http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/05/03/montana.pardons.ap/index.htmlGovernor Brian Schweitzer said the state was "about 80 years too late" in pardoning the mostly working-class people of German descent who were convicted of breaking what was then one of the harshest sedition laws in the nation.
Under Montana's sedition law, it was illegal to make "any disloyal, profane, violent, scurrilous, contemptuous, slurring or abusive" comment about the U.S. Constitution, the federal government, soldiers or sailors, the flag or the uniforms of the Army or Navy.
Laws at the time even made it illegal to speak German. Schweitzer, whose ethnic German immigrant parents had recently arrived in Montana, said his grandmother was not allowed to speak the only language she knew while out in public.
August Lambrecht spent seven months in prison for saying the country would "get a licking" in France. His great-grandson, David Gabriel of Helena, said Lambrecht was sent out of state after his release for fear of being imprisoned again.
"This is America," Gabriel said. "Having freedom of speech and saying what is on your mind doesn't make you a criminal and it shouldn't."
Their relatives were imprisoned for an average of 19 months, often based on casual comments made in saloons. At the time, profane language or insulting the virtues of women usually resulted in a longer sentence.
Journalism professor Clem Work of the University of Montana said many were turned in by friends, acquaintances or in some cases by people jealous of their land holdings.