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1 Red Scare
During the Red Scare of 1919-20, many people were convictred for violationg the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 on basis of writings or statements. -
8 Dissenting Opinion
The dissenting opinion held to the “clear and present danger” test from Schenck v. U.S. in 1919 (rejected by the majority) as they felt that, in the lack of any present danger resulting from the “The Left Wing Manifesto”, “[e]very idea is an incitement.” However, if the act of the document’s publication was clearly to spark immediate uprising, it would have been a different story. -
2 Benjamin Gitlow
Benjamin Gitlow, member of Socialist Party of America, was charged with criminal anarchy for publishing a document called "Left Wing Manifesto" in The Revolutionary Age newspaper. -
3 Left Wing Manifesto
The document talked badly of the US government and expressend his anti-government views. The government was worried his words would start an uprising. -
4 Convicted
Convicted in New York on February 11, 1920, and sentenced to 5 to 10 years in prison but was released on bail. -
5 SCOTUS
His appeal took three years to reach SCOTUS but overall he claimed the State of New York violated his right to free speech. This was teaken to SCOTUS mostly because it was the first time a major case of the 1st amendment was brought to a court. Oral arguments began in April of 1923 and lasted until November -
6 Incorporation
The Supreme Court ruled that First Amendment right to free speech not only apply to the powers of the federal government, but also apply to state governments as “freedom of speech and of the press…are among the fundamental personal rights and ‘liberties’ protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment from impairment by the States.” -
7 Conviction Upheld
However, SCOTUS also ruled that the New York state law under which Gitlow was convicted was constitutional as they saw fit that the state may, “in the exercise of its judgment, suppress the threatened danger in its incipiency.” -
9 Landmark
This particular SCOTUS case was the first to rule for incorporation of a constitutional amendment as a result of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. It thus required both the federal government and state governments to be held to the same standards of being able to limit speech.
