Free Essays on 1860s-1960s

There have been many times when present day America has been affected by its past but the past of the 1860’s and the 1960’s especially effected present day America. There are three major ways that America was affected because of the 1860’s and the 1960’s. The first way is the start of civil disobedience in the 1860’s. Another way is how women started to get treated in the late 1960’s. And the third way is what blacks started to accomplish in the 1960’s. There are other ways that these two years affected America but these are the major ones. In the 1840’s Henry David Thoreau came up with an idea that is called â€Å"civil disobedience.† Civil Disobedience is when someone breaks the law when they do not believe in something and they do it in a civil manner and take the consequences. Once this was created many times after in the near or late future to this the United States citizens have felt the need to revolt against the government. There were such cases during the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They used civil disobedience to eventually get what they felt is right. It was important to Thoreau to get the public informed about the concept of civil disobedience so, when war’s broke out it would make people think maybe the war is wrong and do not have to support it. Thoreau never rallied thousands of people together to get reactions. Instead he went to jail to protest and wrote his essay â€Å"Civil Disobedience.† Dr. Martin Luther King took the same idea of passive resistance to protest t he injustices brought upon the African American race in the United States. Dr. King, like Thoreau, was willing to suffer for his views, especially when he found himself faced with disciplinary laws denying civil rights to all citizens. So with Thoreau creating this it affected great leaders (Dr. Martin Luther King) and even great leaders now. Women though were not treated fair at all from 1860 to the early 1960’s. In the e... Free Essays on 1860's-1960's Free Essays on 1860's-1960's There have been many times when present day America has been affected by its past but the past of the 1860’s and the 1960’s especially effected present day America. There are three major ways that America was affected because of the 1860’s and the 1960’s. The first way is the start of civil disobedience in the 1860’s. Another way is how women started to get treated in the late 1960’s. And the third way is what blacks started to accomplish in the 1960’s. There are other ways that these two years affected America but these are the major ones. In the 1840’s Henry David Thoreau came up with an idea that is called â€Å"civil disobedience.† Civil Disobedience is when someone breaks the law when they do not believe in something and they do it in a civil manner and take the consequences. Once this was created many times after in the near or late future to this the United States citizens have felt the need to revolt against the government. There were such cases during the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They used civil disobedience to eventually get what they felt is right. It was important to Thoreau to get the public informed about the concept of civil disobedience so, when war’s broke out it would make people think maybe the war is wrong and do not have to support it. Thoreau never rallied thousands of people together to get reactions. Instead he went to jail to protest and wrote his essay â€Å"Civil Disobedience.† Dr. Martin Luther King took the same idea of passive resistance to protest t he injustices brought upon the African American race in the United States. Dr. King, like Thoreau, was willing to suffer for his views, especially when he found himself faced with disciplinary laws denying civil rights to all citizens. So with Thoreau creating this it affected great leaders (Dr. Martin Luther King) and even great leaders now. Women though were not treated fair at all from 1860 to the early 1960’s. In the e...

The Schenck Ruling by Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Schenck Ruling by Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Charles Schenck was the general secretary of the Socialist Party in the United States. During World War I, he was arrested for creating and distributing pamphlets that urged men to assert your rights and resist being drafted to fight in the war. Schenck was charged with attempting to obstruct recruitment efforts and the draft. He was charged and convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917 that stated that people could not say, print, or publish anything against the government during times of war. He appealed to the Supreme Court, claiming the law violated his First Amendment right to free speech. Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes The former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States was Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. He served between 1902 and 1932.  Holmes passed the bar in 1877 and started working in the field as a lawyer at a private practice.  He also contributed editorial work to the American Law Review for three years, where he subsequently lectured at Harvard and published a collection of his essays called The Common Law.  Holmes was known as the Great Dissenter at the U.S. Supreme Court due to his opposing arguments with his colleagues. Espionage Act of 1917, Section 3 Following is the pertinent section of the Espionage Act of 1917 that was used to prosecute Schenck: Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports of false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military..., shall willfully cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, refusal of duty..., or shall willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both. Supreme Court Decision The Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes ruled unanimously against Schenck. It argued that, even though he had the right to free speech under the First Amendment during peacetime, this right to free speech was curtailed during the war if they presented a clear and present danger to the United States. It is in this decision that Holmes made his famous statement about free speech: The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. Significance of Schenck v. the United States This had a huge significance at the time. It seriously lessened the strength of the First Amendment during times of war by removing its protections of the freedom of speech when that speech could incite a criminal action (like dodging the draft). The Clear and Present Danger rule lasted until 1969. In Brandenburg v. Ohio, this test was replaced with the Imminent Lawless Action test. Excerpt from Schencks Pamphlet: Assert Your Rights In exempting clergymen and members of the Society of Friends (popularly called Quakers) from active military service the examination boards have discriminated against you. In lending tacit or silent consent to the conscription law, in neglecting to assert your rights, you are (whether knowingly or not) helping to condone and support a most infamous and insidious conspiracy to abridge and destroy the sacred and cherished rights of a free people. You are a citizen: not a subject! You delegate your power to the officers of the law to be used for your good and welfare, not against you.