The Short Constitution Part 19

There are honest men; there are men who are tried and loyal and patriotic.

They are our neighbors. We have the choice of selecting them if we want to. _The truth is_ that nearly all public officers are honest and patriotic. The truth is that as a rule they try to do what the people want. But _the truth is_ that the majority of the American people take so little interest in public affairs that they make no effort to have their servants in public life know what they do want. People are ready to criticise if a mistake is made, but they will do little to help avoid mistakes.

I'll tell you what I would like to see. I'd like to see this a.s.sembly room in this school filled one night each week with children and men and women, with parents and teachers. It would be a real community meeting to talk over community, State, and National matters. I would like to see such a meeting in every school in this city, in this State, and in the Nation. I wish someone would start a movement to have the movies closed one evening each week, so that the people might have at least one night to give some little consideration to the serious problems of life. "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." Vigilance means watchfulness, care, and thought.

Every man, woman, and child in America should watch and pray that our liberties so dearly bought with the life blood of heroes should not be taken away.

ELEMENTARY QUESTIONS

1. Show how the United States gave citizens of the different States equal rights.

2. Who can vote in the United States? Who are citizens of the United States?

3. Is the power to vote simply a privilege?

4. Why is it that our representatives sometimes do not truly represent us?

5. How can we interest people in voting?

ADVANCED QUESTIONS

A. Show how it is important that people should have equal rights in the various States.

B. Give some ill.u.s.trations of the variations from State to State of certain local laws, such as automobile laws, etc.

C. If the law of New York limits the speed of an automobile to 25 miles per hour and the law of Ma.s.sachusetts limits the speed to 20 miles per hour, can a citizen of New York travelling in Ma.s.sachusetts legally operate his car at 25 miles per hour? Under like circ.u.mstances can a citizen of Ma.s.sachusetts while in New York operate his car at 25 miles per hour?

D. Show in detail the dangers of not voting.

E. How may a person obtain citizens.h.i.+p?

F. What has education to do with citizens.h.i.+p or voting?

G. Should you vote for a neighbor simply out of friends.h.i.+p? What should be taken into consideration?

H. Discuss Roosevelt's definition of a good citizen given in Note 5.

I. Outline a proper program for a community meeting.

J. Write a paper on the following:

The Privileges of the Citizen

The Danger of Not Voting

The Ballot-An Obligation Not a Privilege

How to Become a Naturalized Citizen

Voting and other Duties of Citizens.h.i.+p

XIX. WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

The Privilege Of The Writ Of Habeas Corpus Not To Be Suspended Except In War

Here is something in our Const.i.tution which I suppose you have read, but which you probably do not understand. That is, you probably do not understand its real value, not to somebody else, but to yourselves, because all of these provisions of the Const.i.tution are for each one of us.

We may go along through life, never being placed in a position where we will have to call upon the Const.i.tution to defend us. Most of our people are peaceful and just, and it isn't often that the rights of innocent persons are attacked or invaded. It isn't often that an innocent man is arrested for a crime, and yet such a thing may occur any day to any one of us. You may rest a.s.sured that such things do not occur as often as they would if the Const.i.tution did not stand as a barrier to protect innocent persons. These great const.i.tutional guaranties are not only valuable when we want to a.s.sert our rights, but they are valuable as a restraint upon wrongdoers.(83)

Now here is this provision:

"_The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it._"(84)

What is a "writ of habeas corpus"? "Habeas Corpus" is a Latin phrase, which in English means "you may have the body". A writ of habeas corpus is a writ directed to the person detaining another, or holding him in prison, commanding him to produce the prisoner at a certain time and place before a court or judge, so that the right of imprisonment or restraint may be inquired into. It is an ancient writ, recognized as far back in English jurisprudence as 1679. It was used against the king in the reign of Henry VII, and on through the later years. It was recognized from time to time, sometimes entirely denied, and again given force.

But as applied to you and to me, what does it signify? Suppose on your way home this evening, some person should seize you and force you to go to jail, and lock you up. No charge is made against you. You are innocent of any offense. You sit there in the cell wondering what it all means. You cannot even communicate with your parents or friends. The jail is built of stone, the iron bars are strong, and you are helpless.

Well, in the olden days, many a man and woman had such experiences, and many a man and many a woman lay in jail for long periods without any charge, or any trial, deprived of liberty, utterly powerless.

Now as I said, suppose you were in jail to-night-not even permitted to communicate with a friend or with a lawyer, and your father found out where you were. He could not go and break down the prison walls. He could not even talk to you; but if he were familiar with the Const.i.tution of the United States and of his State-because there is a like provision in the Const.i.tutions of all States-if your father understood his const.i.tutional rights, he would at once apply to some court or judge for a writ of habeas corpus. It would be a simple matter. He would set out in writing the facts, simply the story that you were seized and were imprisoned wrongfully, and he would ask that a writ of habeas corpus issue, and this request, no court or judge can deny. He would promptly issue the writ, which would be in writing directed to the person keeping you in jail, or the keeper of the jail, or some one who was aiding in keeping you in jail, and this writ would command such person to have you brought before the court at once, "commanding him to produce the body of the prisoner at a certain time and place". You would be brought there, and the person having you in jail would have to show cause for such conduct. Unless legal cause were shown, the judge would promptly discharge you, and the person who had committed the wrong against you would probably receive proper punishment, after a trial, for his wrongful act.

Now there were long periods of time in England when the right to a writ of habeas corpus was suspended, during which time a person wrongfully in prison had no relief and no remedy, when helpless men and women starved and died. So when the Const.i.tution was adopted, the people of America were careful to see that the following guaranty was written therein:

"_The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended_".(85)

Under our Const.i.tution this may be done only "in case of rebellion or invasion" when "public safety may require it". For instance, in the World War, which you all remember, some dangerous person, some traitor, might have been arrested by the military authorities and detained in custody, and he could not be discharged upon a writ of habeas corpus, because a state of war existed, and public safety required that he be held. Of course in times of war persons engaged in the military service are not ent.i.tled to a trial in a civil court for their offense. They are tried for military offenses by court martial. That is a military court, where the judges are military officers, ordered by their superiors to sit and hear the evidence. There is not much formality. In grave offenses prompt action is necessary. Spies are caught, the courts organized, the evidence taken, a finding of guilty made, and the party shot, all perhaps within twenty-four hours. These are the necessary awful consequences of war. But can't you see now what a sense of security this little provision of our Const.i.tution ought to bring to each one of us? We always know that in case of our wrongful arrest, a writ of habeas corpus will bring us before some court where we may have prompt inquiry into the reasons for invading our right to liberty, and prompt order for discharge if the arrest is not justified.

This writ issues not only in behalf of persons confined in jails and prisons, but also in every case where one is held by force against his will by another person, because this is a free country, and no man, whether a private citizen or public officer, has any power to restrain another against his will, unless such restraint is under legal proceedings with all the safeguards of the Const.i.tution.

I remember a case when unfortunately a father and mother were separated and divorced. Their little boy was left with his mother. The judge decided that the father was a bad man and that he was not worthy to have charge of his son.

A few months later that father went to the house where the mother and boy lived, watched behind the hedge until the little boy was at play in the yard, when he seized him, jumped in an automobile which was waiting for him in the woods, and drove away at great speed. He took the boy to a boarding school in a neighboring State, telling the princ.i.p.al of the school that he wanted the boy safely kept until he should return from Europe. After many days the sheriff with the aid of detectives found where the boy was. The mother came to the school. Of course she was filled with joy when she saw her son. She thought that she could take him away with her at once, but the princ.i.p.al would not consent. He said that he had no knowledge of whether or not she was the boy's mother; that she had no right to take him away; and that his duty was to return the boy to the man who had left him in the school. The appeal of the mother and the tears of the boy were in vain.

At last she had to leave the boy. She at once consulted a lawyer. He prepared a written application asking that a writ of habeas corpus be issued, commanding the princ.i.p.al of the school to bring the boy before the judge, that the judge might hear the evidence, and make an order releasing the boy from the school and placing him in the charge of his mother. The writ was issued by the judge. An officer went to the school, read the writ to the princ.i.p.al, who promptly brought the boy to the court room.

There the judge heard the story of the mother and the simple tale of the little boy, he examined certified copies of the order of the court awarding the custody of the boy to his mother, which the sheriff had procured, and then he very promptly ordered the princ.i.p.al of the school to give the boy to his mother. The princ.i.p.al was of course glad to do so, when he found that the father had done wrong.

This is only one of hundreds of cases where the writ of habeas corpus releases someone from wrongful confinement. Such wrongful confinement may be in a school or in a home or in a jail or in a dungeon or in a dark cellar. No matter where, the writ of habeas corpus does not stop at locked doors or barred windows or stone walls. An officer with such a writ can break and enter if necessary. No obstacle can be allowed wrongfully to deprive an American citizen of his liberty.

ELEMENTARY QUESTIONS

1. What is a writ of habeas corpus?

2. What does "habeas corpus" mean?