Chapter 19 Section 4

1. Chapter 19 Section 4 Objective: To understand the relationship between the protection of civil rights and liberties and national security.

2. A. Punishable Acts • 1. Espionage, sabotage, and treason are punishable acts. • 2. Sedition, which involves only speech or writing, presents a more complex issue for the government to decide.

3. B. The Alien and Sedition Acts • 1. The Alien and Sedition acts of 1798 made false, scandalous, or malicious criticism of the government illegal and allowed the president to deport undesirable aliens. • 2. These acts were unconstitutional, but were never challenged in the courts during their brief existence.

4. C. Seditious Acts in Wartime • 1 During WWI, a law was passed which made it a crime to encourage disloyalty, interfere with the draft, or commit other acts deemed potentially harmful to the government of the United States.

5. 2. In Schenck v. United States, 1919, the court upheld the conviction of a man who had urged young men to resist the draft. • 3. The principle used in this and other cases was that words can be outlawed if their use triggers a “clear and present danger” that criminal acts will follow.

6. D. Sedition in Peacetime • 1. The court has held that merely urging someone to believe something, rather than urging them to do something, cannot be made illegal (Yates v. U.S.). • 2. During the Cold War, sedition laws were passed in an attempt to defend the country against communist subversion, but most of these laws were ineffective and impossible to enforce (Smith and McCarran Acts).