Japanese internment in the 1940's is a part of our history. There are different opinions as to whether or not the Japanese American internment was Constitutional. Japanese American citizens were forced to move, abandon their homes and businesses, and live in camps that were just little more than prisons. The catalyst to this internment was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor is the naval base located near Honolulu, Hawaii on the island of Oahu. December 7th, 1941, started out as any other ordinary Sunday morning. The peace and tranquility was short lived because just before 8 a.m. hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the naval base. The largest majority of the American naval fleet was either damaged or destroyed, including the USS Arizona and the USS Oklahoma. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan stating, “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
…show more content…
The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution gives all Americans “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause...” The Japanese Americans were forced from their homes and businesses and therefore, their rights were violated. The Sixth Amendment gives all US citizens “the right to a fair and speedy trial.” The Japanese citizens were held in the internment camps against their will for something that they were perceived to “maybe” have done or something that they “might” do. Although a complete violation of their human rights, Japanese Americans were merely held against their
On December 7th, 1941, Japanese Aircraft and submarines launched a surprise attack on the Pearl Harbor military base in Hawaii territory. Many Japanese aircraft flew in the sky with intent to eliminate the Pearl Harbor base, the soldiers, and all of our equipment. The American soldiers tried to protect themselves, our nation, and their brothers who they were fighting along side with. Both of the articles we have read contained a claim in relation to Japanese internment camps during WWII. The first article supported the idea japanese internment camps were necessary and our nation could have became corrupt because of the lack of trust and idea of dishonesty by the Japanese American population.
December 7, 1941 is considered one of the most impactful days in United States’ history: the day Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Despite their size, Japan left an incredible amount of damage with their 5 submarines and 408 planes. President Roosevelt had been avoiding scuffling with Japan since their pact with Germany and Italy; war with Germany was sure to erupt soon enough. However, soon after the ambuscade, the United States’ declared war on Japan and launched their involvement in World War II. Japan’s leaders recognized the risks of invading one of America’s naval bases; yet they persisted.
This war between the Japanese and Americans wasn't too beneficial for the Japanese Americans back at home, for they were taken out of their homes, into camps because of others doing. Japanese internment camps were an unjust policy in U.S. History because it was based on racial profiling, it subjected Japanese-Americans to squalid conditions, and it violated citizens’ 4th Amendment rights of search and seizure. Internment camps
The Japanese were not placed in internment due to their race/ancestry for three reasons: They were the ones responsible for their removal, Justice Black’s statement that “Exclusion of those of Japanese origins were deemed necessary because of the presence of unascertained number of disloyal members of the group, most of whom we have no doubt were loyal to this country” (Japanese Interment pg. 3) and because the United States were at war with the Japanese Empire. The first reason the Japanese were not placed in interment due to their race/ancestry was that they were the ones responsible for their removal. If the Japanese did not attack Pearl Harbor the United States would not have joined World War II in the first place. Roosevelt would not have created the War Relocation Authority to relocate them either. The Japanese-Americans also failed to voluntarily remove themselves from the West
On December 7th, 1941, Japan launched one of the most devastating attacks that occurred on United States soil killing over 2000 citizens. Ironically, the death of these citizens resulted in the United States government violating the rights of over 100,000 Japanese Americans living along the Pacific Coast. The attack on Pearl harbor exacerbated the already present anti-Japanese sentiment within the United States resulting in the removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans in internment camps. This historiographical essay will examine the trends of historical thought regarding Japanese internment during World War II examining sources chronologically by publication date from 1972 to 2017. Early historiographical interpretations, referred to
The relocation was ordered by the President of the US which was in this time FDR also known as Franklin D. Roosevelt and by an act of congress. the Japanese- American also known as Nisei (which is children born to the Issei, they were automatically U.S citizens)and the Japanese Aliens who were called Issei ( People born in Japan who moved to the U.S and settled there ) were moved to the interments camps. Also discrimination played a major role in the internment camps , economies and jealousy did also many people from California were jealousy of the economic suches that the Japanese- American farms and store owners enjoyed. Japanese Americans during the relocation era were accused of Pearl Harbor, only because they are Japanese they don’t even question or ask them why are they related with the event on Pearl Harbor. Just because they were Japanese they posed a threat to the American society and many of the Japanese were already American citizens and this event of the Internment camps was incredible because the US is founded on personal rights and
From 1941 to 1946 Japanese- Americans were incarcerated and kept in internment camps strictly because of their race. Document E is a passage taken from a newspaper that promotes civil rights. The newspaper tells its readers that, “Color seems to be the only possible reason why thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry are in concentration camps,” (Document E). Japanese- Americans were being incarcerated and it was mainly because of the prejudice against their race. Racism was a contributing factor in the decisions that surrounded the incarceration, therefore, Japanese- American internment was unjustified.
The internment of Japanese Americans was not justified because there was little evidence suggesting they were a threat. The people were left financially ruined as they lost their homes, businesses, and land. Prior to the war, people of the Japanese were a valuable element in the population. They were law-abiding citizens who contributed to the contributed to the arts, agriculture, and many actually joined the armed forces. Thousands of Japanese workers helped construct the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Oregon Short Line and other railroads in the Columbia River Basin.
County Public School System and the Center for History Education at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Japanese American Internment During World War II (n.d.): n. pag. Umbc.edu. Teaching American History.
These guys felt the blunt force of discrimination during this time. Japanese-Americans were forced into one of ten permanent camps. This was the result of Executive Order 9066 and Pearl Harbor. These camps were given the name internment camps. The point of internment was to test the loyalty of the Japanese-Americans.
Many historians agree that this event was undoubtedly unconstitutional and an infringement of basic human rights. The forced incarceration of Japanese
There are many reasons that the Japanese internment was caused and could have been prevented. One of the ways that it was caused because of pearl harbor and that everyone thought it was impossible for the Japanese to strike, which then caused American residents scared that they will strike again. One way that they could have prevented it is by having a Military ready to defend their territory (Hawaii wasn't a state by then it was a territory). One thing that causes conflict is bad communication, one way the conflict was caused in the Japanese internment is that the American citizens assumed that Japanese Americans were bad people even though someone related to them were from Japan so they are considered American citizens but have Japanese in
Their civil rights were violated because they took away everything that they had and they were an American citizens. Even though they were born in the U.S. they were still put into camps as American citizens. Even though this violated their civil rights they still did what they were told because most of the were truly American citizens. “The internment of persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II sparked constitutional and political debate” (national archives). When they were sent to the camps many Nisei’s had lost their homes, their pets, some even lost family, and businesses.
How would you feel if one day you were told to leave your whole life behind to live in captivity just because people halfway across the world did something wrong? This horror story was all too true for the thousands of Japanese Americans alive during World War II. Almost overnight, thousands of proud Japanese Americans living on the west coast were forced to leave their homes and give up the life they knew. The United States government was not justified in the creation of Japanese internment camps because it stripped law-abiding American citizens of their rights out of unjustified fear.
A common argument against the opinion that the Japanese American internment was clearly violating the Habeas Corpus, the 4th Amendment and the 14th Amendment is that the President himself issued an order to prevent a person who seems to be a threat to the country from leaving a military area. The President, who wholeheartedly makes decisions with only the welfare of the entirety of the United States of America and it’s citizens. That may be true but it was not necessary to hold these innocent patriotic citizens for almost a full year. There was no evidence pertaining against them nor was their any trail that determined any of the thousand of Japanese Americans to be guilty. The President does specify at the beginning of his order that during