Constitutional Convention Dbq

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.

The Articles of Confederation main objective was to establish the branches of federal government and describe what powers they will have. In Article 1, it gives the Congress its powers and limits as well as create two sections in the congress which are

the Senate and the House of Representatives. Article 2 forms the Executive branch. The Executive Branch consist of the President and Executive Officers whom enforces the law. Article 3 of the Constitution originates the Judicial Branch which is the court system that interprets the law. The Judicial Branch includes the Supreme Court and lower courts . Article 4 discuss the responsibilities and duties the state have along with the responsibilities the federal government have with each state. Article 5 indicates that the only way the constitution can be changed is by adding an amendment. Article 6 claims that any debts or engagements that the country had before adopting the Constitution are still rational along with stating that the Constitution is the highest law and that all officers and judges have to uphold the Constitution. Article 7 provides an explanation on the amount of states needed to ratify the Constitution.

The difference between the Constitution and Articles of Confederation is that the Articles of Confederation was the first effective effort of systemizing and mobilizing the original thirteen colonies. The Articles of Confederation also granted the original colonial powers some additional leverage in handling diplomatic affairs, including negotiating land deals with foreign governments.On the other hand, the Constitution decreed America’s national government and fundamental laws along with guaranteed basic rights for citizens. In short, the major difference is how they codified the law meaning the Articles of Confederation using a unicameral legislature opposing the bicameral system later created by the Constitution.

Some strengths within the Constitution is the Bill of Rights, Checks and Balances, Principles, and Amendment Process. The Bill of Rights grants US Citizens with freedom and legal rights. Checks and Balances guarantees that the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative Branch have their power checked against each other to create a balanced system so no one has too much power. The Principles provides US Citizens to live a life with liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Amendment Process allows changes however there are “protections to protect it from political whims and mass public hysteria.”

Some weaknesses within the constitution is Equality, Archaic Provisions, The Imperial Presidency, and Vagueness. There is a lot of inequality within the Constitution such as focusing on men and Caucasians rather than women and other ethnicities, being male dominated, their injustice against minorities such as African Americans, and the recent act of enslavement that is occurring in Libya.

Changes that need to be added to the Constitution is to treat everyone equally such as no ethnicity is dominant than another ethnicity, no gender dominance, also to create justice for minorities such as African Americans, and to stop all forms of racism and all acts of enslavement. The Constitution needs to add more amendments and laws pertaining to injustice, enslavement, and inequality.

The Constitution should add an amendment regarding to the ethnicity and gender dominance because in today’s society Caucasian Men are more dominant than any other ethnicity and gender. Which leads the Caucasian Men to get better Jobs and Job Positions, better education, more freedom to do whatever they want, the ability to commit a crime and do not do the time, and the list continues. Gender dominance in the past and in today’s society still show favoritism to Men. Men can get better jobs such a being a President, Vice President, Lawyer, Judges, Senators, House of Representatives, and much more. Although women have the ability to withhold these positions the people and the government make it harder women to get these jobs and positions. The government fears for women to have any type of authority or power, the government and the people create stereotypes that discriminates females (such as stupid, selfish, and etc…) , women are significantly underrepresented, and women are held at higher standard but have less support.

Another change that needs to be added to the Constitution should be to stop the injustice within the system.

The injustice within the system involve social injustice, racism, inequality, crimes that are committed that harms African Americans, and much more. For instance, in cases such as Freddie Gray, Trayvon Martin, and Eric Garner there was no justice given when there was clear evidence of what happened. However, the government fails to see the wrongdoing because they do not care for minorities, they fail to see the fault in the suspects because of their ethnicity, gender, and job. For some reason the government and the system justifies the wrongdoing and fails to punish those who does wrong to the minorities. If the roles were reversed and an African American Man were to commit these crimes then they would be sentenced to life in prison without parole which would provide justice for the families. This also highlights that African American men are the target and that the government does not want them to be successful, educated, valuable, or respected. The government rather destroy their lives. Many believe that the system is built to corrupt and destroy the lives of African Americans because they are scared for African Americans to have any type of authority or power. The government wants the Caucasian men to keep the authority and

power.

Even though the 13th Amendment abolish slavery there has been recent cases of enslavement such as the most recent one in Libya.

Young men from sub-Saharan are being auctioned off as farm workers in a slave market. Slavery goes against human rights and is a crime against humanity. Once again this violates the Constitution and the Amendment which the government has the ability to control. This is another example of how African Americans are still not equal years later. The Constitution fails to make a way for African Americans to be equal because it is too busy trying to protect Caucasians and their authority/power. Which also indicates the injustice, lack of respect, discrimination, racism, and inequality towards African

Americans.

What should the added amendments be? The first new amendment would be to protect the rights of African American men and women. Another amendment would be the right for African Americans to have justice which will create justice for the wrongdoings towards African American (pertaining to crime such as Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, ect..). The next amendment that should be added is to stop the gender dominance and ethnicity dominance which will allow women and other ethnicities to have the same opportunities as Caucasian Men without discrimination. Also the Constitution needs to make changes to Amendment 13th and clarify a punishment for failure to obey and respect the decision on NO form of slavery under any circumstances.

In short, yes I would make changes to the Constitution. The changes I would make is to add more amendments based off the problems in today’s society. The added amendments that would be added to the constitution would be to protect the rights of African American men and women, stop gender and ethnicity dominance, to stop inequality, and to revise Amendment 13th and add a punishment for failure to obey and respect the decision on NO form of slavery under any circumstances.