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The creation of the United States constitution
The u.s constitution then and now
The u.s constitution then and now
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Creating a new U.S Constitution was an essential key aspect of making the government more powerful but not too powerful. The Articles of Confederation is one example of a bad document that was not giving the federal government the power that was mandatory for running the country. In creating a new U.S Constitution many troubles arose but were solved within the making of the Constitution. The Articles of Confederation had a lot of problems that needed to be fixed. One problem was that the Articles of Confederation gave no power to the national government. Congress had no power to tax and there was no Executive branch to enforce any of the laws congress made. When the Articles of Confederation was written, many of the people were terrified that if the national government had too much power that America’s government would become like Great Britain’s government. A lot of the power was given to the state to decide and the country seemed separate instead of a whole. The Articles of Confederation lacked strong national government that was deeply needed and unity. A new Constitution was needed to solve the problems of the Articles of Confederation. The people who led the change of the new …show more content…
The separation of powers insures that not one branch of government will have more power than another branch. Another strength I admire is the system of Checks and Balances, which is the power of one branch to check on another. One weakness the Constitution has is that Judges serve for life and I think that is a weakness because one person’s opinion over a long period might not be a good thing due to the fact the world changes frequently and you need different perspectives. Another weakness is the fact that you have to be born an American citizen to run for certain positions. This limits the people who can actually run and make a change, it should not matter when you become a citizen as long as you are true to
The unpredictable failure of the Articles of Confederation to the continental congress was a huge problem. The Articles of Confederation was made so the states would have more power, And limit the powers of the national government. Main contributors for this action was the fear that the national government will gain too much power and overstep its authority.This would have a negative effect on the nation, because tensions will start to rise for the ineffectiveness of this new system of government. A Rebellion best known as Shays rebellion, took place shortly after The adoption of the Articles of Confederation. The states, in which shays rebellion has taken place, were becoming unjust/unfair the way in which the state collected taxes. Since the Articles of Confederation was a complete failure
From five states arose delegates who would soon propose an idea that would impact the United States greatly. The idea was to hold a meeting in Philadelphia called the Constitutional Convention in 1787 meant to discuss the improvements for the Articles of Confederation and would later be called the United States Constitution. The United States Constitution was greatly influenced by Ancient Rome, the Enlightenment, and Colonial Grievances.
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
The Articles of Confederation, the perfect republican government, was not a perfect government. It was faulty and ineffective in providing a central government with tax revenue to pay off debts, which caused the discontent of mobs that the central government would fail to control. The Articles created a weak government that would be easily pushed around by its people and by foreign countries. The reliance on civic virtue was successful in organized land policies that spread republicanism ideals; however, it failed to aid the Congress of the Confederation in tax revenue and controlling mobocracy. The Articles of Confederation was ineffective and faulty with is roots planted solely in republicanism.
In his speech, The Making of the U.S. Constitution, Gordon Wood discusses the history of how the U.S. Constitution came to be. He explains what factors contributed to its making and what the general consensus was about it during the time. He explains that the reason the constitution was created was because the government needed more power. Why did the government need more power? In short, to unify the 13 states and make life, in general, easier for its citizens, officers, artisans, and even to help with commercial interests (Wood, 2012).
There were many differences between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. At the end of the American Revolution the free states needed some sort of control that would generate to a unified country. Issues arose such as: How should power be divided between local and national governments? How should laws be made, and by whom? Who should be authorized to govern those laws? How could the government be designed to protect the unalienable individual rights? Their first attempt at solving this issue was the Articles of Confederation, which was a failure for the most part, but not completely. After the failure of the articles, the state delegates tried to revise the articles, but instead, constructed the Constitution. There were so many changes made and very little remained the same.
The year of 1776 was a time of revolution, independence, and patriotism. American colonists had severed their umbilical cord to the Mother Country and declared themselves “Free and Independent States”.1 The chains of monarchy had been thrown off and a new government was formed. Shying away from a totalitarian government, the Second Continental Congress drafted a document called the Articles of Confederation which established a loose union of the states. It was an attempt at self-government that ended in failure. The Articles of Confederation had many defects which included a weak central government that lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, required equal representation and a unanimous vote to amend the Articles, and had only a legislative branch. As a result the United States lacked respect from foreign countries. These flaws were so severe that a new government had to be drafted and as a result the Constitution was born. This document remedied the weak points of the federal government and created one that was strong and fair, yet still governed by the people.
The Articles of Confederation was America’s first constitution. The Articles of Confederation failed to create a strong central government, however. With the demise of the states in sight, the need for a stronger and more structured central government became apparent. An invitation was sent to all thirteen states in February 1787 by the Confederation Congress to resolve the matter. The events that took place over the next several months would create the United States Constitution. Going down in history as a revolutionary form of government, the U.S. Constitution would give life to a country that is still running strong over 200 years later.
The Articles of Confederation were incapable of providing the United States with an effective form of government. The Articles of Confederation presided weakly over the government as it allowed little or no power to tax, control trade, and branches of government were missing. In addition to this, the thirteen states acted as separate nations and the national government had little control over them.
The constitution for Missouri and the United States share many ideologies. One of these similarities is the right of the government to tax its people. Taxing is when part of someone’s purchase or income, is taken away from the government so they can provide and afford services for the people. In the sixteenth amendment, passed in 1909 it states: “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration” (US Constitution). This essentially means that the United States government has the power to collect money from a person’s income. As well as being able to collect it there is also the power to implement the
What was a new nation to do in this great time of need? We were at war with the British and needed to rally the states together to fund and win this war. This led to the first American constitution, the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was a forced and rush agreement written so the new nation of the United States of America could have a chance to win independence of the British. It was only a short period of time once the Articles of Confederation was written and signed that it was apparent there was a need for a more detailed and workable constitution for our new nation.
These values are alive and well in the hearts of the American people, who refresh the system every two years with their votes. The Constitution specifically grants Congress its most important power the authority to make laws. A bill, or proposed law, only becomes a law after both the House of Representatives and the Senate have approved it in the same form. The two houses share other powers, many of which are listed in Article 1, Section 8. These include the power to declare war, coin money, raise an army and navy, regulate commerce, establish rules of immigration and naturalization, and establish the federal courts and their jurisdictions. (Congress the Peoples Branch?, 2016)The question was asked if the authority to make new laws is a strength, how could it be seen any other way. If the common man, business or state were left to regulate themselves we would no longer be the United States; the out-come would be individual parcels of land being run as if they were separate countries. On option to maintain the strength found in the legislature is to, continue using committees in specialized fields. Each committee is specialized in one or two fields to help to draw up new laws in this field. The Senate has 16, and the House has 22 committees. This may not be enough committees to ensure all important
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...
The Constitution is the greatest document in American history. It has pushed for progressiveness and equality. The Constitution is basically the supreme law of the United States. The Constitution was written to organize a strong national government for the American states. Before the Constitution, the nation's leaders had established a national government under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles gave independence to each state; the states lacked authority, the ability to work together, and to solve national problems. The U.S. Constitution established America's national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens using five big ideas and this shaped today's America.
The Articles of Confederation was the first government of the United States. The Articles had created a very weak national government. At the time the Articles were approved, they had served the will of the people. Americans had just fought a war to get freedom from a great national authority--King George III (Patterson 34). But after this government was put to use, it was evident that it was not going to keep peace between the states. The conflicts got so frequent and malicious that George Washington wondered if the “United” States should be called a Union (Patterson 35). Shays’ Rebellion finally made it evident to the public that the government needed a change.