Madison furthers, the members of each branch should not be too dependent on the members of the other two branches in the determination of their salaries. The best security against a gradual concentration of power in any one branch is to provide constitutional safeguards that would make such concentration difficult. The constitutional rights of all must check one man's personal interests and ambitions. We may not like to admit that men abuse power, but the very need for government itself proves they do, "if men were angels, no government would be necessary." Unfortunately, all men are imperfect, the rulers and the ruled.
These powers were suddenly limited because Congress was given no authority to enforce its requests to the states for money or troops. By 1786, it was specious that the Union would soon break up if the Articles of Confederation were not corrected or replaced. There were five states that met in Annapolis, Maryland, to discuss the concern, and all the states were invited to send delegates to a new constitutional convention to be held in Philadelphia. On May 25, 1787, delegates representing every state except Rhode Island assembled at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania State House for the Constitutional Convention. The Independence Hall had earlier seen the recruiting of the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Articles of Confederation.
If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary” (Federalist 51). Publius says this in order to make the analogy that we are no angels, therefore we cannot govern ourselves. This is a good example in showing that human nature and human beings have flaws, so something will more than likely go wrong no matter the circumstances. Publius talks about in Federalist 51 that since men are not angels we live in a society where men govern men and when doing that we have to control their power, as to what they can and cannot decide on such as making laws, distributing laws, and deciding who and how said laws are being forced upon. If you do not control the power of the government they will eventually combine all their powers to form a tyranny.
James Madison of Virginia wanted a solution to the economic and political problems plaguing the new nation. He was convinced that the Articles of Confederation were inadequate, weak and in need of replacement. A strong centralized government, Madison believed, would provide greater stability and structure for the American economy. In 1786, Madison invited delegates from each of the 13 states to attend a Constitutional Convention. It was here that he hoped to create a plan for a stronger national government.
This view of government shifts with Hobbes’ perspective. Hobbes believes that one man should rule the community, and therefore the government should have power in the ruler rather than the people being ruled. This single ruler will be educated about the corrupt nature of mankind and the bad nature of
Hobbes explained, “…and the... ... middle of paper ... ...en are evil in their state of nature and that the public should not have control in the government system. This was a part of Hobbes’s social contract in which he makes the agreement that man must obey the laws and rules of the absolutist government. Although the theory worked for Hobbes during the time period he lived, Locke had a different approach in government in which society was more involved. Locke described man as a rational human being who pursued almost identical characteristics to an authority. Locke argued that a monarch was the best way to run a government, but he argued that the people had the right to express how they felt about their ruler as a whole.
Dana Majewski Due September 28, 2011 Mr. Klaff AP U.S In 1776, when the United States declared independence from Britain, the new country needed a set of laws to apply to all of the states to replace the earlier British rule. The colonists, however, were concerned that if the United States put too much power in the central government the states rights would vanish. Therefore, the first form of government, the Articles of Confederation, gave too much power to the states and insufficient power to the central government. States could create their own money and refuse federal taxes, which caused many tribulations and almost destroyed the new country. In 1787, delegates from twelve states came together to revise the Articles of Constitution to provide the citizens with a stronger central government.
Over the next few years it became evident that the system of government that had been chosen was not strong enough to completely settle and defend the frontier, regulating trade, currency and commerce, and organizing thirteen states into one union. So in the summer of 1787 delegates from the twelve states convened in Philadelphia to draft a new Constitution. They proposed a strong national government that would assume many of the powers previously imposed upon the states. (1) “No sooner than had the Continental Congress laid the proposed Constitution before the people for ratification, ” Irving Brant writes, “than a cry went up: it contained no Bill of Rights.”(2) People objected because the liberties they had fought for in the Revolution were not being protected by the Constitution, and then could be ignored by the federal government. The Anti-Federalist called for another convention to outline a Bill of Rights before the Constitution was approved.
It is apparent that the elite class of men would not represent all classes of men in an appropriate matter. The Federalists’ solution to this was to only have the elites be able to elect representative; the Anti-Federalists saw the need to point out that this representation would not be for the common good of the country and its citizens. The works of the Anti-Federalists shows that they were interested in the idea of having all types of men be represented in government. Works Cited Smith, Rogers M. Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History. New Haven: Yale UP, 1997.
This reform came in the form of the Constitution of 1789. Commensurate representation was the first issue faced by the Confederation Congress. The Articles mandated a continuation of the structure used during the Revolutionary War, whereby each state had one vote in Congress, but some of the states disagreed. “If distance made unreasonable the notion that the thirteen colonies could be well governed from London, distance made almost equally far-fetched the notion that the thirteen states could be well governed by a single national government” (McDonald). Thus, the large states advocated a form of repres... ... middle of paper ... ...ver be passed and creating an inflexible government.