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The importance of the US constitution
The importance of the US constitution
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The growth of the United States of America is unquestionable over the past couple of centuries, and the reason being is due to the strength of the constitution that was established by the founding fathers, and other leaders that shaped this country. Individuals traveling from Europe brought over their traditions and philosophical knowledge to enhance their way of life. During the colonial days, individuals would use alcohol as a cure rather than a drink that causes Intoxication. According to the article “drinking in colonial America” by Ed Crews, he states that alcohol was more like a hobby rather than just a drink. In the article, the author is talking about how everyone, including our founding fathers started their day with a drink. Of course everyone had their preferences, however, it seems more …show more content…
James Madison, who would later become the 4th president of the United States, wrote the paper that affected the nation for decades to come. In the Constitution, there is the idea of a government that is divided up in two parts, the Senate, and the Representatives of each state (Article 1 section 1). This split was a very good step strategically, because one individual in another state running a whole country would not be able to give direct orders to others due to distance and miscommunication. However, splitting the politicians into groups and having them each represent the ideas of a specific state would help to keep order in that particular state. The Second section of the article states that the people are able to vote for new representatives every two years. To keep the ideas of the individuals in the state satisfied, knew blood should enter the table of representatives. People may not like one representative and vote someone else in with more passion, and virtue than the predecessor. This not only keeps the people happy, but also ensures for healthy communications between one
Enacting prohibition in a culture so immersed in alcohol as America was not easy. American had long been a nation of strong social drinkers with a strong feeling towards personal freedom. As Okrent remarks, “George Washington had a still on his farm. James Madison downed a pint of whiskey a day”. This was an era when drinking liquor on ships was far safer than the stale scummy water aboard, and it was common fo...
And try to enforce an American valued society upon them. Many reformists felt that ending the use of alcohol would protect American homes and families. They felt that alcohol use was the root of their family’s destruction. Many women felt that their husbands would waste a lot of their income on the purchase of alcohol and not on family needs. Alcohol is often known as a “poison, or sin”.
Madison speaks of the problems of the present attempts at a new government saying “our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice, and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and over-bearing majority”.
Throughout the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the United States grew and flourished as a country. It went from being a nation focused only on expanding within their own country, and comprised of basically only one heritage, to becoming one of the world's greatest military, economical, and political superpowers, as well as being the earth's preeminent "melting pot" of thousands of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
Federalist No. 10 and No. 51 were a series of essays written by James Madison, arguing for the ratification of the U.S Constitution. Before the ratification, the Articles of Confederation only bounded the thirteen colonies, uniting them as military alliance rather than a cohesive government. The central government lacked authority; the national government could not collect taxes or force states to comply with their laws. The lack of a strong central government made it difficult for states to operate effectively as one single nation. The state legislatures had too much power under the Articles, so Madison’s goal was to restrain the power of the states. Madison, Jay, and Hamilton, wrote the Federalist Papers to encourage the citizens to support the ratification of the Constitution. Federalist No.10 and No. 51 are highly regarded in comparison to the rest of the essays. Federalist No.10 is the introduction to Madison’s contributions of the series. Madison addresses the question of "factions" and disastrous effect to our liberties. Madison argues that a strong and large republic would best control the effects of factions, rather than a smaller republic. Madison also argues for representation in government rather than direct democracy. With delegates, the passions of the people would-be filtered, and only the ideas that are good for the majority of the people would prevail. Madison expands his argument in Federalist No.10 by having three separate branches of government, the judicial, legislative, and executive. Each branch would be independent and have equal power. Madison also notes that people are fundamentally flawed, so government needs to be able to control their passions. Madison states, “If men were angels, no government would b...
During these times, domestic violence was commonplace and many blamed alcohol as the culprit. Reformers also noticed that alcohol decreased efficiency of labor and thought of alcohol as a menace to society because it left men irresponsible and lacking self control. One reformer, named Lyman Beecher, argued that the act of alcohol consumption was immoral and will destroy the nation. Document H depicts the progression of becoming a drunkard from a common m...
In The Federalist Papers by James Madison, Madison discuses various aspects of government and how the government must be organized in order to better represent the people. In The Federalist, No. 10 Madison discusses the nature of political factions and parties and how they can affect the government and its practices. The Federalist, No. 51 discusses instead how the government being in branches helps maintain liberties and better protect the American people. The topics mentioned in The Federalist Papers continue to explain and structure our government today.
James Madison, an American statesman and political theorist that was present at the constitutional convention. Many of the ideas proposed by Madison are part of the reason that the Constitution has withstood the test of time. Madison was ultimately prepared to deal with one of the biggest problems this new government would face in his eyes, factions. Factions, which as defined by Madison are “a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community” (Madison 156). Madison addresses various ways that he sees factions can be cured of its mischiefs such as removing a faction’s causes and also controlling their effects. Madison points out that this is would potentially create an even bigger problem than the factions themselves by stating, “Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an ailment, without which it instantly expires” (Madison 156) Madison also stated that the way for a government to remove the cause of faction was either to destroy the liberty that causes factions to exist in the first place or to give every citizen the same beliefs and opinions. Madison deemed this impractical, because it is nearly impossible to give everyone in a given place the same opinions and destroying the liberty would take away the very thing that the colonies fought for 4 years earlier. The fact is Madison knew that the country wouldn’t be able to count on a well-educated statesman to be there any time a faction gets out of hand. Madison knew the only viable way to keep factions under control is not to get rid of factions entirely but to set a r...
In conclusion, Madison thinks the human nature is ambitious, and the fixed outcome of human ambitions is people create factions to promote their own interests. In the case of preventing corrupt or mischief by factions, he believes majority and pure democracy is not a solution. The method he advocated is a large republic with checking system. He converts human ambition to provide internal checks and balances in government. His point of view stimulated the approval of the proposal of the United States Constitution.
If one was to look at colonial America with no knowledge of the future, the thought of millions of people promoting alcohol regulation and abstinence would be unimaginable. As hard as it is to assign general characteristics to colonial America, it is clearly evident that alcoholic beverages were extensive in consumption, to the point where they were among the main forms of liquid nourishment. It was so extensive that "Estimates for 1790, at the end of the colonial period, place per capita consumption of absolute alcohol (the alcohol content of alcoholic beverages) at three gallons, about one and a half times the amount of per capita consumption in the United States today. Despite staggering consumption rate, the relatively high level of per capita consumption failed to produce widespread concern about drinking.
America has grown to be the country it is today not by luck, but by the fact that it has struggled in trying to become an independent nation. Regardless of the hardships, turmoil, and chaos it has gone through, the events that occurred between the years 1865-1900 have caused America to be the independent nation that it is today.
Most people point to wars, Presidents or the economy when asked to describe the history of the United States, but what about alcohol. Social history in general has always taken a back seat to political and economic history, mostly because many aspects of social history are not exactly bright spots from the past. Alcohol, for example, is actually a much bigger aspect of our history than one may expect. As a matter of fact, early America was centered around drinking as a kind of social event. William Rorabaugh’s book Alcoholic Republic outlines how prevalent drinking really was during the years after the Revolutionary War. Rorabaugh argues that post-colonial Americans should be considered alcoholics. However, the evidence Rorabaugh uses
During his entire life, James Madison, who is one of the founding fathers, contributed many dedications to the States, especially when creating the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. As the fourth president of the U.S, he consciously chose to create a new model of presidential power that he thought would fit better with the system of the separation of powers after seeing “the danger overwrought executive power poses to republican constitutionalism” (Kleinerman). Despite of having such good intention, some of his actions led the country through some significant suffers.
In Federalist No. 10, James Madison stresses that “measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.” Madison philosophized that a large republic, composed of numerous factions capable of competing with each other and the majority must exist in order to avoid tyranny of majority rule.# When Federalist No. 10 was published, the concept of pluralism was not widely used. However, the political theory that is the foundation for United States government was the influential force behind pluralism and its doctrines.
The Madisonian model, which was first proposed by James Madison, is a structure of government made to prevent either a minority or majority group to build up enough power to dominate the others. The Constitution made this possible. One of the principles was to separate the powers of the government into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The separation of powers allowed each of the three branches to be independent with the exception of working together in order to govern. Congress passes laws, the president applies and manages the laws, and the courts elucidates the laws in distinct conditions. Madison clarified his beliefs in Federalist Paper No. 51 saying that in order for a government to exist it was necessary for there to be a balance in power. By giving each branch administer constitutional means, they'll avoid intrusions of the others. The constitutional means are a system of checks and balances, where each branch of government has the right to inspect the conduct of the others. Neither branc...