Thereupon Marbury, one of the midnight appointees, went to the Supreme Court requesting a judicial order, writ of mandamus, to compel Madison to deliver his commission. Article III. Section 2, of the Constitution gives the Supreme Court original jurisdiction only in cases affecting the Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a state shall be a Party. Marbury’s case did not fall in that category. Marbury went to the Supreme Court because in his view an act of Congress, Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, authorized him to do so.
US Government - Checks And Balances "There is no more important function for all of government to define the rights of its citizens." (Norman Dorsen) In this essay I will give a short history of the government in United States of America (U.S.). Then I will describe each of the three branches of government in the U.S. and the relationship between them. In principle, the U.S. is a democratic republic, they govern themselves by choosing their leaders by secret ballot, and these leaders in turn make the rules. Americans started "governing themselves" as a nation on July 4th, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia by representatives of the thirteen British colonies in North America.
The U.S. constitution is the foundation of our national government. On September 17, 1787 it was signed by the delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. ("The U.S. Constitution") By signing this, the Constitution replaced the first national governing document called the Articles of Confederation. Before it could be passed, it had to be ratified by nine of the thirteen states. Soon after the constitution was finally ratified, in 1791 the government decided to add the Bill of Rights to the Constitution.
A comparison and contrast of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of 1787. The Articles of Confederation voted on and adopted by the Continental Congress, November 15, 1777 (Carey, 2013). It was the first constitution of America, though complete ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not take place until March 1, 1781. After some of the states realized that the Articles of Confederation did not adequately resolve the national and international issues that the United States was facing. As a result, on March 4, 1789, the Articles of Confederation were then replaced by the new Constitution of 1787.
During the Revolutionary War, on June 12, 1776, the Second Continental Congress representing all of the thirteen colonies under British control assembled a draft of the Articles of Confederation; the first of two doctrines that resulted in the eventual unification of the divided colonies, establishment of a self government, and the ratification of today’s U.S. Constitution. The first U.S. constitutional doctrine ever written were the Articles of Confederation, composed during a time when the thirteen British colonies were still in a Revolutionary war with Great Britain. On November 15, 1777 after a year of debate, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation. It didn’t become effective though, until it was ratified by all thirteen states in 1781; a task that proved to be difficult after some states refused to cooperate. Under the Articles of Confederation the British colonies were to unite, become individual self-sovereign states, and distinguish themselves as the United States of America.
On June 12, 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a committee, consisting of one delegate from each of the thirteen states, for the purpose of setting up a cohesive Federal Government. Headed by John Dickinson, the committee presented a draft of the Articles of Confederation to Congress a month later. Though the Articles were not officially ratified until five years later, Congress began operating under them in 1777. The delay that occurred during the years from drafting to ratification was partially caused by the opening of a multi-faceted debate that encompassed the issues of representation for citizens, the balance of power within the country, and state sovereignty. Densely-populated states wanted a system of representation based on population, while the more sparsely-inhabited states disagreed.
They felt that the government was too weak to effectively deal with the upcoming challenges. In 1787, an agreement was made by delegates at the Constitutional Convention that a national judiciary needed to be established. This agreement became known as The Constitution of the United States, which explicitly granted certain powers to each of the three branches of the federal government, while reserving other powers exclusively to the states or to the people as individuals. It is, in its own words, “the supreme Law of the Land” (Shmoop Editorial Team). The first proposals to this new plan were the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan.
The Constitution 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.
With the addition of the Bill of Rights, the Constitution was ratified by nine of the thirteen states to become the new federal government. With the new proposed Constitution, the country would become a republic, governed by representation of the people’s will. The Framers established a limited government in that it only had powers granted to it by the Constitution. The central government’s powers were divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial, with each branch given the ability to check the power of the other two branches. This checks and balances system would prevent one branch from gaining too much power and control.
The Constitution for the United States took many years of controversy to establish. The final Constitution for the United States set up a government based on the system of checks and balance. The Constitution consists of three branches, the Legislative branch, the Executive branch, and the Judicial branch. Powers given to each branch are equaled out by each other, helping to keep any one branch from taking over. The first Constitution for the United States was called the Articles of Confederation.