During the time period from 1765 to 1800, the government of the Colonies and eventually that of the United States, dealt with countless issues to create the system which governs the citizens of the United States today. Starting in 1765 with the passage of the Stamp Act by the British monarchy up to 1798 with the election of Thomas Jefferson as President in 1800 by the Colonial government, the aforesaid government, fought to rid itself of constant threats to the liberties and freedoms of the American people and the greater good as well as to preserve its intended purpose for as long as it is able. Political leaders such as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, and Alexander Hamilton all had concerns about competing interests that would weaken the government and were adamant in their efforts to prevent it from being crushed under the weight of its own problems.
The United States system of government has always had one purpose and one purpose only: to serve the people and strive for the best interest of the public good, rather than that of those in the White House (Document A). Without this crucial principle to stand upon, the Republic of the United States would never have been formed. The American people, who “governed” the Republic, would never have had a say in their government. The government of the United States was formed upon the principle to serve the salus populi and to never let the any one branch, the Executive, Legislative, or the Judicial get more power than any other. A system of checks and balances was created for this reason, and even though it limited the powers of the government, it helped to sustain a level of equality between citizens and government in the country and prevent America from spiraling back ...
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...ringing about the realization that there were no major differences of opinion on the purpose and limits of the government among these men and others. They all agreed that every proposition and law passed to keep a balance of power would need to benefit the public good.
After many obstacles, the formation government of the Union and the United States was coming full circle. With so many working together to promote good will for all, there could only be one outcome: a remarkable government. After defeating the British and breaking the once seemingly permanent bond with them, the new country and its people were finally “free”. Even though no government was perfect and there were still rules and limits to power and a great number of future bumps in the road, with people such as Jefferson as guides, the government of the Union, for a period at least, was one of the best.
The Continental Congress, renamed the Confederation Congress after the Articles of Confederation were ratified, was not an ineffectual body. It led the United States through a war against Great Britain, gained independence, negotiated the Treaty of Paris, and set up an unprecedented system of government. Ultimately, however, this government did not solve many of the new nation’s problems. The ruling document of this Congress, the Articles of Confederation, created a government without the power necessary to perform the tasks it was charged with and claimed the states were sovereign nations while depriving them of essential powers.
(140) It was during this time period that “the government in London concerned itself with the colonies in unprecedented ways…to help raise funds to pay for the war and finance the empire.” (Forner 141) The British government was heavily in debt after fighting the Seven Years War on several fronts. The need to raise funds was paramount and the colonies were a ready source. The British government started imposing taxes on the colonies as a means of income. This was a change in the relationship between America and the mother country. Many Americans opposed these taxes. (Forner 142- 143) According to Forner, “Opposition to the Stamp Act was the first great Drama of the revolutionary era and the first major split between the colonist and Great Britain over the meaning of freedom.” (142) This act was eventually repealed by Parliament in 1766 after great opposition by Americans. (Forner 144) The Stamp Act was just the beginning of several events and taxes on the colonist leading up the Boston Tea
Without colonial consent, the British started their bid to raise revenue with the Sugar Act of 1764 which increased duties colonists would have to pay on imports into America. When the Sugar Act failed, the Stamp Act of 1765 which required a stamp to be purchased with colonial products was enacted. This act angered the colonists to no limit and with these acts, the British Empire poked at the up to now very civil colonists. The passing of the oppressive Intolerable Acts that took away the colonists’ right to elected officials and Townshend Acts which taxed imports and allowed British troops without warrants to search colonist ships received a more aggravated response from the colonist that would end in a Revolution.
In 1765 the news was bad. England had enacted the Stamp Act, imposing taxes on Americans in 55 different ways. Americans, who had always managed their money in their own assemblies, considered, the act was unconstitutional.
According to John Acton in 1887, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”, meaning that if unlimited power is given to any one person, they can be corrupted by it. The framers of the Constitution recognized this and built in a plan to prevent this from happening and a result of this, the Constitution spreads power equally between the three branches of government: The Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches. These built-in checks and balances are very important to our government, because they keep one branch from gaining too much power over another. This balance of power prevents any branch of our government from being “corrupted absolutely”. This thesis will argue that this part of the Constitution is as important today as it was when first
Before his presidency, Adams took part in many of the historical events that marked this country. He became a prominent figure in his activities against the Stamp Act, which he wrote and published a popular article “Essay on the Canon and Feudal Law” (Ushistory.org). Word had arrived in Boston that Parliament was planning to pass a stamp tax, which was the first direct tax on the colonies, unless the colonies taxed themselves to help raise the needed revenue to pay off the war debt. The colonies, however, did not tax themselves. On March 8, 1765, the Stamp Act passed both houses of Parliament. It provided for a tax to be specified by a stamp on legal documents, newspapers, licenses, and other printed matter. Once the Stamps arrived to Boston, they were detained and burned. The people rushed in the streets saying, “No taxation without representation!” (Cowley 21-22).
The farmers of our Constitution recognized the need for separate powers as well as checks and balances among the executive, legislative and judicial branches. This in turn helps to "provide for the common defense". Separation of powers prevents one branch from becoming excessively dominant over the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.: In order to accede to the preamble and adhere in its goals, the Constitution ensures this is by clearly stating the authority of the Congress in Article I Section 8 and the authority of the President in Article II Section 2. These fixed powers in the Constitution clearly state that one cannot act without permission or authorization of another. It is designed to that one cannot take action without consent of the other branch. This is prevalent in Article I Section 7 that states the process of how a law is passed. The fact that there are clear steps to the initiation of a law states the importance of separation of powers so that a single dominant branch does not arise.
In the late 1780s there where a variety of men that would need to be represented by the government. These men included everyone from aristocratic land owners, to merchants, to hard laborers. The Anti-Federalists knew that all of these men needed to be represented in the government so that there were no laws made with the intention to harm a certain group’s way of life. In Federal Farmer Letter VII it is said that “Each order must have a share in the business of legislation actually and efficiently” (Hammond 559). By each class of men having an active role in their government, a process is created to able to prevent one class from overruling others for their own benefit. This is important to the Anti-Federalists because they think that each type of man should be considered equal. This hunger for equality leads us to see that the Anti-Federalists believe that all men should be able to be part of government wit...
The Stamp Act of 1765 was the beginning of the revolution for the colonies of North America. When the Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament, it required American colonists to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. This included ship’s papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, and even playing cards. However, in the past, taxes and duties on colonial trade had always been viewed as measure to regulate commerce but not to raise money. Therefore, England viewed this taxes as a direct attempt to raise money in the colonies without the approval of the colonial legislatures. Due to this effects, the Stamp Act provoked such a violent reaction in the colonies, because it was seen as a threat to the colonist’s liberties and rights, as well as affecting multiple members of the society.
After a hard won bitter revolution, America was given the opportunity to create its own government. The Founding Fathers did not want to create another monarchy, but instead a republic, or representative government, was formed. The Constitution was organized to establish laws for government and people. The Founding Father’s political theory was antithesis to American democratic faith. The philosophy of the founding fathers is analyzed including the idea of stability in government, republicanism, and the nature of man.
The men who wrote the American constitution agreed with Thomas Hobbes that humans were naturally evil. Therefore, they agreed that in order to prevent a dictatorship or monarchy, the citizens should have influence in the government. The writers wanted a more ideal constitution, but they realized evil human motives would never change. One of the main goals of the constitution was to create a balanced government that would allow the citizens to prevent each other from being corrupt. The writers wanted to give citizens liberty, but they did not want to give people so much liberty that they would have an uncontrollable amount of power. The writers agreed that a citizen’s influence in government would be proportionate to that individual’s property.
The population of Boston in 1765 was over twenty thousand people, and it was the second largest city in the country. The city was split up into two political factions, the loyalists, also known as the “Tories” were loyal to the British nation and respected and followed their policies. The other group was the Patriots, they too pledged alliance with the British, but they also believed strongly in their colonial rights, and more often then not went against parliamentary decisions. America still had not declared independence from England in 1765, and was expected to follow the rules of the parliament and the King. The government like all other states was structured differently, but the people elected their representatives. Unlike the British who let the people vote, but they are “indirectly represented” by Parliament. The stamp act was one of the first things Britain did to upset the colonies. John Adams who was a prospering young lawyer at the time, called the Stamp Act “That enormous engine, fabricated by the British Parliament, for battering down all the rights and liberties of America.” The stamp act put a tax on legal documents, and other paper items. The Americans called this “Taxation without representation”, because they didn’t have any elected officials in Parliament, who were representing them. The Americans petitioned the administration, but the King and Parliament simply ignored our pleas. This act caused the formation of the loyal nine.
During the construction of the new Constitution, many of the most prominent and experienced political members of America’s society provided a framework on the future of the new country; they had in mind, because of the failures of the Articles of Confederation, a new kind of government where the national or Federal government would be the sovereign power, not the states. Because of the increased power of the national government over the individual states, many Americans feared it would hinder their ability to exercise their individual freedoms. Assuring the people, both Alexander Hamilton and James Madison insisted the new government under the constitution was “an expression of freedom, not its enemy,” declaring “the Constitution made political tyranny almost impossible.” (Foner, pg. 227) The checks and balances introduced under the new and more powerful national government would not allow the tyranny caused by a king under the Parliament system in Britain. They insisted that in order achieve a greater amount of freedom, a national government was needed to avoid the civil unrest during the system under the Articles of Confederation. Claiming that the new national government would be a “perfect balance between liberty and power,” it would avoid the disruption that liberty [civil unrest] and power [king’s abuse of power in England] caused. The “lackluster leadership” of the critics of the new constitution claimed that a large land area such as America could not work for such a diverse nation.
The struggle to create the perfect government has been prevalent throughout human history, and has resulted in significant turbulence and bloodshed for mankind. Despite thousands of years of progress, the challenge to find the ideal government was still prevalent during the Enlightenment period. During the 18th century, numerous philosophers developed various new ideas about how the ideal government should perform its duties. Philosophers like John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau, for example, conceived the idea of a government in which the majority rules through a system of democracy. A bloody conflict finally brought some of these ideas into practice. From the American Revolution, the United States was born, and its foundations were based upon many of the principles previously envisioned by these philosophers. The founding fathers envisioned a government that would free them from the oppression of a tyrannical king, perpetually protect the civil liberties of its citizens, and ensure the security and happiness of its people. Today, however, this government has struggled to reach and maintain the ambitious goals set forth by the founding fathers. The democratic system of government conceived by thinkers like John Locke and established by founding fathers like Thomas Jefferson has ultimately failed because it is overly ambitious, creates severe partisanship among the people, and has been unable to provide its citizens with basic necessities.
...ponsibilities that each must uphold, for an organized but powerful government. Although, each branch objectives are different, each branch takes part in determining whether a bill becomes a law. This shows that a government broken down into branches justifiably serves our country balancing the powers of our government.