Constitutional Law Keyed to Stone
Abrams v. United States
Facts
The United States and Russia were at war against Germany. During the war, the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia and signed a peace treaty with Germany. Thereupon, the United States deployed a contingent of Marines to Russia. Defendants, a group of Russian immigrants, perceived the deployment as an attempt by the United States to suppress the Bolshevik Revolution. In protest, Defendants distributed two types of leaflets by airplane. The first leaflet included denouncements of the “President’s cowardice,” capitalism, German militarism. The second leaflet was headed “Workers – Wake Up,” and instructed the same to spit in the face of false military propaganda. Consequently, Defendants were convicted of violating the Espionage Act of 1917. Among the charges brought against Defendants were (1) for conspiring to incite, provoke or encourage resistance to the United States (Count 3); and (2) for conspiring to urge curtailment of the production of war materials with the intent to hind er the United States in the prosecution of war (Count 4).
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