In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this- you must first enable the government to control the governed and in the next place oblige it to control itself "
If angels were to govern men, neither external or internal controls on government would be necessary. "If men were angels, no government would be necessary. In The Federalist, Number 51, James Madison described the fundamental challenge facing any constitutional democracy-to create a government that can regulate the affairs of citizens and regulate itself as well: Westbrook Pegler, nationally syndicated columnist, 1942 "The Japanese in California should be under armed guard to the Last man and woman right now-and to hell with habeas corpus." The banishment of Japanese Americans to detention camps in wartime shows how swiftly Constitutional safeguards can be jettisoned when racial prejudice, public pressure, and fear act together in time of national crisis. Some turned to the courts to enforce their Constitutional rights, but in 1944 the Supreme Court largely upheld the government's actions. Japanese Americans were assumed guilty of potential disloyalty solely on the basis of race. There were no formal accusations, no search for evidence, no trials. Most spent the war behind barbed wire and under armed guard in remote areas.
citizens -were forced from their homes and into federal detention camps. This exhibition looks at one American community whose members were stripped of their homes, property, and Constitutional rights in World War II, in the name of national defense.Įarly in 1942, almost 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry-most of them U. "Every word of the Constitution decides a question between power and liberty," wrote James Madison in 1792, and his words resonate today. Two centuries after its creation, the United States Constitution remains the most successful frame of government ever devised. The following text was taken from the original traveling exhibit "A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and The United States Constitution" in 1994. Section V: Japanese Americans In The War: The Battlefield Connection Section IV: Life Behing Barbed Wire: The Internment Experience Section III: The Decision To Imprison A People