LAD #31 Fourteen Points

Wilson response to the defeats that the Allied Powers experienced after Russia left the Eastern Front. He declares that the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was cowardly, as it gave the Russians the power to leave Britain and France to fight on the western fronts, while they made peace with the Central Powers. Wilson questions why Russia would agree to  treaty that allows the belligerents to keep hold of all occupied territory. He infers that this does not justify the protection of the Russian public and advocacy of democracy. Arguing that the event is a misrepresentation of peace for the old only know of it from Russians and German perspectives and relations. Due to the uncertainty of the preservation of global democracy Wilson declares that the US must take part in the war and ensure that the protection of the citizens of the world. Wilson pints to the future allowance of democracy and that it calls for an end to economic barriers, colonialism and imperialistic ideals, and others. This was the proposition for a League of Nations.

LAD #30 Schenck v US

Charles Schenck, an american socialist was giving out flyers telling men to avoid enlisting in the Great War. He believed that the draft was unconstitional for it violated the 13th amendment because it enforced “involuntary servitude” and due to the fact the war was motivated by “capitalist greed”. Schenck was arrested and charged with violating the new Espionage Act, claiming he was trying to incite insubordination in the military and naval forces. He appealed to the supreme court stating that the act when against the 1st amendment however  Justice Oliver Wendell Homes disagreed. He wrote a pioneering piton that claimed that an inducible’s Freedom of Speech was not guaranteed when the speech would cause “clear and present danger”, which in his opinion Schenck did. The Supreme Court vote was unanimously against Schneck although the ruling has since been overturned.