Right To Free Speech Dbq

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People has always had the right to free speech, which has been granted in the first amendment. However, with World war 1, much miltary criticism and Pro-German propaganda, the US Government passed the Espionage and Sedition acts, which would prohibit anything that would interfere with the success of the armed forces, incite disloyalty, or obstruct recruiting to the army as stated in Document 1 by Harries and Harries. According to William H. Rehnquist in Document 2, Charles T. Schenck was convicted in 1918 of violating the Espionage Act by printing and distributing leaflets to draftees about resisting the draft. The Supreme Court stated that the leaflets could be intended to obstruct armed forces recruiting, and Charles was therefore convicted of trespassing the Espionage Act. …show more content…

La Follette, Senator Robert argues that even though everyone’s right to free speech is protected by the Constitution, citizens should not publically influence people in any way that would conflict with the Government’s wartime efforts. However, your right to free speech should always remain when it’s not wartime, and you should always be ready to protect it as the right is guaranteed by the Constitution. In Document 3b, by Lute Pease, it shows a cartoon of Uncle Sam holding a mallet, about to smash a fly between his eyes. The cartoonist of this picture is trying to say that do what has to be done to get rid of the problem, but don’t be so absorbed into that you don’t use common sense

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