freedom of expression and speech was highly compromised. The Espionage and Sedition Acts of 1917 and 1918 respectively put Civil War newspapers in between hard rock and a hard place. The reporters of that time could not exercise their duties and freedoms without fear of persecution or threats. The United States Government put the Espionage Act with the aim of dissolving the overwrought climate that arose from the World War I. Woodrow Wilson and his team made the decision to institute a regulation that would counter the Americans if and when they attempted to cause harm to the nation.

The law was also out to protect the country against propaganda warfare in the United States. The act contained a clause that made retrieval of information with the intent to harm to the United States a criminal offense. The act went further to make acts involving search of information with the aim of harming the navy or the military personnel an offense. Of course, the requirements stated in the Espionage act were reasonable, and they all contributed towards the safety and stabilization of the United States.

However, the Sedition Act, a refinement of the Espionage act, took things to an entirely different level. The 1918 amendment made it illegal to engage in actions that would amount to insulting the military, the navy, and the national flag. The government went overboard in developing both the Espionage and the Sedition act (Hall and Patrick 78). The Sedition act robbed the American citizens and workers within the nation their inalienable constitutional rights, namely the free press and free press parts.

The Sedition act defined writing, saying, printing, or even publishing any material that was profane, disloyal, or abusive in any nature towards the government, the military, or the constitution as illegal. In addition to that, the media and journalists would get themselves into hot trying pans if they dared mention anything that seemed as though was