Civil Rights Restricted During Ww1 Essay

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Civil rights were restricted in World War I through laws passed by congress. The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918, banned criticism of government activities. The laws were mainly towards any argument against the war. Any thing that caused people to view the government in a hatred manner, was punished by imprisonment. For this being against human rights, the government was not justified in restricting civil rights. The first amendment states we have the “Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition”. By passing the Act of Espionage and Sedition, violated those right. America had went back on their word by allowing these laws to be passed. Restricting the people of America from being able to express their thought went against the right of Freedom of Speech. The restriction of being able to publish or distribute information without government intervention went against the Freedom of Press. America expected us to fight for our country and our freedom, when they were going back on their word. Eugene Debs, a socialist leader, rights were taken away when he pointed out the wrongdoings of the government. People were not being treated fairly and could not stand up for themselves because of these laws. More than 2 thousand citizens and immigrants were imprison due to these Acts passed. Not only did they restrict our rights but they started propagandizing. We were not aloud to express our …show more content…

The government was not justified to restrict civil rights because went against our freedom. We had the right to speak up about how we felt about the situation of the war but it was stripped away from us. The government did not want the citizens to know the truth because they were afraid the people would turn on them when they find out how unfairly they were being treated. Things could have been done differently during the war, but sadly it

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