Espionage and Sedition Acts in World War One

Presidential War Powers in the Woodrow Wilson Administration

Aug 29, 2009 Michael Streich

Woodrow Wilson Had Wide-Reaching War Powers - Public Domain Image Produced by U.S. Government

Following the declaration of war, Congress passed numerous acts designed to increase the president's war powers over virtually every aspect of American society.

Following the declaration of war against the Central Powers in 1917, the United States Congress passed several bills that gave President Wilson and the executive branch wide latitude to ensure the successful prosecution of the war effort. This delegation of legislative authority, often compared to Abraham Lincoln’s actions in 1861, made President Wilson a virtual “dictator,” according to some Constitutional scholars. The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Law of 1918 are two examples of specific laws that infringed on First Amendment guarantees.

Congress Delegates to Woodrow Wilson During World War I

Congressional legislative delegation began August 10, 1917 with the Lever Food Control Bill, although the Espionage Act had been passed a month earlier. Both measures rested on the Constitutional principles regarding presidential wartime prerogatives. The Lever Bill gave the executive branch broad control over food and fuels. According to Alfred Kelly, “Its terms were so broad as to subject virtually the entire economic life of the nation to whatever regulation the president thought necessary for victory.”

The earlier Espionage Act made it a felony to promote insubordination within the military or to obstruct the armed forces. This included inflammatory criticism aimed at the draft and included provisions permitting censorship of the mails. Congressional delegation also included giving the president control over foreign language newspapers as well as federal control over radio communication.

Clear and Present Danger During Times of War

Although there were several court challenges, the 1919 case Schneck v United States, which upheld presidential authority over First Amendment rights in times of emergency and war, enunciated the doctrine of “clear and present danger.” Penned by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., the doctrine was based on the notion of “the rule of proximate causation” and took into account the intent of the accused.

If the intent of the words used was to incite riot or hinder the war effort, there can be no First Amendment protection; freedom of speech is not unlimited. No person has the right to yell “fire” in a crowded theater. In subsequent cases that did not involve intent, Holmes and fellow Justice Louis Brandeis vigorously dissented.

The Sedition Law of 1918

The Sedition Law specifically targeted pacifists, union leaders, and a host of radicals such as the Socialists whose criticism of the war effort was designed to hinder. The law made it a felony to “incite mutiny or insubordination” within the military as well as criticism of the government’s war policies with the aim of interdicting those decisions and actions. Socialist leader Eugene V. Debs was imprisoned after criticizing the military draft.

Other Congressional Actions Restricting Civil Liberties During World War I

On July 16, 1918, a Congressional Resolution allowed the president to take over and to operate telephone and telegraph lines. The May 1917 Trading with the Enemy Act allowed the president to censor communication between Americans and other countries.

It should be noted that not since the Civil War had the entire nation been involved in a major conflict that everyone sensed would decide the future of the country and perhaps the world. Wilson had set the groundwork prior to the war declaration with the Adamson Eight Hour Act. As Commander in Chief, Wilson, along with the Congress, interpreted presidential war time prerogatives within the broad spectrum of presidential war powers.

Later presidents, like Franklin Roosevelt in the year preceding the Pearl Harbor attack, acted similarly with the blessing and often open support of Congress. Finally, in most court challenges, the Supreme Court supported these actions as war time emergencies and interpreted legislative delegation as it related to the conduct of the war as Constitutional.

Sources:

• Leon H. Canfield, The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson: Prelude to a World in Crisis Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1966)
• Henrick A. Clements, The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (University Press of Kansas, 1992)
• Alfred H. Kelly and Winfred A. Harbison, The American Constitution: Its Origins and Developments Fifth Edition (W. W. Norton & Company, 1976)

Copyright Michael Streich. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.