Fifth Amendment (Whestcorea)

The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution 2nd Congressional Session
Created	6th January, 2015
Ratified	Defeated
Location	Whestcorean Archive
Authors	Horatio Eden
Signers	3 Congressmen
Purpose	To give the Mememaster-General emergency powers in a state of national emergency

The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Whestcorea was an unsuccessful piece of Whestcorean legislation that would have, if passed, given the Mememaster-General the power to declare states of emergency in which he could utilize almost absolute levels of legislative and executive power. The Amendment was a disaster, being rejected by over half of the Congress.

Background

With the peace talks with AS A falling apart, thanks in part to the hawkish nature of Foreign Mememaster Bob Christ, Mememaster-General Horatio Eden saw a problem - if the AS An government did not receive a peace treaty, the war effort on their part would be stepped up dramatically, or so Eden's intelligence seemed to indicate. To that end, he needed an Amendment to the Constitution to declare a state of emergency in which he could circumvent the Congress.

Reactions

The Amendment was disastrously received by the Congress at large. Many compared it to Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, drawing parallels between the ascendancy of Adolf Hitler and the attempt at what they saw as a power play on Eden's part. Needless to say, the Amendment was rejected almost immediately.