Unconstitutional Acts of Woodrow Wilson
The Unconstitutional Acts of the Wilson Administration
“A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference” (“Thomas Jefferson to James Madison”, par. 1). Every citizen of the United States is entitled to Constitutional Rights. The Framers of the Constitution wanted to create an effective government that did not infringe on the rights of the people or upon the powers of the states. Despite all of the checks and balances, the Founding Fathers cautioned that there would one day be a president who would dismantle our cherished constitutional principles on which our nation was founded. The Espionage Act and the Sedition Act, passed during Wilson’s presidency, infringed on the rights of American citizens protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. Woodrow Wilson violated his presidential oath to uphold the Constitution as well as trampled upon our unalienable rights and should have, therefore, been impeached. The United State’s Constitution provides a mechanism for the removal of the commander-and-chief in the case that he has violated his presidential oath. Article II of the Constitution states that a president who has committed the act of treason, bribery, high crimes or misdemeanors shall be removed from office (“Article II, Section 4”, par. 1). Since the fourteenth century, the English Parliament has used “high crimes and misdemeanors” as one of the general grounds to impeach officials of the Crown (Klein and Elliott, iii). The offenses that officials were charged with varied. However, the thing they all had in common was that the official had abused his or her power in some way, making him or her unfit to serve. In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton defined impeachable offenses as those that cause injury to society, which includes the violation of the presidential oath (“The Federalist Papers : No. 65”, par. 2). In violating the
“A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference” (“Thomas Jefferson to James Madison”, par. 1). Every citizen of the United States is entitled to Constitutional Rights. The Framers of the Constitution wanted to create an effective government that did not infringe on the rights of the people or upon the powers of the states. Despite all of the checks and balances, the Founding Fathers cautioned that there would one day be a president who would dismantle our cherished constitutional principles on which our nation was founded. The Espionage Act and the Sedition Act, passed during Wilson’s presidency, infringed on the rights of American citizens protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. Woodrow Wilson violated his presidential oath to uphold the Constitution as well as trampled upon our unalienable rights and should have, therefore, been impeached. The United State’s Constitution provides a mechanism for the removal of the commander-and-chief in the case that he has violated his presidential oath. Article II of the Constitution states that a president who has committed the act of treason, bribery, high crimes or misdemeanors shall be removed from office (“Article II, Section 4”, par. 1). Since the fourteenth century, the English Parliament has used “high crimes and misdemeanors” as one of the general grounds to impeach officials of the Crown (Klein and Elliott, iii). The offenses that officials were charged with varied. However, the thing they all had in common was that the official had abused his or her power in some way, making him or her unfit to serve. In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton defined impeachable offenses as those that cause injury to society, which includes the violation of the presidential oath (“The Federalist Papers : No. 65”, par. 2). In violating the
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