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Important constitution in our society
The importance of the US constitution
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what they decided to do was build a system where the powers of each branch would be used to check the powers of the other two branches. With that being said, each of the houses of the legislature could check each other. What that means is both houses of congress must vote to enact laws, the president can veto legislation, and the Supreme Court can rule laws unconstitutional. The constitution that was created had a strong central government and weaker state governments. Congress was given the power to levy taxes, regulate trade between the states, raise an army, control interstate commerce, and more. Also, a three branch government was made that let the judicial branch handle disputes in the federal court, then the president headed an executive …show more content…
branch, and a legislative branch. The anti-federalists believed in weak governments, central and state, just like it was in the Articles of Confederation. The creation of the constitution caused a lot of differences in what people thought. The debate was between the elite and the democratic states because they thought that if the government got all of the power, they would lose the rights that they had. There was a dispute that between the north and the south played a major role in the development of this document. The north was feeling like the representation in congress should be based on the total number of the whites. What happened though, was the Three Fifths Compromise settled this when it said that a slave will count as 3/5 of a free person of representatives and taxation. Article one section two of the constitution defines how the population will be counted, obviously there was a strong opposition to this by southern states like Virginia because their economy was based on slave labor and they had a bigger population because of it. Section 1 declares that all states will honor the laws of all other states; this ensures that if someone was named a slave in one state they couldn’t be freed in that of another state. What section two also serves as the comprise between the founders and citizens to section one by guarantying that citizens of one state should be treated equally and fairly like all the people of another. Also, it says that if a person who is accused of a crime in one state flees to another, they will be returned to the state they fled from. The slave states could lose more slave labor by other owners claiming slaves that weren’t theirs. Some people feared that the constitution wouldn’t work because it was pretty much the opposite from the Articles of Confederation. But, the majority of the states had to accept and abide by the constitution. The anti-federalist viewed the federal judicial system as a threat to individual liberties and state’s independence. A big fear was that they would be ruled by kings. There was not much in the constitution that could guarantee civil trial by jury and judges could take over things that had been the jurisdiction of the lower courts. What they worried about was that the jurisdiction of the federal courts was too broad and not defined very well. To make this issue better, the framers detailed what kind of powers the judicial system would have. The anti-federalists also had another fear that the cost of the constitution was too much. They feared that it would cost too much to change the laws in their states and that it would really impact their way of life. Article 1, section 8: “To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.” This would give the states the power to collect taxes. Other delegates feared democracy in itself. What they believed is that people who were not fit for it would control the government. Because of this, more checks and balances were put into place. Just like when the Electoral College was put into place to make sure that the people who weren’t as educated did not elect someone who was not suitable for president. Guidelines were also put in place for the selection of the president, being that the presidential candidates must be at least thirty-five years old, a natural born citizen, and has a residency of at least fourteen years. A major concern for them was also that of the connection between the national government and its people. To counteract this every state would have their government and representatives. What the government would have to along with that is a bill of rights that protected the natural rights of the citizens. So, the constitution began by using the Articles of Confederation to make a stronger centralized government.
Every state had their own interpretation of the document and the different types of lifestyles of the framers and citizens delayed ratification time after time. But, as to what really prompted the creation of the United States Constitution could be because there were so many problems with the Articles of Confederation which served as the constitution before this one. Also is that we needed another form of government and the constitution gave us two branches that was the judicial branch and executive branch. Even though wide differences of opinion existed among all of the delegates concerning the proper balance between liberty and order. What Alexander Hamilton values was order more than liberty and was all for the creation of a very strong executive. The federal system was meant to correct the chaos of the country during the Articles of Confederation. At the same time though, it was still mindful of the threat of a central government. The relationship between national and state governments was defined in not just one but other parts of the constitution as well. Article 1 section 10 says that the states should not form alliances or enter with other countries or to coin their own money. In 1787 the founders stepped up and they threw out the Articles of Confederation and created the Constitution. The Constitution they created has now been around for more than two hundred years. They took humungous risks, but those risks resulted in the longest lasting written constitution in world
history. So in conclusion, the constitution was prompted to be created because of wanting to create a constitution which could be changed and serve as a living document for a better document. To go along with that they wanted to show to the world that the United States was a free nation. Also that the United States had a strong government and would become a great political power. Then, the last real reason in which I think what prompted the creation of the United States Constitution is that the colonists felt that a new constitution was needed after the nation was completely independent. All in all, there is no one reason that is completely right to as what prompted the creation of the U.S constitution. With that being said though, there are many reasons, opinions, and different ways of looking at it which could be at debate for many of hours.
With these different balances to control the powers throughout the new government, the problem of tyranny wasn’t as such of a problem as it was when the Articles of Confederation were in place. The states were now represented justly, the national and state levels of government fairly empowered, and the three branches within the national government were balanced. Even the three branches within balanced each other out, so one wouldn’t become too under or over powered. The new government created by the Constitution was a good answer to protect against
To start out with, the constitution divided power so no one branch or person had complete power over the nation or others. In document B it states, ¨Liberty requires that the three departments of power are distinct and separate.¨ This means that in order to prevent and guard against tyranny we must have different and separate branches holding power if there is only one or they are too similar that could create a small group with close to complete power creating a tyranny. Power must be separated into three branches so that they may check and limit each other so that no laws are passed that will harm the nation and are unconstitutional. The three branches are very separate but can
In his speech, The Making of the U.S. Constitution, Gordon Wood discusses the history of how the U.S. Constitution came to be. He explains what factors contributed to its making and what the general consensus was about it during the time. He explains that the reason the constitution was created was because the government needed more power. Why did the government need more power? In short, to unify the 13 states and make life, in general, easier for its citizens, officers, artisans, and even to help with commercial interests (Wood, 2012).
The thirteen states formed a Confederation referred to as the “league of friendship” in order to find a solution for common problems such as foreign affairs.The Articles of Confederation was the nation’s first Constitution. The articles created a loose Confederation of independent states that gave limited powers to the central government. Each state would have one vote in the house of Congress, no matter the size of the population. Members of the one-house Congress, such as Pennsylvania, agreed that the new government should be a unicameral legislature, without an executive branch or a separate judiciary. Under the articles, there wasn’t a strong independent executive. There wasn’t any judicial branch but Congress had the authority to arbitrate disputes between states. Congress was responsible for conducting foreign affairs, declaring war or peace, maintaining an army and navy and a variety of other lesser functions. But the articles denied Congress the power to collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce and enforce laws. Because of this, the central government had to request donations from the states to finance its operations and raise armed forces.
When the new Constitution was drafted, the ratification, the official approval by the people of the United States, sparked a national debate. People were shocked by the radical changes it proposed; they expected the convention to merely amend the Articles of Confederation. They were afraid of regressing back into a state under tyranny, a form of rule where a single or small group reigns with vast or absolute power. Americans had just fought for their freedom from the tyrannical rule of the king of England. All their efforts and revolutionary ideas would have gone to waste.
Did the Founding Fathers actually create the constitution to help us? Alternatively, did they create the constitution just to protect their beliefs and so on? The Founding Fathers was an elite group that sought to create a constitution for their own interests. Several members apart from this strategic group agreed to create the constitution only for their selfish ambitions. The Founding Fathers created the constitution rather than amend the Articles of Confederation. Just because some decline the ideas of others apart from the group, which created a break in the group. As a result, members of the elite group saw this as a way of starting over to fresh new start. Therefore, the person who always seemed to make everything a problem in this elite
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. 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.
Some historical circumstances surrounding the issue of the ratification of the Constitution was weakness of the new government under the Articles of Confederation which led to the Constitutional Convention. Members of Congress believed that the Articles of Confederation, the first government of the United States, needed to be altered while others did not want change. This desired Constitution created a huge dispute and argument between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The people who supported the new Constitution, the Federalists, began to publish articles supporting ratification. As stated in document 2 John Jay (Federalist) had many arguments to support ratification of the Constitution. One argument John Jay used was, with the ratification of the Constitution, he says, “…Our people free, contented and united…” The Antifederalists had numerous arguments they used to oppose the ratification of the Constitution. The Antifederalists believed that a free republic wouldn’t be able to long exist over a country of the great extent of these states.
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...
"This inquiry will naturally divide itself into three branches- the objects to be provided for by a federal government, the quantity of power necessary to the accomplishment of those objects, the persons whom that power ought to operate," writes Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist #23 in reference to the separation of powers. The basic concept here is the idea of the federal government being divided into three separate branches that would balance excessive democracy through a system of checks on each other. The three branches, respectively known as the legislature (Article I), the executive (Article II), and the judiciary (Article III), were designed to entice the opponents of the Co...
The founding fathers of the American Constitution divided the government up into the following three branches to prevent the majority from ruling with an iron fist; legislative, judicial, and executive. The three braches were created by the Constitution: Article 1, Legislative branch made up of the House and the Senate, collectively known as Congress; Article 2, Executive branch, or President; Article 3, Judicial branch, made up of the federal courts and the Supreme Court. This was done in efforts to distribute power amongst the three so that one would not have more power than the other. Each branch has the ability to check the power of the other branches. This power check of the other branches is referred to as the checks and balances, better known as the Separation of Powers. This was to prevent tyriny.
Before the adoption of the United States Constitution, the U.S. was governed by the Articles of Confederation. These articles stated that almost every function of the government was chartered by the legislature known as Congress. There was no distinction between legislative or executive powers. This was a major shortcoming in how the United States was governed as many leaders became dissatisfied with how the government was structured by the Articles of Confederation. 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 Constitution that was created had a strong central government and weaker state governments. Under the Constitution, Congress was given the power to levy taxes, regulate trade between the states, raise an army, control interstate commerce, and more. A three-branch government was established in which a judicial branch handled disputes in a federal court system, a President headed an executive branch, and a legislative branch. Conversely, the anti-federalists believed in weak central and strong state governments, as the way it was in The Articles of Confederation and believed in strict adherence to the writings of the constitution.
Even before the Constitution was ratified, strong argument were made by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison in the Federalist Papers urging the inclusion of a federal form of government to replace the failed confederation. In Federalist Paper No. 9 Hamilton states, “This form of government is a convention by which several smaller states agree to become members of a large one, which they intend to form. It is s kind of assemblage of societies that constitutes a new one, capable of increasing, by means of new associations, until they arrive to such a degree of power as to be able to provide for the security of a united body” (Usinfo.state.gov). The people of the United States needed a central government that was capable of holding certain powers over the states.
The United States has a federal constitution which constructs the fundamental principles of the nation. One of these principles is the 10th amendment, giving all powers not delegated to the federal government to the states. Like the federal constitution the role of state constitutions is to create a legal and political structure which to base the states government around. State constitutions also include a bill of rights or something similar to it, these outline rights guaranteed to citizens, along with restrictions on certain activates as long as they don’t violate the federal constitution. State constitutions tend to be much longer than the United States constitution. That is because all powers not given to the federal government are reserved for the state leaving a lot of power to be delegated. Most state constitutions include policy and how to handle specific issues related to the citizens of the state. States also have the issue of smaller governments that fall under their jurisdiction. State constitutions have to include provisions on creating and eliminating these local governments and what their functions, duties and responsibilities are.