In 1798, many in the United States felt that we were on the verge of war against France. In an atmosphere of fear, President John Adams signed into law the Alien and Sedition Acts which limited public criticism of certain government officials. Recall also that during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln declared martial law and suspended the right of Habeas Corpus, imprisoning people he felt posed a threat to the Union without the benefit of a trial. Oftentimes when a nation is at war, rightly or wrongly, Civil Liberties are reduced in an effort to ensure public safety. WWI was no exception. Wartime fears led to racially motivated attacks on German Americans and other minorities. Americans were urged to keep an eye on fellow citizens to make sure that they weren't engaging in any unpatriotic behavior. In 1917 Congress passed two laws that limited civil liberties. The ESPIONAGE ACT made it illegal to aid the enemy, give false reports or to interfere with the war effort. In addition the SEDITION ACT made it illegal to speak out against the war publicly. Over a 1000 Americans were prosecuted under these laws. One of them was an anti-war activist by the name of Charles Schenck, who mailed pamphlets encouraging people to resist the war and resist the draft. Shenck felt that the Espionage Act was an unconstitutional violation of the 1st Amendment right to free speech. This led to one of the most important Supreme Court cases in American history Schenck v. U.S. After listening to the arguments, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government. In other words the court decided that the laws DID NOT violate the 1st Amendment and that free speech can be limited under certain conditions. Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously wrote that the right to free speech does not protect a man and falsely shouting fire in a crowded theater. The rationale being that if the result of someone's free speech creates a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER, Constitutional protections of free speech are not upheld. Toward the end of the war, Bolshevik revolutionaries in Russia overthrew the Czar and established a communist state. Many Americans feared communism spreading to the United States. Also the country was in the midst of a post-war economic recession. In this tense atmosphere a RED SCARE or fear of communism gripped the country. Many immigrants were suspected of radical political beliefs and were targeted. Matters got worse when in 1919 a series of labor strikes and bombings gripped the country. One bomb exploded at the home of US Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. Believing that the bombings were the work of political radicals, Palmer ordered the arrest of nearly 6,000 people suspected of radical political beliefs in what was known as the PALMER RAIDS. Many of those arrested were immigrants and many were deported. The debate over whether the Palmer Raids violated civil rights by unfairly targeting those with unpopular political beliefs or whether the Espionage and Sedition Acts were a violation of 1st Amendment protections of free speech is one that Americans continue to have to this day. Some view them as irrational actions taken out of fear. Others view them as necessary steps for the protection of the country. Either way these incidents highlight an often difficult to maintain balance in a democratic society. The balance of protecting people's rights while at the same time the need to protect the safety of the nation. Sometimes these two needs are in conflict with one another.