Shaped America DBQ

Documents that Shaped America
The American revolution happened because the colonists were being treated unfairly for Great Britain so the wanted to separate to gain independence from Great Britain so the wouldn’t have to be taxed unfairly, and being falsely accused of crimes. When they started this “revolution” there was an uproar from Great Britain and when they saw the colonists going going crazy because of useless taxes and things like that, they said they would take some of the taxes away so when they did this and the colonists were happy but later they added more taxes and there was a boycott that went on for the tea act. The revolutionary war went on from 1775- 1783.
The declaration of independence was ratified in 1776. This document

was made because since we were separating from Britain, we wanted something that showed our goals and ideals of our nation, we wanted this to show and tell what and why we were separating from Britain and all of the complaints of the colonists that everyone had against the king. It contains the arguments the colonists used to explain why we wanted to be free from British rule. The purpose of this document was to explain to foreign nations why the colonies had chosen to separate themselves from Great Britain. Some events that led to the Declaration of Independence are when the colonists wouldn’t pay taxes to the British empire and another was the Boston Massacre, this was an event where 5 colonists died just because they were making fun of a British officer outside of a building. This led up to the United States being independent and is symbolic to American democracy and one of the charters of freedom.
The Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781. This was an agreement among the 13 original states of the United States of America that served as its first constitution. The Articles of confederation were also formally known as the “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union”. The only weakness of the Articles of confederation were that it didn’t include the people. A principal is someone or something that is the highest or most important position. The U.S. constitution established America’s national Government, it was also drafted by the Constitutional Convention and later supplemented by the Bill of Rights and other amendments. It was ratified in June 21, 1788. One of the seven ideas of the constitution are Popular Sovereignty. This statement suggests that the power of the government rests within the people.
Another idea includes republicanism which is bases on roman government. This statement goes along with the first idea stating the power is with the people because we vote and elect a representative for president and for all of the political powers of our nation. The third idea is federalism, this is the balancing of powers between the federal government and the states and it’s a way of dividing authority-setting up who is in charge of what. Some examples of this is coin money, declaring war, regulating trade between the states which includes regulating trade inside of their own state, and establishing schools.
The fourth idea is the separation of powers.

There are three branches of government. The legislative branch which makes laws, the executive branch which carries out laws, and the judicial branch which interprets the laws. We do this so that no branch can abuse the power that they are given. The fifth democratic idea is checks and Balances. This article states "Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States". To further explain this quote from the US Constitution, the legislative branch can make a bill as long as both parts of the branch, the Senate and House of Representatives, approve it, which continues the bill's journey into becoming a law, but the executive branch can veto the bill. This statement is written about articles 1, 2, and 3. This principle was established so each branch of government has the power to check or limit the actions of the other two branches of government so not one is more powerful than the

other.
The sixth democratic idea of the U.S. constitution is the Judicial review. Judicial Review is an important part of Checks and Balances that allows the Judicial branch to stop any kind of corrupt or un-Constitutional law from passing. The seventh and final democratic idea is limited government. The idea of Limited Government was a very important one to the citizens of America who feared a second tyranny. This principle assured that the government could only do what the people allowed it to, so that it does not have extreme power. This ties in with Popular Sovereignty because it makes sure that the people control the government. The founding fathers established the Constitution to do just one thing, to establish a federal government for the United States of America.
The first 10 amendments to the Constitution make up the Bill of Rights.

This was ratified and approved on December 15, 1791. The supporters of the proposed Constitution called themselves "Federalists." Their adopted name implied a commitment to a loose, decentralized system of government, they also agreed with the constitution, and bill of rights, anti-federalists on the other hand believed the Constitution granted too much power to the federal courts, at the expense of the state and local courts. They argued that the federal courts would be too far away to provide justice to the average citizen. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, delegates rejected a motion made by George Mason, author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, to add to the Constitution of the United States the bill of

rights.
An amendment is a minor change in a document and when it comes to the U.S. constitution for example, the bill of rights is a large example of an amendment in it. The second amendment to the united states constitution is a good example of an amendment and it protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Another amendment that is a good example is the first amendment that states congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise available or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press or the right of the people. The impact of the bill of rights concludes that the bill of rights limited only actions taken by the federal government against people. The founders assumed citizens would be protected by their home states' constitution.
All of these documents shaped America because we are now independent and free from Great Britain and also we have run into some bumps in the road but when we all come together, we can become a united front and get through hard times easier. The bill of rights shaped America by giving us more freedom and the U.S. constitution shaped America because this basically tells us our rights, the declaration of independence tells us that we are free and that is one of the biggest things because if that document wasn’t made, we would not be free. All of these documents shaped America into what it is now and in my life, that is pretty good.