The Espionage Act (1917) and the Sedition Act (1918) a. drew mostly from similar language in state law. b. came after strong public calls for a more "defensible democracy." c. copied similar legislation from Germany, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire. d. were put on the books but never applied. e. were the first federal restrictions on free speech since 1798.

A

Explanation:

During Woodrow Wilson's presidency the Sedition Act was changed to, in May 1918, temporarily incorporate the Espionage Act of 1917. The reason was not to exonerate newspapers that seemed to favor Germany for attacks on the government. In addition, the mail was not allowed to accept and distribute socialist newspapers. With the end of World War I, the Act died because Congress abrogated it in 1920; espionage was similarly fortunate because in 1921 Congress did not renew it. However, during their validity the acts were rigorously implanted and those who escaped federal attention were persecuted and judged by the State in which they lived. The supreme heard seven appeals from critics of U. S. intervention in the war who had been convicted of violating the Act, and rejected them all.

Sources:

-Stone, Geoffrey R., Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism (NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004

-Graber, M: From Republic to Democracy: The Judiciary and the Political Process, en The Judicial Branch, Kermit L. Hall and Kevin T. McGuire, Eds; Oxford University Press, Inc. Oxford; New York, 2005