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The American political system explained
Importance of the constitution
Importance of the constitution
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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. This Constitution is a document written by "outcasts" of England. It was signed on September 17, 1787, by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in …show more content…
The first idea is Limited Government: The idea that there are things government is restricted, by law, from doing. An example of limited government in the Constitution is in article two, section four and it states “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers are not given a privilege just because they are important to the government. Limited government is important because it preserves individual liberties and protects certain rights and freedoms. It also protects private property and allows citizens to have more control over their own lives. So with limited government people are allowed to make their own decisions instead of being controlled completely by the government. Without limited governing the Bill of Rights wouldn’t even matter because the government would be in control and we wouldn’t have any
Gordon Wood calls the new Federal Constitution a "radical experiment", and believes the framers of that Constitution to be political radicals, why does he believe so?
The Articles of Confederation were approved by Congress on November 15, 1777 and ratified by the states on March 1, 1781. It was a modest attempt by a new country to unite itself and form a national government. The Articles set up a Confederation that gave most of the power to the states. Many problems arose and so a new Constitution was written in 1787 in Independence Hall. The new Constitution called for a much more unified government with a lot more power. Let us now examine the changes that were undertaken.
The preamble of the Constitution helped unify the United States of America into the country that we live in today.
The United States Constitution was written up by delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, when many of the country's leaders realized that the Articles of Confederation, the set of laws that the country had been following up until that point, were creating more problems than solutions. Once it was written, and approved and signed by delegates in 1787, it was sent to the 13 states for ratification. But many of the states saw flaws in the document, and refused to agree to it until changes were made. Both the writers of the Constitution and it's critics were invaluable to the shaping of the final document.
The Constitution is important because it was expressly designed to limit powers into three co-ordinate branches, the legislative, executive, and judiciary branch; none of which was to have supremacy over the others. This separation of powers with the checks and balances which each branch was given over the others was designed to prevent any branch, from infringing individual liberties safeguarded by the Constitution. I think the U.S. Constitution was a way for the U.S. to establish government which was a negotiation between the two former governments, a monarchy and total state power. I think by creating the checks and balances, people’s rights would be safer and they would feel more secure not having one branch of government with absolute power. What I found most interesting about the Constitution was how complex and detailed the framers made it, to effectively explain and limit the individual branches of power in government. In the words of Thomas Paine, "a government without a constitution is power without right". Meaning that for power to be granted, it is necessary to establish a constitution.
In creating the Constitution, the states had several different reactions, including a rather defensive reaction, but also an understanding reaction. As a document that provided the laws of the land and the rights of its people. It directs its attention to the many problems in this country; it offered quite a challenge because the document lent itself to several views and interpretations, depending upon the individual reading it. It is clear that the founders’ perspectives as white, wealthy or elite class, American citizens would play a role in the creation and implementation of The Constitution.
The Constitution of the United States is the spirit of America written on a piece of parchment. It is the linchpin of American life, the source of our liberty and freedom, written by some of the wisest and most courageous men ever to walk the earth; our “Founding Fathers”. Our Founding Fathers were intelligent, religious men. The Constitution is so great because it was founded upon principles and rights given by God through the Holy Bible.
The United States Constitution is founded on the principles of natural law. This law governs and transcends any political activity is a state theory based on the idea of social contract, the people are the source and basis of the authority of the rulers. The Constitution defines the principles of a federation that recognizes both levels of government based on the separation and balance of powers and the division of responsibilities between the federal state (foreign policy, defense, foreign trade and between States, etc.) and the Federated States (justice, health, protection of individual rights, education, etc.). The constitution is therefore much more than a piece of legislation because it relates to the greatest debates of American
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...
Could you imagine a world without a constitution? No rules. Laws. Consequences. The world would be in a much worse place than it is today. Over 200 years ago the founding fathers gathered in Pennsylvania, where the constitutional convention was held in order to amend the articles of confederation. As they intended to amend the plan, they realized that it would be impossible so they secretly began working on an entire new constitution. The United States Constitution. It established the forms of national government and defined the rights and liberties of the American people. The Unites States constitution has seven principles, those which are, Popular Sovereignty, Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, limited Government, Republicanism, Federalism, and Individual Rights. Each principle has its own meaning and purpose as to why it was included in the constitution.
Without these concepts America would not be a free country where the public has a say in the problems the nation faces. Federalism is the division of control that the central government and regional governments obtain. This means National Government and the 50 states hold equal power so that American citizens have a say in government decisions and it holds the nation government to not take away the power of the people. Republicanism is the idea of governing a society as a republic. The people would hold a popular sovereignty and have an equal control of the government as the government officials. Furthermore, the Constitution was created to allow both of these aspects into the American
A constitution allows the country to organizes, distributes, and regulates the authority of the federal government. Also, the constitution guide the country on the structure and the principles governing their relations with the citizens. Written constitutions allow the citizens to familiarize themselves with the laws that is affected. When the American Revolutionaries was over, the United States broke free from Great Britain and wanted to rebuild their nation as a solid foundation. The American citizens wanted their country to be a democratic society rather than a dictatorship. James Madison introduced to the First Congress the first 12 amendments, which ten of those became the Bill of Rights in 1789. The benefits of having a written constitution in the United States of America is that it clarifies roles to limited the authority on government officials
The United States Constitution was written during the Philadelphia Convention and signed in Philadelphia in the Assembly Room of the Pennsylvania State House on September 17th, 1787(National Constitution Center). Since the publication of the Constitution there have been no changes to the original articles within the Constitution, only very few changes have been made, which were the additions of new amendments. The seven articles that are stated in the Constitution are the basis of our government system. The powers stated in the seven articles establishes the state’s powers, the powers of the three branches of government, the ratification process, and the checks and balances. All of which are important characteristics that helped shape America
The Constitutional Convention (agreeing with, or relating to, The Constitution) was signed on May 25 to September 17, 1787.
US constitution has its origin from British laws. The federalist was the first book written on the constitution of US. Though the book was not accepted by most of the higher officials of that time. They came up with a book called as “Handbook” representing the constitution thinking. Hence laying the base for the U.S constitution (Tushnet, Graber & Levinson, 2015).