Espionage and Sedition Acts

 

Law passed by Congress

Made it illegal to interfere with war effort or saying anything disloyal, profane or abusive about the government or the war effort.
A person could be fined up to $10,000 and sentenced to 20 years in jail for interfering with the war effort or for saying anything disloyal, profane , or abusive about the government or the war effort.

 In June 1917, Congress passed the Espionage Act. The piece of legislation gave postal officials the authority to ban newspapers and magazines from the mails and threatened individuals convicted of obstructing the draft with $10,000 fines and 20 years in jail. Congress passed the Sedition Act of 1918, which made it a federal offense to use "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the Constitution, the government, the American uniform, or the flag. The government prosecuted over 2,100 people under these acts. 
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3479