The United States Constitution

The main goal of the Constitution was to create a single, united nation. Through the process of creating a perfect union, the founders resolved some critical issues. Unfortunately, they ignored important issues that would create consequences for future generations of U.S. citizens. This was due to the focus of the founders while creating the Constitution. Their emphasis was placed on the rights and powers of the federal and state governments, not on the implementation of Native Americans into American society. Through the act of Shay’s Rebellion, the leaders of the United States realized the need for a powerful federal government. This realization created the Constitution. Although created to empower the federal government, it gives each

The founders of the U.S. were very focused on limiting state power, and therefore created many checks to prevent states from rising above the federal government. This includes Article VI, which states how federal law is the, “Supreme Law of the Land.” This means that any federal law put into legislation, or stated in the Constitution, trumps any state law. Therefore, the states have to obey and respect federal law. This was necessary because this made a statement to each state after the Articles of Confederation. It portrayed that states no longer had the explicit power to operate separately from the federal government, but were rather joining into a Union under one law. Article I, Section 8 gave the federal government the power to regulate commerce through foreign trade, state trade, and also among the Indian Tribes. This is important because states could no longer control state tariffs and trade laws between other states, and, relating back to Ellis’s argument of the founders second failure, this depicted that the founders believed that Indian Tribes were a “country” of their own, and were not tied to the United States. Therefore, the founders did not believe they had to include Indians into their constitution. Article I, Section 8 also gives the federal government the power, “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper…”

This powerful central government supported the idea of Federalism in America. States had limited power in conducting legislature, unlike before the Constitution, under the Articles of Confederation, the opposite was true. Unfortunately, due to the young age of America, and the improvisation of the founders while creating a national government, Native Americans were left out of the equation, leaving the ancestors of the founders to decide their