Summary Of The Constitution According To Levinson's Flaws

Question 4

The American Constitution is a living, breathing document. As society progresses, the document is supposed to adjust to the needs and will of the people. However, Levinson challenges whether necessary adjustments are ever actually made. He believes that the way the Constitution is structured promotes an inefficient and even unjust government. Like all arguments, there are always two sides. The founding fathers obviously had the best intentions, and the fundamentals of the Constitution seem to be a guide towards a strong federal republic. However, there are definitely flaws, and the only way to adequately address these flaws would be to call for a new Constitutional Convention. This essay will address why the Constitution is flawed along with its greatest flaw, and why a Constitutional Convention must be called.

According to Levinson,” The framers of the Constitution were under no illusion that they had created a perfect document.” He cites multiple instances which

prove this to be true.

After the Philadelphia Conventions, in a letter to his nephew, George Washington himself states that even the strongest supporters of the document can openly admit that “it is not free from imperfections.” As time passes, it is supposed to be up to the people and their increasing knowledge and experience to properly amend the Constitution. That is why John Locke’s original idea of creating an unamendable document did not happen. Creating a perfect and unamendable Constitution would be impossible because of the dynamic nature of American thought. What seemed to be acceptable only a couple decades ago is morally wrong today. A prime example would be the lack of rights given to African Americans.

Perhaps the greatest flaw in the Constitution is its ambiguity. Although there is a distribution of power among the branches and the

states, the lines are blurred. Due to some of the clauses in the Constitution, the distribution of powers has become increasingly unbalanced. The 18th clause in Article 1, Section 1 of the Constitution states that “[The Congress shall have the power] to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.” The founding fathers probably originally intended this clause to allow Congress to create laws that complemented already existing powers given to Congress, but the interpretation of this clause throughout the years have become more and more skewed and abused. For example, Congress used this clause as an excuse to allow the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798. These acts prevented citizens to publish any form of criticism against public officials. This was clearly a violation of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, but because of the vagueness of the Constitution, the act was passed. Although a strong federal government was intended during the creation of the Constitution, it did not mean the power of the states would be stripped. Another example of how ambiguity in the document has taken away rights from the people and the states is when Congress created the Bank of the United States. According to the 10th Amendment, the creation of this business was not explicitly stated and should have been given to the states, not the federal government. However, because of how obscurely the Constitution is written, Congress has been able to pass many laws throughout history that could be deemed unconstitutional.
Levinson states that one of the main reasons why the Constitution has not been altercated is because a majority of American citizens possess an overcoming veneration when it comes to the document, and “find the notion of seriously criticizing it almost sacrilegious.” The first step to resolving a problem is acknowledging there is in fact a problem. An amendment for ratification by the states is simply not forceful enough to get American citizens out of this mindset. Also, many states, depending on a variety of political and economic factors, have a different motivation to amend the Constitution. There has to be a congregation of opinionated minds from all the states throughout the country so the Constitution can truly