Woodrow Wilson Civil Liberties Analysis

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During the first World War, President Woodrow Wilson and the United States as a country were hesitant in moving across the sea and going into a battlefield without a clear reason. The United States sought to get involved following numerous actions from battling countries such as unrestricted submarine warfare and the sinking of the Lusitania. Following the events of World War I, Wilson suspended civil liberties in the country. The President’s suspension and toying of civil liberties is not a new act as some Americans have seen the good and the evil when it comes to giving President’s control. Dating back to the time of Abraham Lincoln, the suspension of the habeas corpus, the act of determining if a state's detention of a prisoner is valid,…show more content…
The discussion does not change in regards to President Woodrow Wilson’s decision to enact a suspension of civil liberties with the enactment of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1918. The call for the Act being instated was met before and after the war. America was fearful of community disloyalty as well as group riots. Upon announcing America’s involvement with the already battling countries, the Selective Service Act declared a draft take place for the war. There was an almost immediate protest from the country’s citizens which resulted in the Congress passing the Sedition Act of 1918 in fear of outside interference of the actions being taken in war. Stemming off the Espionage Act of 1917, the Sedition Act made it a felony, punishable by fine and or arrest, to convey false statements interfering with America's involvement in the war or freely speak below the standards of the United States government, Constitution, or military generals. Many citizens were naturally upset by the Selective Service Act’s decision to call a draft, especially by those who had ties to Ireland or Germany, did not want to go to war. Along with many other cases of speaking out had their Constitutional rights stripped from them in an unjust manner. The punishment of freedom of speech and press at the time after war was strictly based off of communist paranoia from the
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