Advantages Of The Articles Of Confederation

The U.S. as a new independent nation first implemented the Articles of Confederation, upon these articles failure the pressure to assign a new form of government began to build up. Feeling this pressure delegates met at a Constitutional Convention where they began to draft the document that would continue to uphold America for the foreseeable future. In the pages of this document there is one that holds limitations over, arguably, the most important piece of the new government, Congress. Article 1 section 9 of the U.S. constitution can be broken into 3 parts; The Writ of Habeas Corpus, Bill of Attainder and Ex Post Facto Law. These parts were limitations placed on congress and held in the highest regard to be put onto the constitution before

This section in the Constitution was so important it was the “sole liberty” (Mount) in the constitution prior to the Bill of Rights. Known as the “Great Writ” it was “one of the many imports from England” and adopted into the constitution by those writing it (Meese). As stated prior, the reason for writing is quite simple, the colonists wanted to protect against any government becoming too strong and turning into a monarchy, the writ of habeas corpus is a means to that end. The overall objective of the writ of habeas corpus is to protect everyone from unfair imprisonment however, this was not always achieved. Habeas corpus was important to the constitutional writers but, they added a catch, a way to get around this limitation. The writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended “unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it” (Mount). This allowed for such instances as, President Lincoln arresting southern sympathizers and with President Roosevelt’s executive order 9066, imprisoning Japanese- Americans during the Second World War. Even though

Simply put, it is the idea that no law shall be passed and then punished retrospectively. Although this limitation is not used very often it was problematic during colonial times and “some states themselves had passed ex post facto laws” (Meese). Ex post facto law was primarily used against groups that the acting government did not like and wanted to punish but had no current legal right to do so. At the constitutional convention the issue had grown to the point that a specific clause prohibiting the use of such retroactive laws was made. However, it is not used the same way today, instead the most often use of this limitation is with jail sentencing for already convicted criminals. The last time a major decision was made on ex post facto law was during prohibition and those that drank prior to alcohol becoming an illegal substance. The importance may not be seen as much today but to those this limitation impacts the meaning is wide reaching and allows for lesser sentencing or not being punished for something that is now currently illegal. The prohibition of ex post facto law may be one of the lesser known limitations of article 1 section 9 but it has equal if not greater value to those it