Megan's AP American Blog

LAD/Blog #32: Wilson's 14 Points of Peace Woodrow Wilson first proposed his 14 Points of Peace to Congress on January 8th, 1918. This plan was to promote peace, and was later used in the Treaty of Versailles following the Great War. However, Wilson's points were idealistic to a greater extent than they were realistic. This is because they were much too lenient in regards to punishing Germany, especially when other Allied countries wanted large repercussions for the Germans (ultimately seen in the War Guilt Clause). Additionally, the Treaty of Versailles (which was based off of Wilson's points in a way), failed, proving that his ideas were idealistic. Also, Wilson could not guarantee certain aspects of his 14 Points including the removal of economic barriers or the use of the League of Nations by all countries (his fourteenth point; the US itself wasn't even a part of it- the Senate denied the Treaty of Versailles), proving how his ideas were too idealistic. Wilson&

LAD/Blog #31: Schenck v. United States Schenck V. United States is the court case addressing the actions of Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer. They distributed leaflets against the draft, which said that it violated the Thirteenth Amendment. Schenck was charged with violating the Espionage Act of 1917 for “attempting to cause insubordination and to obstruct recruitment.” They were convicted and appealed that the law violated the First Amendment. The court maintained that the First Amendment wasn’t violated and that the Espionage Act was appropriate in wartime. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said that courts had to defer to the government during wartime, and he also said that Schenck's letters posed a "clear and present danger," as they were hurting the nation, and had to be stopped. Finally, Holmes compared Schenk's distribution of letters to shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater: it only caused harm/alarm, and were not permitted under the First Amendment.