Eugene V. Debs and Free Speech

What was the main reason for Eugene V. Debs' conviction under the Espionage Act?

• Delivering an antiwar speech

• Spying for a foreign government

• Interfering with the military draft

• Making false statements to impede military success

Which act made it a crime to make statements intended to cast contempt on the government during World War I?

• The Espionage Act

• The Sedition Act

• The Alien and Sedition Acts

• The Patriot Act

What did Eugene V. Debs argue about the Espionage Law in relation to the Constitution?

• It supports the fundamental principles of the Constitution

• It is in conflict with the Constitution and thus void

• It enhances free speech rights

• It is necessary for national security

Before his sentencing, Debs gave the court a lesson in the history of American freedom, tracing the tradition of dissent from ____________ to the abolitionists and pointing out that the nation had never engaged in a war without internal opposition.

That is the right I exercised at Canton on the sixteenth day of last June; and for the exercise of that right, I now have to answer to this indictment. I believe in the right of f____________ in war as well as In peace. I would not, under any circumstances suppress free speech. It is far more dangerous to attempt to gag the people than to allow them to speak freely what is in their hearts