The First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech was a right that was severely tested during the American Civil War. In the North, opposition to conscription, emancipation, or any other war measures intended to aid the Union cause became a punishable offense because the wartime government considered dissent to be harmful to the war effort. Newspaper men in the South who were outspoken about opposing the war with the North were threatened, murdered, or run out of town by citizens and the Confederacy.
Do you feel that the Southern newspaper men and others should have been permitted to say and write things publicly against the war? Should free speech against the government be permitted during times of war? Explain your answer.