On August 2nd, 1964, three North Vietnamese Navy Cruisers were “unprovoked”, and fired on the USS Maddox while it was on a “standard patrol” in the Bay of Tonkin.[1] President Lyndon B Johnson proclaimed this event in a speech that provoked the first attack, ordered by him before war was declared on Vietnam. However, that event was most likely a fake created to increase action in North Vietnam.[2] Does the United States Constitution protect the United States from tyranny of the president over the people’s peace like that? The United States Constitution was written to give strength to the failed Articles of Confederation, and to protect the citizens from tyranny. Sadly, it was written in the 1700s. Tyranny is defined when one group or individual …show more content…
Executive orders are where the president can enact laws if they need to be passed quickly and without the trouble of going through congress.[4] Executive orders are found in the clause of the U.S Constitution that says “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” [5] Executive orders are not explicitly stated in the United States Constitution, but it is a power commonly given to the president of the United States. The president is the chief of the military, and he can order troops to battle. Congress can change orders of the president, but to do that, it must be passed through congress. In the time that an executive order exists, or troops movements are made, irreparable damage can be done before the congress can fix the president’s mistakes. An example of this is in the Vietnam War. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered an attack on North Vietnam after three “unprovoked” North Vietnamese cruisers attacked a United States boat on a “standard patrol”.[1] The boat was actually on a signalling intelligence mission far into Vietnamese waters. The United States was forced to go to war after the first United States attack, as Vietnam was planning on fighting back. The Bay of Tonkin Incident is an example of the president having tyranny over the people by leading the nation to war when it was not …show more content…
The constitution does not protect the people from the powers of large companies in the nation, and places too much power in certain officials. However, even though the constitution has it’s flaws, it was a groundbreaking document of its time, and it could not possibly predict the scenarios that arise today. It is a very worthy document for leading the United States, and even though it has some flaws, it shouldn 't be remade entirely. It does need a few amendment to fix the holes in its protection against tyranny. If they ever decide to put it up to a decision in congress, there will probably be some lobbying against those amendments. The United States government is a well functioning system on the outside, but there is still a sizeable amount of corruption of the political and monetary majorities over the minorities that needs to be
How Did the Constitution Guard Against Tyranny? When the Framers of the Constitution were writing the document that would lead our nation, they had the responsibility of tackling a very big issue: tyranny. They had to create a government that was strong enough to serve its people but limited enough to prevent a tyranny. Fifty-five delegates from eleven states participated in shaping the Constitution.
officials ended up lying to the public” (Zinn 477). While this case alone sufficiently proves that the U.S. government uses any threat that it comes across with and labels them as “massive threats” in order to get a substantial amount of people to agree with the increase of military supplies, another report in Zinn's book shows why even false threats are important and still valuable to the gain in increasing military supplies (Zinn, 477). Even though the Tonkin affair was proved and cased as a wrongful action, that did not stop them from sending troops into Vietnam and declaring war on the Vietnamese having over 200,000 American soldiers sent to South Vietnam and 200,000 the year
The questions of whether or not the President has authority to use the military without congress first having declared war has proven to be a great source of conflict throughout history. The confusion comes from the different interpretations of the clauses. Since the Korean War, it has been accepted that the executive powers are that “The president has the power to initiate hostilities without consulting Congress” (libertyclassroom.com). This is often misinterpreted and has been used to expand executive authority and essentially make war without a congressional declaration of war. Perhaps the first example of this misuse of power dates back to the presidency of John Adams.
How would you feel if one person or group held all the power in your country, state, or school? You would be pretty scared right? Well, that is what tyranny is, and the Constitution for the United States of America is written to protect us from that. The Constitution was written at the Constitutional Convention from May 25th to September 17th, 1787. The purpose of the Constitutional Convention was to revise the Articles of Confederation, but once everyone met together, they ended up writing the Constitution.
The president has the power to send troops anywhere at any time. Also, the president also holds responsibility of secrecy when it comes to holding confidential information, whether it be about the military or national security, etc. Furthermore, the president is an influencer of public opinion. He can easily sway public opinion through reciting speeches or making propaganda. Public opinion of this nature can even run worldwide.
The president of the United States is given the power to make presidential laws, also known as Executive orders. They are not voted on by citizens or congress and they can be made official and enforced by only the President’s signature. This power comes from the Constitution and has been used by all American presidents. Most recently, Barack Obama used this power to change the American immigration policy. There are three parts to the changes made to the immigration policy.
While Fowler believes that the Westerners shouldn’t be in Vietnam, Pyle believes that it was the duty of the United States to hold off and contain communism in Vietnam. As Fowler was explaining that the Vietnamese want nothing to do with the war, Pyle begins to interject with “If Indochina goes…” when Fowler cuts him off saying “I know the record. Siam goes. Malaya goes. Indonesia goes” (Greene 86).
The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war. Even though Congress has remained quite active in wartime politics, ranging from its use of hearings to stimulate political debate to the shaping of military budgets, Congress no longer declares war, and haven’t since 1942. I think the presidents have taken the war powers that belongs to Congress through inherent powers. There are many reasons for why presidents usurped so much power.
“That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends (rights), it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute a new Government”- Thomas Jefferson. T.J. states that in order to have a good government the people must have the power to change or abolish their system and create a new one. But in the constitution there was no system of rotation for a president. He could remain an officer for life. This would to a tyrant something the citizens and founding fathers fled Europe from.
Executive Orders serve to clarify the Constitution and the powers allocated to each officer, and, while these Executive Orders rarely decide upon the powers of the President, it is imperative for the President to clarify its own powers - lest it steps on the toes of another office. Therefore, this Executive Order will clarify and bind the powers and responsibilities of the President. Foremost, the President is invested with numerous powers, but at the very forefront of the President’s powers is the power to execute the Constitution. The basic agreement of the people is that the President will execute the Constitution in its entirety.
In 1973, congress passed the the War Powers Act. This was used to limit the president’s ability to send U.S. Troops into combat without explicit congressional approval. The article states that “no President has ever recognized the law and conceded he was subject to it. Each has instead merely informed the Congress 'consistent with' the Act of the military action he was taking, effectively rendering the Act without meaning (The Bush Doctrine, Warren).” With the new environment of warfare, the tension between congress and the president will become worse due to the way warfare has changed in an increasingly digital
The constitution attempts to evenly distribute powers between the executive and legislative branches of the federal government by providing the president or the commander-in-chief the power to control and supervise the military upon approval by congress, who have the power to declare war and to support the armed forces. The subject of debate regarding the act is whether the president has the authority to send military troops to war without congressional approval. The way the war powers act was written makes it difficult to decipher approximately how much power is the president privileged in the war-making process. According to the constitution congress have the powers to authorize war by formally granting letters that verify and confirm the
The Killing Fields offers a look into Cambodia towards the end of the Vietnam War and throughout Pol Pot’s Communist Regime, in which Khmer Rouge, a faction of the Cambodian people, took over the country. An interesting scene occurs when the movie opens with the Americans depicted as aggressors invaders- especially when there are news and depictions of the aftermath of an American bomb landing in a different Cambodian city- a scene that captures the bombings of the countries surrounding Vietnam during the war. However, things quickly change. At first glance, it appears that a faction of the Cambodians- the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot, is in fact invading its own people. At the same time, however, the journalists/foreigners, the Vietnamese attackers, and even Pran himself can be seen as invaders.
Executive power means having the authority to enforce plans, actions, or laws into effect as well as ensuring they are carried out as intended. In the United States, the executive power is assigned to the President. Therefore, the President of the United States has the power to nominate the heads of administrative agencies, negotiating treaties, coordinating international efforts, propose bills to Congress, the power to veto bills, and so forth. Furthermore, in the United States the president is also the commander in chief of the armed force, therefore, the president has the responsibility to lead the military as well as having the power to summon the state units of the National Guard into service. However, Article II of the Constitution does
Despite this, Congress can override a presidential veto, and therefore go against the presidents wishes. The president can also negotiate and sign treaties with other nations. He also appoints ambassadors, Supreme Court judges, cabinet members and all other officers of the United States. American presidents rarely control both Houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, and presidents such as Clinton, Bush and Obama have all had to work with or against a partially hostile Congress. This has made it difficult for the