War: Presidents and the Constitution
Commander in Chief:
The US Constitution’s separation of powers allows Congress the power to declare war, raise and provide for the armed forces, as well as other war powers. However, the President serves as Commander in Chief of the United States military. The Founders' commitment to civilian control of the military is evident in this decision. They believed that the collective wisdom of Congress would be put to good use in determining whether to declare war, but that once declared, one individual would best be able to wage war.
The extent of executive power has been debated over the years. Do these powers apply anywhere other than military situations? Does the President's role as Commander in Chief empower him to act in ways that may abridge the rights citizens who are not members of the military? John Adams and Woodrow Wilson, who signed the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 and Espionage Act of 1917, respectively, into law, were accused of enforcing unconstitutional restrictions on freedoms of speech and press. Abraham Lincoln, who led the nation through Civil War, was accused of numerous civil rights violations, including what many believed was an unconstitutional suspension of habeas corpus.
In 1973, the War Powers Resolution was enacted to limit the President’s power to commit U.S. military forces abroad.
0:00 [Music] Benjamin Franklin once said those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither Liberty nor
0:23 safety Thomas Jefferson perhaps paraphrasing his friend wrote that a society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both and deserve neither Franklin and Jefferson believed that US law should serve the common good as well as government’s fundamental
0:44 purpose to protect inalienable rights such as life liberty and the pursuit of happiness the US ratified the first amendment in 1791 affirming that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to
1:06 petition the government for a redress of grievances the Bill of Rights was only 7 years old however when it met its first challenge it was a turbulent time France was at war with England and many Federalists wanted to go to war with France President John Adams wanted to
1:27 avoid war in 179 8 Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts these laws made it a crime punishable by fines up to $2,000 and prison terms up to 2 years to publish false scandalous and malicious writing meant to bring into contempt or
1:48 disrepute the president or congress the laws were meant to quiet support for France they were also meant to weaken President John Adams’s political opponents Adams did not ask Congress for these measures but he did not oppose them either he signed them into law his
2:08 actions inflamed the resistance of his opponents in the end Adams succeeded in making peace with France but Federalist anger together with public hostility to the Alien and Sedition Acts contributed to Adams’s loss of the presidency to Jefferson in the election of 1800 the Sedition law expired on the day
2:29 that Jefferson took the oath of office while Jefferson’s inauguration concluded one of the earliest crisis in American civil liberties the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 prompted a civil war that brought further challenges to the Bill of Rights Lincoln wished to Halt the spread of slavery to new
2:52 territories by the day of his inauguration seven states had withdrawn from the union Mar Maryland another slave state seemed poised to join the Confederacy had Maryland suceeded the US capital would have been surrounded by the Confederate States of America Lincoln invoked the Clause of
3:14 the Constitution that allowed Congress which was not in session to suspend habus Corpus when in cases of rebellion or Invasion the public safety will require it abius Corpus is the power of a judge to demand that the government show cause for a person’s imprisonment free to jail suspected secessionists without charges or proof
3:36 of wrongdoing us civil and Military authorities oversaw the arrest of 13,000 Americans including John marman of Maryland Roger Tony Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court issued a RIT of habus Corpus he commanded military officials
3:56 to present marman to a judge who would determine if there was caused to hold him when maran’s captors refused tnie ruled that Lincoln’s suspension of normal legal procedures was unconstitutional Lincoln refused to recognize this decision he famously asked are all the laws but one to go
4:18 unexecuted and the government itself go to Pieces lest that one be violated while Lincoln is best remembered as a great emancipator by his own admission the principal objective of the Civil War was to preserve the Union Liberty mattered but the union which he viewed as the best arrangement for the
4:40 protection of the people’s Liberties had to come first woodro Wilson who led America into World War I worried about the effect of war on civil liberties but he concluded that the US needed laws to deter dangerous activities he supported the Espionage Act of
5:03 1917 which criminalized words or deeds that might cause insubordination in the military or that interfered with recruitment the Sedition Act of 1918 banned disloyal profane scures or abusive language aimed at the national government all told at least 8,000
5:26 Americans faced prosecution or some other form of government suppression under these laws World War I also brought a chilling climate within America for people of German descent the climate for Japanese Americans during World War II however
5:46 was far worse Japanese Americans persecution as a racial minority was official and specific President Franklin D Roosevelt’s 1942 executive order number 9066 authorized the forced interment of about 110,000 Japanese or Japanese
6:07 Americans in barbed wire compounds in the western half of the United States it remains unclear how many of these individuals aimed to threaten the National Security of the United States in the aftermath of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor however a great deal of pressure at least some of it racially
6:28 motivated fell upon Roosevelt he never expressed remorse for succumbing to it James Madison explained that of all the enemies to public Liberty war is perhaps the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops The Germ of
6:48 every other however one defines Liberty history shows that war poses great challenges for constitutional protection even in the freest of Nations