USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Sullivan (1964): “Although the Sedition Act was never tested in this Court, the attack upon its validity has carried the day in the court of history.” Today, the Sedition Act of 1798 is generally remembered as a violation of fundamental First Amendment principles.

Detailed explanation-2: -Jeffersonian-Republicans countered that the Sedition Act violated the First Amendment because it stifled legitimate criticism of the government, shutting down freedom of speech and the press. The act also violated the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, in Jefferson’s view.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Republican minority in Congress argued that sedition laws violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects freedom of speech and the press. The Federalists countered by defining these freedoms in the narrow English manner.

Detailed explanation-4: -Passed on May 16, 1918, as an amendment to Title I of the Espionage Act of 1917, the act provided for further and expanded limitations on speech. Ultimately, its passage came to be viewed as an instance of government overstepping the bounds of First Amendment freedoms.