Students Seek Pardons for WWI Seditionists By SARAH COOKE, Associated Press Writer
Tue Jan 10, 3:21 AM ET
HELENA, Mont. - It took just two words to land Polish immigrant Ben Kahn in prison for nearly three years during World War I.
The 38-year-old traveling liquor salesman called wartime food regulations in the United States a "big joke" while talking with a Montana hotel owner as he waited for breakfast in March 1918.
By lunchtime, Kahn had been arrested for violating Montana's Sedition Act. Less than a month later, he was in prison in Deer Lodge, sentenced to 7 1/2 to 20 years.
Nearly 90 years later, law students at the University of Montana are combing old court records and archive collections across the state to clear Kahn and 73 other Montanans convicted of sedition in 1918 and 1919.
The effort, known as the "Montana Sedition Project," was sparked by University of Montana journalism professor Clem Work's new book, "Darkest Before Dawn: Sedition and Free Speech in the American West."
Montana's Sedition Act was passed by a special session of the Legislature in 1918, but has since been repealed. It was one of the harshest in the country, Work said, and was the basis for a national sedition law passed by Congress the same year. An armistice ended the war later that year.
The laws sprang from a climate of mass panic and hysteria, in which German spies were feared around every corner and political dissidents were deemed a threat, Work said. German books were banned and burned, and preaching in German from church pulpits was forbidden.
"When the war came, all of those fears were ratcheted up," Work said. "This fear of Germany and German spies kind of dominated the consciousness of the state."
Many of the law students said they were shocked by the number of farmers, miners and other blue-collar Montanans convicted of making anti-government statements, and the comments that landed them in prison.
"You never know when those rights can be infringed on," said Katie Olson, 26, of Great Falls. "Even though this is something that happened almost 100 years ago, I definitely think it's still important."
TimmyBoy said:So much for the US being a "free country." If the US was a "free country" then none of these things would have happenned, but the US is not a "free country" and that is why these things did happen and continue to happen. The laws discussed here are still in effect today that were passed by Congress:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060110/ap_on_re_us/war_of_words
danarhea said:Name any dictatorship in the world where there can be a revolution every 4 years, and the existing order thrown out of office without a shot being fired.
danarhea said:Name any dictatorship in the world where there can be a revolution every 4 years, and the existing order thrown out of office without a shot being fired.
TimmyBoy said:I could say the US would fall into this category, but the fact of the matter is, their is no revolution in the US every 4 years nor can the existing order be thrown from office without a shot being fired in the US. Both the democrats and republicans basically represent the same order with some small, insignificant differences between the two.
There's no seat in congress that lasts for 18 years without election. Your math is incorrect.chucknorris said:Just because a president is elected every four years does not make it a revolution. One third of Congress is up for election every four or six years (House vs Senate) so it would take a total of eighteen years to completely remove every person from the government. Not to mention the judicial branch.
Nearly 90 years later, law students at the University of Montana are combing old court records and archive collections across the state to clear Kahn and 73 other Montanans convicted of sedition in 1918 and 1919.
oldreliable67 said:Name a dictatorship where
> the laws in question would be repealed, and
> 90 years later, a group of law students would be free to engage in this activity.
TimmyBoy said:So much for the US being a "free country." If the US was a "free country" then none of these things would have happenned, but the US is not a "free country" and that is why these things did happen and continue to happen. The laws discussed here are still in effect today that were passed by Congress:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060110/ap_on_re_us/war_of_words
Stu Ghatze said:I suppose anybody would "CHOOSE" to believe that IF their side was as impotent as the modern democratic party is these days!
TimmyBoy said:The federal laws that were used to convict some of these people are still in effect today
oldreliable67 said:But the state laws that were referred to in your question were repealed, were they not?
TimmyBoy said:This is just one of many many examples that I can talk about how the illusion of the US being a "free country" being manufactered while in fact, the state is engaging in illegal, subversive activity and maintaining tight, unjustified, tyrannical control over the people.
TimmyBoy said:These laws are still used today to suppress legitimate First Amendment rights of otherwise law abiding citizens. The FBI has arrested many people on these federal laws who did not otherwise engage in any criminal activity were only guilty of exercising their First Amendment rights.
What historians refer to as The Alien Act is actually 2 bills passed by Congress, The Alien Act, and the Alien Enemies Act. The Alien and Sedition Acts, passed in 1798, were allowed to expire in 1800 and 1801. A fourth related act, the Naturalization Act, the first of these laws to pass while Adams was president, was repealed by Congress in 1802.TimmyBoy said:The federal laws that were used to convict some of these people are still in effect today. The Alien and Seditions Act is still good today and in addition their is the oppressive Smith Act as well. They are direct repeal of Thomas Jefferson and the statements of the other founding fathers. This is a simple, indistibutable fact and facts cannot be legitimately disputed. The FBI has used these laws to "justify" their subversive COINTELPRO activities in the past and perhaps have used these laws today in similar actions.
Refuring to the american word of "mudslinging." Nothing dictator about that?The Real McCoy said:Name a dictatorship where the people are free to organize and condemn the leader.
Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton. Still not one person dictating america.Name a dictatorship where the leader is subject to checks and balances and can be tried for impeachment if he breaks the law.
Go The Real McCoy, the Consistution!Name a dictatorship where the leader is bound by a document.
I can think of Iraq, but Hussan always killed the canidate himself or hired someone to kill them. Which either made some citizens brave and go against him, or be a coward and let Saddam be the only canidate.Name a dictatorship where the people choose their leader every 4 years.
stsburns said:I can think of Iraq, but Hussan always killed the canidate himself or hired someone to kill them. Which either made some citizens brave and go against him, or be a coward and let Saddam be the only canidate.
danarhea said:What historians refer to as The Alien Act is actually 2 bills passed by Congress, The Alien Act, and the Alien Enemies Act. The Alien and Sedition Acts, passed in 1798, were allowed to expire in 1800 and 1801. A fourth related act, the Naturalization Act, the first of these laws to pass while Adams was president, was repealed by Congress in 1802.
Ironically, while all 4 laws were designed to destroy Jefferson's party, they ended up helping Jefferson to be elected. Among the The first acts by Jefferson upon assuming the presidency was to pay back assessed fines to all those who were convicted, along with interest, and also to grant pardons to all.
Columbia Encyclopedia, sixth edition.
Folwell's Laws of the US.
TimmyBoy said:So much for the US being a "free country." If the US was a "free country" then none of these things would have happenned, but the US is not a "free country" and that is why these things did happen and continue to happen. The laws discussed here are still in effect today that were passed by Congress:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060110/ap_on_re_us/war_of_words
danarhea said:What historians refer to as The Alien Act is actually 2 bills passed by Congress, The Alien Act, and the Alien Enemies Act. The Alien and Sedition Acts, passed in 1798, were allowed to expire in 1800 and 1801. A fourth related act, the Naturalization Act, the first of these laws to pass while Adams was president, was repealed by Congress in 1802.
Ironically, while all 4 laws were designed to destroy Jefferson's party, they ended up helping Jefferson to be elected. Among the The first acts by Jefferson upon assuming the presidency was to pay back assessed fines to all those who were convicted, along with interest, and also to grant pardons to all.
Columbia Encyclopedia, sixth edition.
Folwell's Laws of the US.
Trajan Octavian Titus said:THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Here is the complete text of the Declaration of Independence. The original spelling and capitalization has been retained.
........ Lyman Hall, George Walton
So who is a slave to the USA?TimmyBoy said:"Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of the day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers too plainly proves a deliberate, systematical plan of reducing us to slavery." -Thomas Jefferson
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