By James Patton
First Presented on Kansas WW1 on 20 February 2019
The first U.S. president to issue an emergency proclamation was Woodrow Wilson. On 5 February 1917 he stated:
I have found that there exists a national emergency arising from the insufficiency of maritime tonnage to carry the products of the farms, forests, mines and manufacturing industries of the United States, to their consumers abroad and within the United States.
The full proclamation can be read here:
Wilson claimed authority for his act under powers granted by The Shipping Act of 1916 (39 Stat. 729). By this stroke of his pen, he put the U.S. government in the shipping business—building, operating, and eventually requisitioning ships.
Subsequently, beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1933 Bank Holiday, it was asserted that the president could declare an emergency without Congressional authority, and seven such declarations were issued, the last one President Richard Nixon’s 1971 imposition of wage and price controls.
Later, the National Emergencies Act of 1976 (90 Stat. 1255) established criteria and circumstances for future presidential declarations and repealed the four previous declarations (including the 1933 Bank Holiday) deemed still in effect.
Since 1976, there have been over 50 national emergencies proclaimed, almost all of which imposed sanctions on the property of or commercial, financial and/or technological transactions with, targeted foreign governments, foreign organizations and/or foreign persons. A list of all national emergencies, current and ended, can be found here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_emergencies_in_the_United_States
The idea of emergencies lasting for decades is absurd. This is clear example of abuse by Fed gov, the President acting as King. 9th and 10th
ReplyDeleteamendments delegate powers to States unless specifically given to Feds. Clear
violation of Const.