The Sedition Act of 1918 was an attempt to limit freedom of speech that opposed—or even questioned—U.S. intervention in World War I. Technically it was not a separate act but instead a series of amendments to the Espionage Act of 1917. That act had given the administration of Woodrow Wilson the power to imprison and fine people who interfered with the war effort, even if that interference consisted only of using the U.S. mail to circulate antiwar propaganda. The Sedition Act took that power a step further, giving the administration the authority to arrest and prosecute people who spoke publicly against the war.