American Civil Liberties Union Founded

Context

The United States entered World War I in 1917 amid intense pressure to suppress dissent. Congress passed the Espionage Act that year and the Sedition Act the next, criminalizing criticism of the war effort and leading to hundreds of prosecutions against socialists, labor organizers, and pacifists. The Supreme Court had yet to issue a single ruling upholding a free-speech claim under the First Amendment, leaving constitutional protections largely untested in practice.

After the armistice, fears of Bolshevik-style revolution fueled the First Red Scare. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer directed federal agents to target suspected radicals, particularly immigrants and members of anarchist or communist groups. The resulting Palmer Raids of late 1919 and early 1920 involved mass arrests without warrants, prolonged detentions, and deportations, actions widely criticized for violating Fourth Amendment safeguards.

Progressive-era reformers who had opposed the war and defended conscientious objectors recognized that ad-hoc efforts were insufficient. They sought a permanent organization capable of litigating civil-liberties cases nationwide and holding government officials accountable under the Bill of Rights.

What Happened

The National Civil Liberties Bureau, established in 1917 by Crystal Eastman and Roger Baldwin as a committee of the American Union Against Militarism, had already documented abuses against war resisters and provided limited legal aid. By late 1919 the bureau’s directors concluded that a broader, independent entity was required to address the escalating raids and deportations.

On January 19, 1920, those directors formally reorganized the bureau into the American Civil Liberties Union during a meeting in New York City. Roger Baldwin and Albert DeSilver were named co-directors, reporting to a local executive committee that met weekly and to a larger national board. The new organization immediately prioritized cases arising from the Palmer Raids, anti-war convictions, and restrictions on labor meetings.

Founding members included Eastman, Baldwin, DeSilver, and several other activists who had worked together through the bureau. The ACLU’s charter emphasized defense of free speech, due process, and equal protection for radicals, immigrants, and workers, marking a shift from episodic relief to sustained litigation.

Aftermath

In its first months the ACLU secured the release of numerous activists imprisoned under wartime laws and filed challenges to the constitutionality of the raids. It also supported union organizing rights and began building a network of volunteer attorneys across the country.

The organization’s early docket included both high-profile and routine cases, establishing a pattern of selective litigation aimed at creating favorable precedents. Although initial court victories were modest, the ACLU quickly gained visibility as the leading institutional voice for civil liberties.

Legacy

Over the following decades the ACLU became a central participant in landmark Supreme Court decisions that expanded First Amendment protections, ended racial segregation in public schools, and recognized privacy rights. Its willingness to represent unpopular clients—from labor radicals in the 1920s to Nazis in Skokie in 1978—reinforced the principle that constitutional guarantees must apply universally.

Historians view the ACLU’s founding as the moment civil liberties advocacy shifted from individual protest to organized, professional legal defense, influencing both jurisprudence and public expectations of government restraint. The organization continues to litigate on free speech, equality, and due-process issues a century later.