oon after the United States formally joined World War I, the government passed the Espionage Act which stated that whoever, in time of war, shall wilfully cause insubordination or disloyalty would be punished by a fine of $10,000, or imprisonment, or both. A year later, the Sedition Act of 1918 specified that it would be illegal to “utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the Constitution of the United States.” More than 20,000 people were arrested for violating the acts and almost 1,000 were convicted. The official intention of the Espionage and Sedition Acts was to prevent obstruction of the war effort, but they were abused by the government to fulfil a political agenda against immigrants and socialists and, indirectly, violate free press and the freedom of speech. Before 1917, most Americans hoped to stay out of the war being fought across the Atlantic Ocean. While World War I was raging in Europe, Americans in 30 states re-elected Woodrow Wilson largely because “he kept us out of war.” Prominent isolationists, including Hull House founder Jane Addams, Columbia University president David Starr Jordan, women’s suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt and automobile mogul Henry Ford, vocally objected to U.S. involvement, as did socialists and pacifists. Therefore, when the United States finally decided to enter the war in April 1917, the government had to persuade all Americans that the Congress had made the right decision and, more importantly, to make sure that people who continued to object to the war did not obstruct U.S. war efforts. This was accomplished through the passage of the Espionage Act in June 1917 and the Sedition Act in 1918.>