Reggie Mcallister
March 2, 2017
Law and Ethics
mid-term
The meaning of freedom
Benjamin Gitlow was a member of the Socialist Party of America in 1919. In July of that
year, he was arrested and charged with violating a law called the Criminal Anarchy Law, passed
in New York state in 1902. The law said that it was illegal to commit criminal anarchy, by which
the New York state legislature meant advocating the overthrow of the government by force. In
particular, Gitlow was arrested for distributing copies of a pamphlet called ‘Left-Wing
