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US
This page discusses the US sedition and treason regimes
US
The UK 'bad tendency' doctrine was retained in US law,
despite adoption of the First Amendment, with the 1798
federal Alien & Sedition Laws for example enabling
action against "false, scandalous, and malicious
writings" against the government, Congress or President
intended to defame,
excite hatred or "stir up sedition". Theodore
Roosevelt sought a treaty that would make advocacy of
killing an offence under international law. Congress more
modestly provided legislation to exclude entry into the
US of anyone "teaching disbelief in opposition to
all organised government".
The federal Espionage Act of 1917 updated 1861
legislation, identifying the offense of attempting to
cause "disloyalty" in the armed forces. The
1918 federal Sedition Act, attributable to political
opportunism and anti-Wobbly/Bolshevik hysteria, made it
a crime to
utter
or publish any disloyal language intended to cause contempt
for the American form of government, or the Constitution,
or the flag, or the uniform of the Army or Navy.
Federal
law was complemented by state sedition legislation in
27 states, with a 1918 enactment in Montana for example
making it an offence to be "disloyal, profane, violent,
scurrilous, contemptuous or abusive" about the government,
US soldiers or flag.
As with defamation law it was defended on the basis that
citizens would otherwise take matters into their own hands.
It is estimated that over 300 people were jailed during
1919 and 1920 under state sedition legislation. E V Starr
was sentenced to hard labor in the Montana state penitentiary
for refusing a mob's demand that he kiss the flag
and then characterising it as "nothing but a piece
of cotton" with "a little bit of paint".
Another was sentenced to 20 years in prison for calling
wartime food regulations a "big joke". 75 Montana
men and three women were posthumously pardoned in 2006.
1919 hysteria is evident in acquittal, after the jury
deliberated for a mere two minutes, of an Indiana man
who fatally shot an alien for shouting "To hell with
the United States".
The same year saw acquittal of a sailor who shot George
Godard for failing to stand and remove his hat during
a performance of The Star Spangled Banner, greeted
by the crowd with "cheers and hand-clapping".
A reprise of the US Espionage and Sedition
Acts (repealed in 1921) was found in the 1940 federal
Alien Registration Act ('Smith Act'). That legislation
made it a criminal offense to
knowingly
or wilfully advocate, abet, advise, or teach the duty,
necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing
the Government of the United States or of any State
by force or violence.
1920s
anxieties about corrupting the armed forces or more broadly
subverting the 'american way' were echoed in McCarthy
era tests and inquiries about "disloyal, subversive,
communist, or un-American" acts. They encompassed
investigation by bodies such as the Subversive Activities
Control Board and the House Un-American Activities Committee
and formal listings of subversive organisations.
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