Sedition
Sedition, speech, writing, or other action that promotes disrespect for or resistance to the government. Sedition falls short of open acts of disloyalty, which are classified as treason. Unlike treason, sedition is not specifically defined in the U.S. Constitution, and Congress, therefore, may decide what is seditious. In 1798 Congress passed a sedition act making it a crime to criticize the government and its officials. A controversial law, it was allowed to expire in 1801. During World War I, antisedition legislation was enacted to control groups that might interfere with the war effort. The first peacetime sedition law since 1798 was the Alien Registration Act (Smith Act) of 1940.
Sedition legislation was also enacted after World War II to regulate the activities of Communists and other advocates of the forceful overthrow of the government. Two such laws were passed: the Internal Security Act (McCarran Act), in 1950, and the Communist Control Act, in 1954.