Sedition and Patriot Acts: Protecting or Violating our Freedom?

The Sedition Act of 1798 and The USA Patriot Act of 2001 were both wartime measures that obstructed civil liberties for the ['so called' in reference to Sedition] sake of fighting the war. In regards to the Sedition Act, the first amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of the press were severely violated in order to suppress opposition from the Republican Party.

Some of the Sedition Act's principles relate to the Patriot Act, such as increases in governmental powers for the sake of the country at a time of war and also liberties being infringed upon. The Patriot Act “expanded the government's powers in anti-terrorism investigations” (NPR.ORG). The Patriot Act allows for stronger governmental influence to detect and diminish internal and external terrorism. NPR.Org and the ACLU provides a list of controversial topics in the Patriot Act which includes information sharing, roving wiretaps, access to records, foreign intelligence, ‘sneak and peak’ searches and also material support. The Patriot Act was constructed to protect against not only international terrorism, but domestic terrorism as well. These measures listed before can violate normal citizen’s liberties by tracking their activity through databases. Lax restrictions on wiretapping could violate the innocent’s privacy rights, and ‘sneak and peak’ searches do not require immediate warrants therefore the party being searched is not notified until after the search has already been performed. The decrease in restrictions for terrorism investigations leads to questionable violations of civil liberties.

The Sedition Act “banned the publishing of false or malicious writings against the government and the inciting of opposition to any act of Congress or the president” (Britannica). The Federalists targeted “newspapers, but its real target was the opposition Republican party- for newspapers were the crucial organs of parties, their voice boxes and lungs” (JSR 104). Any sort of opposition, verbal or written, against the Federalists would result in fines and imprisonment. This undoubtedly violated rights of free speech and press, not for the safety of the country, but rather to benefit the Federalist Party.

The Patriot Act relates to our readings in class on Sedition in Jefferson's Second Revolution, because they were both enacted during a time of conflict and are questionable in upholding personal liberties guaranteed by the Constitution. Many can argue that these rights protected the safety and order of the United States, however others could argue that personal liberties were jeopardized or overlooked for the benefit of the country during a time of war.

-Diana Davino

Sources:

Abramson, Larry and Maria Godoy. "The Patriot Act: Key Controversies". 14 Feb 2006. NPR.org.

"Alien and Sedition Acts". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 3 March 2008. <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9005728>.

Dunn, Susan. Jefferson's Second Revolution. 2004. Houghton Mifflin Company.

"How the USA Patriot Act Redefines "Domestic Terrorism"". ACLU. 6 Dec 2002. ACLU.org