Sample Solution

et-up, explanation of theme, and thesis?

Since the Colonial Era, America had welcomed German immigrants and admired their work ethic and successes. However, a wave of anti-German sentiment broke out in 1917, resulting in strong negative feeling toward German and German-Americans. American perceptions of Germany became even worse in the years when American joined the World War in 1914. During the early years of the war, America found it difficult to remain neutral because of the sinking of Lusitania. President Wilson and his administration urged the start of the Committee on Public information to promote the war effort. EXPAND

As the CPI released many posters and cartoons, the society took on an anti-German-American environment. News articles began to attack German-American communities and their culture: churches, schools, societies, and even the German language. As a result, the freedom of speech and other civil liberties were held in a lesser regard. Congress passed the Espionage Act, which arrested those who advocated “treason, insurrection, or forcible resistance to any law of the United States.” Then the Sedition Act was passed, restricting limitations on the rights of free speech and free press by making it illegal to publish anything that would undermine the government. Soon, such advocation of anti-German sentiments and suppression of those that spoke out against it affected more than the political atmosphere of the war, but the entirety of America as well.