How the Constitution Lost its Meaning

Originally, the U.S. Constitution put a lot of restrictions on the President, but now the presidents can do whatever they want. What changed? Well, for starters, the President had very little power since the founding fathers did not want a king, so they put a lot of checks and balances in place to make it so no one group or person could gain too much power. Most of the power was actually with the states. They were supposed to have all the power, and the central government was a figurehead. The central government could only do things that were stated in the Constitution, but a lot of the Constitution is up to interpretation.

In 1798, the Alien and Sedition Acts punished you for saying things that made the government look bad. You are probably thinking that was unconstitutional, but back then, people interpreted free speech to mean you can say or publish whatever you want, but those things you say or publish can still get you in trouble. Presidents have been using the Constitution in ways like this for a long time. It might not be intentional some presidents, but a lot of it is intentional. Some probably weren't aware of how big a problem this is, and that is the saddest part.