Sedition Act of 1918
E55664
The Sedition Act of 1918 was a World War I–era U.S. law that expanded restrictions on speech by criminalizing criticism of the government, the Constitution, the military, or the war effort.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Sedition Act of 1918 canonical | 11 |
| Sedition Act (1918) | 1 |
| Sedition Act provisions of the Espionage Act of 1917 | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T439826 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Sedition Act of 1918 Context triple: [Espionage Act of 1917, relatedLegislation, Sedition Act of 1918]
-
A.
Espionage Act of 1917
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a U.S. federal law enacted during World War I that criminalizes interference with military operations, support for U.S. enemies, and certain forms of dissent, and has been widely used and debated in national security and free speech cases.
-
B.
Peace Preservation Law of 1925
The Peace Preservation Law of 1925 was a Japanese statute that criminalized socialist, communist, and other anti-imperial ideologies in order to protect the emperor-centered state and suppress political dissent.
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C.
Rowlatt Act
The Rowlatt Act was a 1919 British colonial law in India that extended wartime emergency measures into peacetime, allowing detention without trial and severe restrictions on civil liberties, and it became a major catalyst for nationwide protests and unrest.
-
D.
Schenck v. United States
Schenck v. United States is a 1919 U.S. Supreme Court case that established the “clear and present danger” test, allowing the government to restrict speech during wartime.
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E.
Gitlow v. New York
Gitlow v. New York is a 1925 U.S. Supreme Court case that marked a major step in applying First Amendment free speech protections to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Sedition Act of 1918 Target entity description: The Sedition Act of 1918 was a World War I–era U.S. law that expanded restrictions on speech by criminalizing criticism of the government, the Constitution, the military, or the war effort.
-
A.
Espionage Act of 1917
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a U.S. federal law enacted during World War I that criminalizes interference with military operations, support for U.S. enemies, and certain forms of dissent, and has been widely used and debated in national security and free speech cases.
-
B.
Peace Preservation Law of 1925
The Peace Preservation Law of 1925 was a Japanese statute that criminalized socialist, communist, and other anti-imperial ideologies in order to protect the emperor-centered state and suppress political dissent.
-
C.
Rowlatt Act
The Rowlatt Act was a 1919 British colonial law in India that extended wartime emergency measures into peacetime, allowing detention without trial and severe restrictions on civil liberties, and it became a major catalyst for nationwide protests and unrest.
-
D.
Schenck v. United States
Schenck v. United States is a 1919 U.S. Supreme Court case that established the “clear and present danger” test, allowing the government to restrict speech during wartime.
-
E.
Gitlow v. New York
Gitlow v. New York is a 1925 U.S. Supreme Court case that marked a major step in applying First Amendment free speech protections to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
United States federal statute
ⓘ
speech restriction law ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Sedition Act (1918)
ⓘ
linked to:
Sedition Act of 1918
|
| amends | Espionage Act of 1917 ⓘ |
| country |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| criminalized |
abusive language about the United States Constitution
ⓘ
abusive language about the United States armed forces ⓘ abusive language about the United States flag ⓘ abusive language about the United States government ⓘ advocacy of curtailment of war production ⓘ disloyal language about the United States Constitution ⓘ disloyal language about the United States armed forces ⓘ disloyal language about the United States flag ⓘ disloyal language about the United States government ⓘ speech intended to incite resistance to the war effort ⓘ speech intended to obstruct the sale of war bonds ⓘ |
| criticizedFor |
restricting freedom of speech
ⓘ
suppressing political dissent ⓘ |
| dateEnacted | 1918-05-16 ⓘ |
| dateRepealed | 1920-12-13 ⓘ |
| dateSigned | 1918-05-16 ⓘ |
| enactedBy | United States Congress ⓘ |
| historicalPeriod | World War I era ⓘ |
| jurisdiction |
federal government of the United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States government
|
| legalArea |
First Amendment law
ⓘ
criminal law ⓘ national security law ⓘ |
| legislativeBody | 65th United States Congress ⓘ |
| maximumPenalty |
$10,000 fine (1918 dollars)
ⓘ
20 years imprisonment ⓘ |
| notableDefendant | Eugene V. Debs ⓘ |
| partOf |
United States Espionage and Sedition Acts
ⓘ
linked to:
Espionage Act of 1917
|
| penalty |
fine
ⓘ
imprisonment ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Abrams v. United States
ⓘ
Espionage Act of 1917 ⓘ First Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ Schenck v. United States ⓘ civil liberties during wartime ⓘ |
| repealedBy | Act of Congress of December 13, 1920 ⓘ |
| signedBy | Woodrow Wilson ⓘ |
| signingPresident | Woodrow Wilson ⓘ |
| status | repealed ⓘ |
| subject |
civil liberties in the United States
ⓘ
freedom of speech ⓘ sedition ⓘ |
| usedToProsecute |
antiwar activists
ⓘ
political radicals ⓘ socialists ⓘ |
| warContext | World War I ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Sedition Act of 1918 Description of subject: The Sedition Act of 1918 was a World War I–era U.S. law that expanded restrictions on speech by criminalizing criticism of the government, the Constitution, the military, or the war effort.
Referenced by (13)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Sedition Act of 1918
Act of Congress of December 13, 1920
→
repeals
→
Sedition Act provisions of the Espionage Act of 1917
ⓘ
linked to: Sedition Act of 1918
Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism
→
discusses
→
Sedition Act of 1918
ⓘ