Imagine this, you are living in the 1700’s and you are trying to make a just document that will give equal freedoms to all citizens of a country. You can only rely on three things to frame the entire Constitution. What do you choose? How do you take what you learn from those three things, and turn it into a nearly 8,000-word document that gives citizens the freedom they deserve? It took 116 days to make the Constitution. That is 116 days of deleting drafts, editing, getting rid of everything, while finally coming up with a good document that can almost never be changed again. Once it is done, it is nearly impossible to edit it. So how? How did they do it? It was not easy, and they had many experiences to rely on including, the colonial experience, …show more content…
government through the ideas of a state constitution, Shays’ Rebellion, and a new national government. The failures of the Articles of Confederation illustrated the idea of having a state constitution because many of their constitutions had features that later showed up in the U.S. Constitution. State constitutions allowed for each state to have their own written document of laws. In the U.S. each state is given their own constitution. A state constitution is the governing document of a U.S. state giving them each more individual rights. The idea of individual rights and checks and balances were shown through state constitutions and in the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Another representation of the failures of the Articles of Confederation was Shays’ Rebellion which was a rebellion led by Daniel Shays who led a group of armed rebellions of farmers to protest economic problems they had against the British Government. After seeing the difficulties of dealing with Shays’ Rebellion, George Washington wrote a letter to the Continental States Secretary of War at the time, Henry Knox, to discuss his concerns with the Articles of Confederation stating, “If government... is unable to enforce its laws; … anarchy and confusion must prevail - and everything will be turned topsy-turvy in that State;” (Document G). The rebellion demonstrated individual rights along with limited government, which can also be shown in the Eighth Amendment. He could not afford to pay the steep taxes they had placed on his farm to pay the state’s massive debts. The idea to have a new national government came from the failures of the Articles of Confederation as well after representatives from the 13 states came together to create a new government that would have the ability to make decisions for the nation as a whole but would leave the states with most of the power to govern. They decided to create
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Show MoreThe 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.
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...
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. However, instead of revising the Articles, the constitution was formed. The final document the delegates produced provided great compromises and ratification would help save the country from upheaval.
The United States constitution set a foundation for the structure of our government today. The founding fathers went through trial and error, and many compromises in order give order and structure to both the government and to the people. The first initial constitution called the Article of Confederation made the central government weak and gave individual states too much power. In the Article of Confederation, there was only one branch and were not able to collect taxes. The government was only able to receive donations. However, each individual states printed their own currency, and too much money which caused an economic turmoil or inflation. In addition, each individual states had their own army in which caused the mentality of being a union of individual state, instead of union of a country. The national government on the other
...o consider the charms of liberty as imaginary and delusive.” John Jay in this document expresses his fear of the good hearted workers will lose confidence in prominent social figures thus causing civil unrest. He shows his concern on the fact that before they had a purpose or cause, ie independence, and not they are just going with the flow. Daniel Shays was an American soldier, revolutionary, and farmer, famous for being a leader of Shays ' Rebellion, an uprising against oppressive debt collection and tax policies in Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787. Instead of addressing the matter formally and politely they went straight to the source: the courts. Shays’ Rebellion shut down courts, stopped proceeding and stopped courts from collecting bankruptcies. This proved to the working class something needed to be done about the government or there would be constant revolts.
After the American Revolution, America had earned it’s freedom from Britain. In order to govern this new country the Articles of Confederation was created. This document was flawed by the colonists fear of putting too much power into a central government. Knowing the document needed to be fixed a constitutional convention was called. The document created at this convention has been our constitution ever since. But even the Constitution was meet with criticism. One major concern when writing the constitution was how to protect the citizens rights. The Constitution did this through the preamble, the legislative process, the limit of presidential terms, the judicial branch, and the bill of rights.
Various parts of the Constitution affected people back then as well as today’s modern day. Back in the late 1700’s, the United States were still trying to strengthen the newly formed government. The supporters of the Constitution, The Federalists, believed in having a strong government, whereas the Anti-Federalist did not support the constitution and believed that the government replicated a tyranny. Although there were supporters and non-supporters, American leaders used the Constitution as a foundation to create a stable and strong government.
After breaking the bonds of English tyranny, the newly independent United States was in need of a semi-organized government that came in the form of the Articles of Confederation. The articles called for strong and powerful state governments paired with a fragile and weak central federal government. Soon, due to the ensuing chaos, a need for a stronger central government was apparent; this loose attempt at organization lasted 8 short years and was thereafter replaced by the constitution we know today. Although the document failed, it is still taught and even used as inspiration today.
The United States government was founded on a written set of principles known as the Constitution. There have only been 17 amendments, or changes, since ratification. While the United States has evolved with time the role and function of the government, and the way the government guarantees civil rights and liberties, has also evolved. These changes have resulted from changing or broadening of the interpretation of the constitution. Although the core of the constitution has not changed, it has expanded and its interpretation has changed to keep up with societal demands.
The United States constitution sets forth the nations supreme laws it establishes the national government and defines the inalienable rights and liberties of every citizen the creation of the constitution was a process that involved promises and struggle among the founding fathers of the nation. The victory of the confederate states in the revolutionary war presented the independent states with the major challenge of establishing a peacetime government following the victory of the confederacy reaction, but also an understanding reaction thus introducing a document that provided the laws of the land. The states had several different reactions in creating the Constitution. The constitution directed its attention to many problems in this country; it offered quite a challenge because the document was suitable to several views
The Constitutional Convention took place on May 25 to September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.George Washington presided over the convention. The purpose of the Constitutional Convention was to decide the way that America were going to be governed. The Convention was officially called to revise the existing Articles of Confederation. The Constitutional Convention acknowledged the complications of the frail central government that prevailed under the Articles of Confederation.
If someone asked you what document most significantly affected America, what would your response be? In early 1787, Daniel Shay led a rebellion in Massachusetts in which the response time to put it down caused a meeting for the complete re-evaluation of the efficiency of the Articles of Confederation. The final result of that meeting was not an amendment of the Articles, but an entirely new draft called the Constitution of the United States. Since then, this document has not only been referred to as the “supreme law”, but as the cornerstone and foundation of the United States government. Time after time in American history, its guidelines and effectiveness have proven that the Constitution is not a document to be disregarded. Therefore, the Constitution of the United States should be looked at as a paradigm and fully relied on for all political decisions of this country.
The winds of frustration with the government swept through the states. The public was tired of the unreliable continental dollar, the inability to repay soldiers for war service, and the overall insufficiencies of the government. Angry, emblazoned citizens voiced their feelings through uprisings, like Bacon and Shay’s rebellions. Shockwaves of perturbed feelings resonated strongly in the minds of the leaders of the states and national government. It was time for the well bred, well fed, well wed, well read, and well read, to go back to the drawing board and supply the nation with a democratic, republic that worked. The Constitutional Convention that is so widely renowned throughout history, (and rightly so), was summoned to meet in Philadelphia, behind closed doors, to re-work the framework of our land.
Ratified in 1787(IIP), the American constitution became the supreme law of the land under article VI of the document: and when the Supreme Court has appropriate jurisdiction, they have the definite power to determine what is says. However, under special circumstances this can be refuted due to article III of the constitution states that congress has the power to make exceptions to the court 's appellate jurisdiction(Heritage). Ergo, while the Supreme Court has the power to say what the constitution is, Congress has the power to grant or remove jurisdiction from any appellate case that is not considered original jurisdiction.
When the Constitution of the United States was first created in 1787, its purpose was to unify our country. However, by 1850, the United States had become 'source of sectional discord and tension and ultimately contributed to the failure of the union it had created.' What happened during the 63 years after it was first established to 'contribute to the failure of the union it had created?' One must look at what the Constitution promoted to make the country unified and what it did to make it disunified. Compromises such as 3/5, the Missouri, and the tariff of 1850 all helped to unify and shape our country. However, compromises such as the Fugitive Slave Law, Popular Sovereignty, and the slave trade all led to disunify our country. The large populous states naturally wanted the number of representatives in the new Congress to be based on population. The Virginia Plan provided that there would be two houses of Congress and that in each one representation would be based on population. Like many other ideas that have made history, it was remarkably simple. Why not divide the Congress into two houses? In one house (the Senate) each state, regardless of population, would have the same number of representatives. In the other house (the House of Representatives) each member would represent the same number of people. 'Quite appropriately this came to be called the Great Compromise. Other major compromises came on slavery and on the control of commerce. The southern states, where the slaves were really treated as property, still wanted the slaves counted as people for the purposes of representation in the New House of Representatives. Some delegates argued that if one kind of property was counted f...