Schenck v. United States (1919) :: essays research papers

Schenck v. United States (1919) The Schenck court case of 1919 developed bulge out of opposition to U.S. involve manpowert in World War I (1914-1918). Antiwar idea in the United States was particularly strong among socialists, German Americans, and religious groups that traditionally supported antiviolence. In response to this outlook, Congress passed the Espionage enactment of 1917. This law provided intemperately fines and jail terms for interfering with U.S. military operations or for make or attempting to cause insubordination or disloyalty in the military. In addition, the bend made it illegal to obstruct recruitment efforts of the U.S. armed forces.Among the many Americans convicted of violating the Espionage Act was Charles Schenck, general secretary of the Socialist Party of the United States. In 1917 Schenck send copies of a letter urging resistance to the military draft to 15,000 men who had been drafted but not yet inducted into the U.S. military. Schencks letter cla imed that the draft violated the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery and prohibited involuntary servitude. Schenck argued that forced enrollment into the military was a form of involuntary servitude and therefore should be prohibited. The letters also claimed that businesses had conspired to malarky the United States to war, against the interests of average Americans. Schenck advised readers to assert their individual rights by oppose the draft, but he did not directly promote violence or avoidance of the draft laws.Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., delivered a judgment that established guidelines for evaluating the limits of allay diction. In Schencks case, Court had to decide whether the beginning Amendment protected his words, however though it might have had the power to cause opposition to the draft. The First Amendment states that Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech. The Court concluded that because Schencks speech was intended to create opposition to the draft, he was not protected by the First Amendment. Holmes considered the context of Schencks speech as well as its intent. In his opinion, he created a new legal test the clear and get danger test that was designed to identify when certain forms of speech were not protected by the First Amendment.