repression of civil liberties
autumn surratt
Eugene V. Debs,
Ray Ginger, The Bending Cross (1949, reissued 1992); and Nick Salvatore, Eugene V. Debs: Citizen and Socialist (1982), are biographies.Harold W. Currie, Eugene V. Debs (1976), explains his ideas.
The 1919 Schenck case marked the first time the Court heard a First Amendment challenge to a federal law on free speech grounds. The Court was comprised of the following justices: (standing, l-r) Brandeis, Pitney, McReynolds, Clarke, (seated, l-r) Day, McKenna, White, Holmes, Van Devanter. U.S. SUPREME COURT
Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes first used the term "clear and present danger." Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
this is a book about what happyed
Historical Background of schenck v. united states (1919)
Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47, 39 S. Ct. 247, 63 L. Ed. 470 (1919), is a seminal case in Constitutional Law, representing the first time that the U.S. Supreme Court heard a First Amendment challenge to a federal law on free speech grounds. In upholding the constitutionality of theEspionage Act of 1917 (40 Stat. 217), the Supreme Court articulated theClear and Present Danger doctrine, a test that still influences the manner in which state and federal courts decide free speech issues. This doctrine pioneered new territory by drawing a line that separates protected speech, such as the public criticism of government and its policies, from unprotected speech, such as the advocacy of illegal action.
On December 20, 1917, Charles Schenck was convicted in federal district court for violating the Espionage Act, which prohibited individuals from obstructing military recruiting, hindering enlistment, or promoting insubordination among the armed forces of the United States. Schenck, who was the general secretary of the Socialist party in the United States, had been indicted for mailing antidraft leaflets to more than fifteen thousand men in Philadelphia. The leaflets equated the draft with Slavery, characterized conscripts as criminals, and urged opposition to American involvement in World War I.
Schenck appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case. Attorneys for Schenck challenged the constitutionality of the Espionage Act on First Amendment grounds. Freedom of Speech, Schenck's attorneys argued, guarantees the liberty of all
Americans to voice their opinions about even the most sensitive political issues, as long as their speech does not incite immediate illegal action. Attorneys for the federal government argued that freedom of speech does not include the freedom to undermine the Selective Service System by casting aspersions upon the draft
sacco and vanzetti
Ferdinando Nicola Sacco (April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were suspected anarchists who were convicted of murdering two men during a 1920 armed robbery of a shoe factory in South Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. After a controversial trial and a series of appeals, the two Italianimmigrants were executed on August 23, 1927.[1]
Since their deaths, critical opinion has overwhelmingly felt that the two men were convicted largely on their anarchistpolitical beliefs and unjustly executed.[2][3] In 1977, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation that Sacco and Vanzetti had been unfairly tried and convicted and that "any disgrace should be forever removed from their names." The case is still officially open.