![]() Emma Goldman lived in this tenement on East 13th Street government, the flag, the Constitution or the military agitating against the production of necessary war materials or advocating, teaching or defending any of these acts. The Espionage Act, as well as the Sedition Act of 1918 (passed May 16), were clearly aimed at socialists, pacifists and other anti-war activists, many of whom lived, worked, and were targeted right here in our neighborhood.Ĭongress passed these laws due to a growing fear that criticism of the war would hinder recruitment, and that the perceived sympathy of labor groups like the Industrial Workers of the World to workers throughout the world would undermine the United States government. The Espionage Act was reinforced by the Sedition Act 1918, which made it illegal to “willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of the Government of the United States” or to “willfully urge, incite, or advocate any curtailment of the production” of the things “necessary or essential to the prosecution of the war.” These laws criminalized insulting or abusing the U.S. Its goals included limiting interference with recruitment efforts and preventing the support of enemies of United States during wartime. In his message to Congress, President Woodrow Wilson warned that the war would require a redefinition of national loyalty, with “ millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst us….If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with a firm hand of repression.” Repression indeed. ![]() ![]() The Espionage Act was passed on June 15th, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I in April of that year. ![]()
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