Patrick Henry: Fight against the Constitution Although Henry refused to serve on the Constitutional Convention, Madison needed Henry's persuasive ways. Henry had a way to make people agree with his ideas. Even though Henry didn't serve on the Constitutional Convention, he was still present to put in his word. As soon as the meetings opened, Henry began to argue against the Constitution. This argument went on for three weeks. Henry was aware that the new government had to be strong, but felt that the Constitution made the central government too powerful. He thought that the power should lay in the hands of the states. "What right had they [the group that wrote the Constitution] to say 'We the people,' instead We, the States?" he demanded. Not only was Henry in fear of the central government gaining power, but was also worried about protecting the South. He felt that the fast growing North would have more impute into how the government was to be ran. Henry feared that the South would be out voted in Congress. Patrick Henry was quoted before by saying, "I am not a Virginian. I am American." Henry meant that all the states, North or South, should get equal say in what happens in the government. After all it is the same country and will effect both sides. Also, Henry refused to support the Constitution because it was lacking a bill of rights. He called it, "the most fatal plan that could possibly be conceived to enslave a free people." In other words he thought that without a bill of rights, we (the people) would be enslaving ourselves. Henry thought that the Constitution didn't protect the basic freedom of the people. Henry believed that people wouldn't be safe from a powerful government without the bill of rights. The Constitution took away the power from the states, ignored the South, and didn't protect the people it represented. To Patrick Henry, these were big mistakes and couldn't put his support behind them. When the power is taken away from the states, it makes the federal government very strong. He knew that there had to be a strong central government, but felt that the Constitution went too far. Henry wanted to protect the South. After all, at that time the South was more than half the country. If the country at that time was compared to a human body, the South was the heart of the country.
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).
All of the framer of the U.S. Constitution had one thing in common, they all felt that the government didn't have enough power. At the same time they didn't want to give the government to much power. They all knew if there was power to be held someone was going to hold it and over use it The framers didn't want to create a system like Britain or England.
The Anti-Federalist Party, led by Patrick Henry, objected to the constitution. They objected to it for a few basic reasons. Mostly the Anti-Federalists thought that the Constitution created too strong a central government. They felt that the Constitution did not create a Federal government, but a single national government. They were afraid that the power of the states would be lost and that the people would lose their individual rights because a few individuals would take over. They proposed a “Bill of Rights”, to make sure the citizens were protected by the law. They believed that no Bill of Rights would be equal to no check on our government for the people.
This is because it is wrote in the native tongue. It also talks about something big that was happening in the United States. The new constitution was a big apart of our history. Having someone like Henry oppose it was a huge apart of history, and gave us a look at the anti-federalists view of the new constitution and their reasoning behind it. This document is condemning a policy. This is because it is giving the people a reason to not approve and support the constitution. An example of this is Henry saying that the constitution is giving the federal government too much power. Since this was supposed to be a new policy, he was disapproving it, and giving the people reasons to disapprove it as
Anti –federalist believed that with out the bill of rights, the national government would became a to strong it would threating the americans peoples rights and libertys. Due to prior american revolution, ant-federalist did not forget what they fought for an believed that with a stronger national government, the president could become kind if he wanted. During this time people still feared a strong central government, due to british occupany of the states. Concidently the of people who wanted the bill of rights and were anti-federalist were famers and the working class, as to the fedarlist were extremely rich and powerful people Thomas Jeferson who was a active anti-federalist once wrote to james Madison A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular; and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inferences. (Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787. ME 6:388, Papers
The U.S Constitution is recognized as a document that secures basic rights for citizens and structures the American national government. Before the Constitution, the states had all the power and the national government was very weak. Therefore, the creation of the Constitution was necessary to grant the national government power. Even though, the Constitution was signed in 1787, there was still debate in that the Constitution gave the national government too much power. Some of the individuals whom opposed the Constitution where Patrick Henry and George Mason. Patrick Henry became the leader of the opponents, because of his strong legal and rhetoric skills. On the other hand, George Mason was a patriot during the American Revolution, whom believed in the inalienable rights of the people. These two man were important figures that argued the dangers ratifying the Constitution would bring and that the Constitution would give too much power to the national government.
Supporters of a constitution, lacking a bill of rights, were called Federalists. The Federalists included members such as Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, whom wrote a series of essays that were designed to inform and persuade the public of their views pertaining to the issues of the day. Among these views was whether a bill of rights should be added to the constitution. The Federalists, via Alexander Hamilton, dealt with this issue in a foremost way in their 84th essay. In the 84th essay Hamilton begins by explaining that a bill of rights, which are “in their origin, stipulations between kings and their subjects, abridgements of prerogative in favor of privilege, reservations of rights not surrendered to the prince.”
Patrick Henry, also known as "the Orator of Liberty" , wrote speeches supporting the American democracy. During the British rule in the American colonies, Henry was one of the first opponents. Great Britain and the American colonies were divided in 1775. Henry felt the only choice was hoping to work out the disagreements. In his speech "Speech in the Virginia Convention" , Henry was hoping to persuade his fellow Virginian Patriots to go to war. Although some did not want to go to war, Henry used ethos, pathos, and logos throughout his speech to convince the Virginia Convention to go to war with Britain.
A primary document, it was a message for the Federalists and to the American public in general. Although they did not fully support the Articles of Confederation, they did not want a new Constitution to be written. These people were concerned about how little freedom they would have if the federal government got more power. Because of this, they are against the beliefs of the Federalists. The Anti-Federalists are also concerned about how the national government could abuse its power if given a higher authoritative role in the revised Constitution. In order to show the concern, the authors write, “the legislative power is competent to lay taxes, duties, imposts, and excises; there is no limitation to this power..." The Anti-Federalists were afraid that allowing the national government to have so much power would be like living under Britain 's authority all over again. This would render the American Revolution pointless, they believed. They supported the state governments in having authority to tax, govern, and to have independence from the central government in doing so. They believe that if the central government starts taxing the people, the state governments would not be able to raise money
As women age, their bodies change in various ways such as the development of wrinkles and white hair. However, Egyptian art did not necessarily combine these features in a consistent, fixed order when they show women as they grew older. This may reflect the reality of the ageing process: people do not always age in the sa...
They felt that a strong powerful central government was necessary especially after the failed Articles of Confederation. “The framers of constitution, the federalists, argued that the common people were self-interested and passionate creatures who should not be entrusted with all reins of government.” (By the People, page 10) Federalists did not agree with antifederalists and argued that they were just thinking of themselves and not the entire nation. They also believed that antifederalists were being fearful for no reason as national government had powers granted by the constitution which prohibited them from any sort of corruption. It was a limited government where federal government cannot do whatever they wanted, they had limitations under constitution. They also highlighted the fact that the constitution separated basic powers of government into three equal branches. This separation of power gave balance and limited the chances of tyranny. They also mentioned the benefits of checks and balances. They argued that central government would not be able to misuse it’s power as each branch could check or limit the other branches. They also responded to Antifederalists fear of strong federal court by saying that federal courts had limited jurisdiction as some power was shared with local courts. They believed that strong federal court was a necessity so judicial branch of government could do it’s part of checks and balances on executive and legislative branches of government. Federalists provided all their arguments by writing federalists papers. These papers are written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay supporting their beliefs and arguments through 85 articles and essays. These federalists papers were very influential as they were able to gain support to ratify the constitution. Even though other states pro constitution North Carolina and Rhode Island held out until Bill of Rights
According to most legislation, a person under the age of eighteen is not considered an adult. It has been proved that a person does not mature mentally until about age twenty five. Many basic adult rights are not granted to juveniles because they are not responsible enough to assume the role of an adult. It goes without saying that the law regards those under the age of eighteen as minors, and so these minors shall not ever be treated as an adult in a court of law. Three basic reasons that minors should not be tried as adults are the decreased mental capacity of juveniles, the basic adult rights that are not granted to juveniles, and the fact that prison is an unsuitable environment for minors. Juveniles and adult do not have a parallel mental capacity; therefore, a juvenile should not be tried as an adult in a court of law, and should instead be subject to separate age-specific judicial procedures and legislation.
The founding fathers were quite concerned when writing the Constitution about what the breakdown of power should be. They did not want the central government to hold too much power like it had in England, but they needed a federal government stronger than the Articles of Confederation to keep the states together.
"It would swallow up all the delegated powers [of the states], and reduce the whole to one power. "-Jefferson referring to the Bank. He was strongly against big government and felt it would oppress the common man. "I am not a friend of a very energetic government.it places the governors indeed more at their ease, at the expense of the people." Jefferson was also a strong supporter of the Bill of Rights, which protected the rights of the people.
This pandemic first appeared in the city-states of Italy and spread across Europe culminating in the deaths of 25,000,000 people. It is now known that the plague originated in China and inner Asia and that one of the reasons it was so devastating was because of the famine that Europe had just started to recover from.It is also now known that the Black Death was the result of the bacteria yerinia pestis, a bacteria that can cause swelling of the lymph glands in the armpits, the groin, and the neck of people infected with the virus. No particular social class station faith or age group escaped the ravages and people became hungry for answers from the Church. This plague was so devastating Europe’s population did not reach its pre-1347 level until the 16th century.