New Wingnut Meme: Sedition Law Needed

by Steven D
Mon Feb 20th, 2006 at 11:43:20 AM EST

Sedition is a word with a long, and embarrassing, history in the United States, beginning with the "Alien and Sedition Acts" passed by our second President, John Adams, and used to arrest a number of newspaper publishers who supported opponents of Adams' Federalist party. Fortunately for the country, the law expired on the last day of Adam's first (and only) term in office.

Sadly, Adams was not the last president to suppress dissent through the use of laws against sedition. Woodrow Wilson, during World War I, enforced two laws, the Espionage Act and the Sedition Act, that provided for the arrest of anyone who expressed antiwar or anti-government opinions. Over 2000 people were arrested, the most famous of which was Socialist spokesman Eugene V. Debs, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison.