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Creation of the american constitution
U.s. constitution then and now
The american constitution: its origins and development summary
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The United States Constitution is a very controversial document, concerning the laws and power distribution among the different levels of government. The people thought the Constitution was a way to slowly revert back to a monarchy - a government system that they had fought hard against. Even George Washington thought that this system would not last past twenty years. However, despite Washington’s claim, a lot of the delegates writing the Constitution believed that it was flexible enough to last through centuries. Former President Woodrow Wilson would go as far to say that “in its elasticity lies its chief greatness.” When something is described as elastic, it means it does not break easily under different levels of pressure. The goal of the …show more content…
Unfortunately, there comes a point where a rubber band breaks because it is unable to stretch so far. The purpose of the Constitution was to set down multiple laws for an entire country during a specific time period, so it would not turn to chaos; therefore there had to be a limit to its resilience. Despite that fact, though, the Constitution has lasted until today making it flexible to a certain extent. Although there are parts of the Constitution that have to be resistant, it is overall a very elastic document due to how different situations shape the laws. The Constitution’s flexibility is demonstrated in the implied powers to the federal government. Article I Section 8 of the Constitution states that the central government can “make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper” in order help the execution of powers clearly stated in the Constitution. This …show more content…
In Article V it states that in order to place an amendment you need two-thirds of Congress agreeing with it, have two-thirds of the states call conventions concerning it, and then have three-fourths of the states need to ratify it in order for it to be considered a part of the Constitution. Due to this, there have only been twenty-seven amendments since the Constitution was ratified. According to this, the Constitution, while a flexible document, is not flexible to change. However, the fact that the government is able to change laws at all makes it very flexible. In fact, there was an alcohol amendment placed in the Eighteenth Amendment that prohibited alcohol throughout the country but was then amended later in the Twenty-First Amendment which gave states power over alcohol laws. This proves that the Constitution was made to keep up with the popular demands of the time. Additionally, if making amendments were easy, then there would be a lot of unreasonable changes leading to tyranny. If the government could amend whatever they wanted without restrictions, then there is a chance that most of the states would not be happy. Therefore it is necessary to make sure a fair majority of the population agree with the change. It is not restrictive, but a smart and proactive way of thinking. Therefore, despite the amendment process of the Constitution being restricted, the
After the Revolution, the country was left in an economic crisis and struggling for a cohesive path moving forward. The remaining financial obligations left some Founding Fathers searching for ways to create a stronger more centralized government to address concerns on a national level. The thought was that with a more centralized, concentrated governing body, the more efficient tensions and fiscal responsibilities could be addressed. With a central government manning these responsibilities, instead of the individual colonies, they would obtain consistent governing policies. However, as with many things in life, it was a difficult path with a lot of conflicting ideas and opponents. Much of the population was divided choosing either the
Through the years many changes have taken place, and technologies have been discovered, yet our Constitution remains. Some say that the Constitution was written for people hundreds of years ago, and in turn is out of step with the times. Yet its principals and guidelines have held thus far. The framers would be pleases that their great planning and thought have been implemented up until this point. However this does not compensate for the fact, that the we the people have empowered the government more so than our fore fathers had intended. Citizens were entrusted with the duty to oversee the government, yet so many times they are disinterested and only seem to have an opinion when the government’s implications affect them. As time has changed so has the American people, we often interpret our freedoms in a self serving manner, disregarding the good of the whole and also the good for the future. Thus there are no true flaws in the Constitution, it appears that the conflict emerges in the individual and their self, and poses question when we must decide when to compromise the morals that our Constitution was founded on, or when to stick to what we know is right and honest.
The United States' Constitution is one the most heralded documents in our nation's history. It is also the most copied Constitution in the world. Many nations have taken the ideals and values from our Constitution and instilled them in their own. It is amazing to think that after 200 years, it still holds relevance to our nation's politics and procedures. However, regardless of how important this document is to our government, the operation remains time consuming and ineffective. The U.S. Constitution established an inefficient system that encourages careful deliberation between government factions representing different and sometimes competing interests.
Most of the American people know about the Bill of Rights, but don 't know much else about our constitution. One of the most important parts of the constitution are the rules and principles that give government its power, if these were not already embedded in there would be mass confusion on who could do what and how much power a single branch held. Luckily the United States constitution, which is 228 years old, still provides a framework for legitimate government in the U.S.. The constitution can change with the times because of the six broad principles it is based on.
In order to have a strong nation, Americans required a capable government. However, the Articles of Confederation failed shortly after its creation and the need for a new system was met with differences of opinion. Although the government clearly needed to be strong enough to enforce its laws, the question of how strong this new system should be created some difficult standards. The Constitution restricted American liberty because it was written by elites, for elites and as such, it could not protect the average American; the dismission of a large population, the limitation of democracy, and the need of the Bill of Rights demonstrated the new strains on the American's freedoms.
The document known as the Constitution acts as the binding fabric of our nation, an embodiment of national identity and a testament to our desire to work together, as one nation, for the pursuit of the values and ideals fought for during the American War of Independence and throughout our history. The Constitution of the United States receives esteem from all corners of the country, both geographically and ideologically, and is considered by most as the document that ensures and exudes the freedom enjoyed in our country based in republican democracy. However, our country was not always united behind such a document. Prior to constitution being made law in 1789, our country was governed by a weak set of documents known as the Articles of Confederation,
The foundation of this nation has been based upon freedoms while maintaining order and equality, a task not so easily achieved. When attempting to achieve such a feat there were many compromises and struggles. The U.S. Constitution was made as a guide for the government to follow, since the original guide, the Articles of Confederation, gave little power to the federal government (and was becoming weak) disregarding the foundation of a proper functioning government giving more equality and less order. Since the Articles of Confederation became a non-efficient way to govern the nation, the delegates thought an efficient way to govern the nation would be to create what we call the constitution, which became a reality with several compromises. These compromises
Since its creation and its adoption as the supreme law of the United States, the Constitution suffered many changes. New amendments were necessary over time to stimulate the growth of the country
The Founding Fathers limit the power of government in the Constitution utilizing many different tactics, many more than even the aforementioned. Their main intent was to make the nation less democratic and to keep the government small. The Constitution has accomplished the Founding Fathers' goal until now, and will hopefully continue doing so in the future.
The Federal Constitution is a short document which only consists of approximately 7,000 words.The founders wanted it to be short for several reasons:(1) It's meant to be only be a framework for a new government. Basically, Constitution as merely a guideline for how the government should behave.Nowhere does the Constitution read as merely suggested, everything written in it seems pretty definitive, especially about what Congress should and should not do. (2) The founders were ,also framers of the Constitution, practitioners of centuries-old common law. As known, common law legal system is characterized by case law, which is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals.The founders were steeped in incremental change by the judiciary and they believed that, with the careful interpretation by the judiciary, the document they drafted would be flexible over time. It would adapt to changes they could not anticipate. That is precisely why the Constitution is so short.
A constitution is the system of fundamental principles according to which a nation is governed. Our founding fathers created the US Constitution to set specific standards for our country. We must ask ourselves why our founding fathers created the Constitution in the first place. America revolted against the British due to their monarchy form of government. After the American Revolution, each of the original 13 colonies operated under its own rules of government. Most states were against any form of centralized rule from the government. They feared that what happened in England would happen again. They decided to write the Articles of Confederation, which was ratified in 1781. It was not effective and it led to many problems. The central government could not regulate commerce between states, deal with foreign governments or settle disputes. The country was falling apart at its seams. The central government could not provide assistance to the state because there wasn’t a central army. When they realized that the Articles of Confederation was not up to par, they held a convention, known as the Constitutional Convention of 1787. As a result of t...
Throughout history, there has been countless times where a country is ran by tyranny, and countless times where tyranny negatively affects the country. Our country, the United States of America, was one of those countries at one point, but we thankfully got out of it from war. Since our country didn’t want to go back to tyranny, people had to create a system, and a set of principles that would prevent that from happening. So, the Constitution was made. Tyranny is a government ran by one person, or a small amount of people, and the United States got out of it, but we still had to establish a way to prevent it from happening again. The constitution did it’s job and protected against tyranny by the small states vs. large states, federalism, separation of power, and checks and balances.
The Constitution has been around for 228 years since the ratification, which is a long time. Times are very different now as compared to those, many years ago. Today, the world is different in so many aspects such as technological and medical advances, population growth, and minorities rising. These are things that the founding fathers would have never thought to be possible. So nowadays, the Supreme Court has to interpret the Constitution a lot more to be able to decide on subject matters because they have a hard time relating today’s problems to back then. For instance, the Third Amendment which states that citizens will not be forced into providing their home as shelter to the soldiers is not really useful today because it was created for
The Constitution has been around for a long time. It has been tried and tired again, but it has stuck trogth. The only problem is when people aren’t given the rights they should have by law of nature. This include the right of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
For most commentators, constitutional amendments rules are designed to serve exactly this purpose that is, to allow for the correction of or improvement upon prior constitutional design choice in light of new information, evolving experience or political understanding. As Prof. Sunstein has opined the Central goal of a constitution is to create the preconditions for a well-functioning democratic order, one in which citizens are genuinely able to govern themselves. Understanding the meaning of Constitution from Prof. Sunstein‘s definition of constitution, we can also term Constitution‘ as the supreme document of any nation by which the system of governance is controlled and regulated by enacting laws and regulations. Constitutions are usually classified as flexible‘ or ‗rigid‘ depending upon the process through which they can be amended. Prof. A.V. Dicey defines two types of Constitutions the flexible as one under which every law of every description can legally be changed with the same ease and in the same manner by one and the same body‘, and the rigid Constitutions as ‗one under which certain laws generally known as constitutional or fundamental laws, cannot be changed in the same manner as ordinary