First Amendment 3
The modern American conception of freedom of speech comes from the principles of freedom of the press, and freedom of religion as they developed in England, starting in the seventeenth century. The arguments of people like John Milton on the importance of an unlicensed press, and of people like John Locke on religious toleration, were all the beginning for the idea of the "freedom of speech". By the year of 1791, when the First Amendment was ratified, the idea of "freedom of speech" was so widely accepted that it became the primary, and a very important issue in the amendment. "Freedom of press" came with it to insure that the written and printed as well as oral communication was protected: "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." From the 1791 and until the beginning of the twentieth century the idea of "freedom of speech" and the "freedom of press" was not interfered in by the judicial system. And only during World War I did the Supreme Court actively start to work on the issue of the "freedom of speech/press" of the First Amendment. In 1919 cases like Schenck vs. United States and Abram vs. United States did the new interpretation of the First Amendment come into place. Schenck vs. Unit
Charles T. Schenck was sentenced to a maximum of twenty years in a federal penitentiary. This case had a great impact on the country, because it gave rise to a "clear and present danger" rule. The trial of Abrams vs. United States took place on October 21 and 22 of the year 1919. They have violated the Espionage Act of Congress (section 3, title I, of Act June 15, 1917, c. 30, 40 Stat. 219, as amended by Act May 16, 1918, c. 75, 40 Stat. 553 [Comp. St. 1918, 10212c]). They were convicted on the basis of these four counts: (1) used bad language about the form of the government of the United States, (2) usage of the type of a language which could/intended to bring the form of government of the United States into contempt, (3) usage of the language intended to incite, provoke and encourage resistance to the United States in said war,(4) "the defendants conspired when the United States was at war with the Imperial German Government... unlawfully and willfully, by utterance, writing, printing and publication to urge, incite and advocate curtailment of production of things and products, to wit, ordnance and ammunition, necessary and essential to the prosecution of the war." All five defendants were born in Russia, on the average they lived from five to ten years in America and still didn't apply for naturalization. All of them were intelligent and had a good amount of schooling. Four of them testified as witnesses on their own behalf, and all but one denied that they were rebels, they said that they had nothing against the government of the United States, while there was one who said that he was a Socialist and didn't believe into the capitalistic government of the United States. It was admitted during the trial that the defendants printed and distributed around 5,000 pamphlets on August 22, 1918. And that they did all of their work at night in the basement that Jacob Abrams has rented in New York City. The circulars were distributed b
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1310
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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