"Arver v. United States"

ARVER v. U.S. (January 7, 1918)

 America at War

                As of April 6, 1917 the United States of America was officially at war with the German Empire in what would become known as World War I. President Woodrow Wilson declared that “the world (must be) made safe for democracy.” Wilson also expressed concern for safety on the open seas, American trade with Europe, and our close relationships with France and the United Kingdom. Most Americans agreed with the president as hundreds of thousands of men volunteered and millions signed up for the military draft.

Resisting the Draft

                Not every American agreed with President Wilson. Earlier in U.S. history, when the Confederate draft was established in 1862, across the state thousands of conscripted Georgia men at first only refused to report when ordered to do so.¹ However, during the summer of that year, not only did men reject the draft, they were joined by hundreds of deserters. Together these groups formed ‘resistance bands’ for self-preservation, often raided plantations for food and shelter.² 

Tom Watson

                Northern Georgia reaction to ‘The Great War’ did not reach that proportion as armed resistance was non-existent, but the tradition of preserving individual rights given to citizens by the Constitution was maintained. Followers of Thomas E. Watson would publish petitions in The Jeffersonian contesting the constitutionality of conscription in the federal courts. The first of these petitions was published May 17, 1917 the day before President Wilson signed the Selective Service Act into law.³ 

                In the summer of 1917, Watson sponsored two men $100,000 who would file a test case in the federal courts. Watson and his hand-picked lawyer, civil libertarian Harry Weinberger of New York, argued that the Selective Service Act violated the 13^th Amendment’s prohibition of “involuntary servitude” and that the exemption of clergymen and divinity student violates the principal of separation of church and state.

                Watson and his supporters filed suit and in almost record time, the Supreme Court on January 7, 1918 issued a unanimous decision in the case Arver v. U.S. In spite of the rapidity of the Court’s decision, it became a most ‘transformative moment for the Constitution, the Court, and the United States.’ “The Selective Service Act asserted the federal government’s power at its most extreme.”⁴ Much like many court cases, Arver was the named case but five other cases were also part of the decision. In all six cases the petitioners were charged with failure to register for the draft. Thus, when a draft was needed in the future (World War II, Korea, and Vietnam) legal challenges would be declare null and void before they began in the process.