Where does sedition come from?

The first records of sedition in English come from the late 1300s. It ultimately comes from the Latin sēditiō, meaning “discord,” from sēd-, meaning “apart,” and itiō, meaning “a going.”

The goal of sedition is typically to promote discord between the government and the people in order to start a rebellion that overthrows the government. Obviously, governments don’t like the idea of sedition and sometimes pass laws against it. In the history of the United States, there have been two notable sedition acts passed, and both were repealed. The first came in 1798 as part of the Alien and Sedition Acts, which restricted the political activities of people who sympathized with French revolutionaries, most notably criticism of Congress or the president. The acts were either repealed or allowed to expire in the early 1800s. The Sedition Act of 1918 targeted those who opposed the nation’s entry into World War I. It made it illegal to do things like insult the government or military or protest against the war effort. It was repealed in 1921. Sedition laws such as these are often considered to be in conflict with protections of free speech.