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Essay about militarism and its progression
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Essay about militarism and its progression
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Article one, Section 8 of the Constitution states Congress has the power “To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years.” This clause gives Congress to rise and maintain an Army as they see fit. This idea goes against what we as Americans just fought for. More importantly this clause gives the federal government massive power over the state level government. As started in Article two, Section two “The President shall be the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States.” These two clauses combined could very well lead to a government not to different than that of the English Monarch. Lastly the state ran militias can protect their own states and still will be able to collapse into one unified Army if there is a threat to the nation as a whole. The power for Congress to raise an Army gives the federal government too much power. We just fought a war in order to free ourselves from a Monarch and need to avoid giving too much power to the central government. Each state currently has a militia that can ...
According to article 2 “The state's government will retain all powers that are not specifically given to the national Congress.. ” (Williamsburg, 2009) In other words the states will have all the powers that are not appointed to the national government, by the Articles of Confederation. According to article 9 “ The national congress will have the power to declare war, negotiate foreign treaties, settle disputes between states, regulate currency, direct the operations of land and naval forces, borrow money from the states.” (Williamsburg, 2009) A elaboration of this is that, The national government is limited to the powers, that are stated above, and has no control of anything else. Since the national government had little to no control over any of the state's, laws that were past inside of these states became unjust and faced little repercussions from the national government, because of the limitations that were put into place by the articles of
In order to secure the protection of the people’s rights of freedom from the imprisonment of tyranny, a compound government was formed. Central and State government came together to form the compound government, which in other words means federalism. It is one of the many elements that make up the protection of freedom from tyranny, “Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people.” (Madison FP # 51) The states combined covered our need of protection, protection of the countries by the Central government and protection of the people by the States government. Also by joining themselves together, “The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” (Madison FP # 51)
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.
The guard of federalism shows one way in the constitution when they set up the compound government to make sure that the federal government doesn’t get too much power. The second way is when some responsibilities are given to the state government so that they can share the power equally. Federalism protects against tyranny because it ensures that the federal government doesn’t have too much say in what happens in the country, so that they don’t become too powerful and create tyranny. separation of powers, which means that the government is separated into separate branches so that they can spread out the power so that one branch of government can have more pull in what happens in the decisions made for the well-being of the country. One way that the documents show the way that the constitution uses the separation of powers to guard against tyranny is when it has the people in the government that make the largest decisions able to serve for a term of only a few years.
States over the years have argued over state government and the federal government and the Article of Confederation was a perfect example how the state government does not work. In Document D Maryland questions the authority of the federal government to incorporate a bank. During the McCulloch v. Maryland case Maryland attempted to tax the bank. Maryland got overruled and didn't get their way. Still it serves as a good example of sectionalism where states are thinking only for themselves and not for the good of the nation. Thomas Jefferson in Document F also claimed that the Missouri Compromise will be divide the United States and obliterate unity. This claim is true considering now that the North and South now compete for more free and slave states. In order for Missouri to become a slave state Maine had to become independent again showing signs of sectionalism the North vs. the South. Signs of nationalism although are seen in Document H. John Q. Adams wrote in his diary about the Monroe Doctrine which warns the Holy Alliance to stay out of the Caribbean and Americas claiming they were the defenders of democracy. The United States did not have the army to back up this bold statement but it was still a bold sign of nationalism and did this for the purpose of controlling commerce in this region and improving the state of the economy.
As seen in Document C, Congress had so little money that it couldn’t afford to pay the army their bonuses. The army, of course, was discontented in this lack of action and thought they were being treated unjustly. The delay was so slow that the army did not think they were going to get paid. This, in itself, exhibits the great need for the national government to acquire the power to tax.
The farmers of our Constitution recognized the need for separate powers as well as checks and balances among the executive, legislative and judicial branches. This in turn helps to "provide for the common defense". Separation of powers prevents one branch from becoming excessively dominant over the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.: In order to accede to the preamble and adhere in its goals, the Constitution ensures this is by clearly stating the authority of the Congress in Article I Section 8 and the authority of the President in Article II Section 2. These fixed powers in the Constitution clearly state that one cannot act without permission or authorization of another. It is designed to that one cannot take action without consent of the other branch. This is prevalent in Article I Section 7 that states the process of how a law is passed. The fact that there are clear steps to the initiation of a law states the importance of separation of powers so that a single dominant branch does not arise.
The Congress didn’t hold the power to tax or create a national military, navy, and army, which didn’t allow America to strengthen as a nation. By vesting these powers in the state, the Articles of Confederation technically created thirteen small countries. After the Revolution, the United States became even more susceptible to foreign invaders and if a minute state militia was responsible for warding off these trespassers, the state would be easily attacked. This is just once consequence that could have occurred, if the Constitution of 1787 wasn’t accepted.
There are several powers expressly given to Congress in Article 1 of the constitution. These expressed powers are basically a laundry list of Congressional duties. These include, but are not limited to, the power to lay and collect taxes, the power to borrow money on behalf of the United States credit, the power to coin money and regulate it's value, the power to declare war, the power to raise and support armies, the power to establish post offices and postal roads and the power to regulate commerce between the states, as well as with the Indian tribes and with foreign nations. These powers were given at this level of government by our forefather because they are important items that must be regulated at the national level. Imagine the chaos that would ensue if each state was able to coin it's own money and set the value themselves. While Congress may be responsible for things of great importance to our security and national economy “no one of the powers transferred to the federal government is unnecessary or improper”(Federalist No.45) and“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined.” (Federalist No.45). This helps to ensure that Congress' power is k...
In my opinion, the relationship between the Federal government and the States is unclear whether which institution has the authority to implement legislations. The vagueness of the American constitution particularly in the 10th Amendment of the Constitution that quote ” The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The ambiguous of the American Constitution may be the main cause of the over power of Federal government.
Contrary to what I believed in the past, the United States federal government retained and expanded their power and authority during the years of the Civil war along with the period of Reconstruction. Through drafts and monitored elections, they exercised this power during the Civil War. Then, as Reconstruction began, they initiated other methods of increasing their authority over the citizens. Military was placed in Southern states, by the federal government, in order to keep control over the rebellious people. Not only that, but, the idea of putting the federal government in charge of Reconstruction and rebuilding an entire nation gave them an enormous amount of power. Finally, the creation of the 14th and 15th Amendment were two more big achievements on the part of the government.
The United States of America's military is currently involved in two major wars with U.S. opposition in Afghanistan and Iraq. All though both of these efforts can be said to be in the clean-up stages, many more soldiers will be needed to stabilize the regions, to provide police work, and to fight the insurgencies that have risen in opposition to the invasion of U.S. troops into foreign lands. The current presidential administration states that to adequately deal with the problems of post-war Iraq and unstable Afghanistan the United States needs to increase the number of active-duty soldiers serving over-seas. Top officials in the administration have said that a reorganization of the military is already in progress, and it will create more combat regiments, but the quoted additional 25,000 new military participants needed per year can hardly be met through these minor reorganizations. In addition, recruiting numbers are at their lowest in over ten years (?All Things Considered?, NPR News Source.) Many feel that the reenactment of the military service draft is inevitable because it is the only way to come up with the astounding number of new troops needed to finish the jobs started in the Middle-East by George W. Bush and his Republican administration. If increasing the size of the military is inevitable, then the draft is the wrong way to go. Aside from the moral objections that many Americans have to a draft, there are major logical fallacies in the reasoning that a draft would benefit the military, America, or its interests abroad; therefore, the draft should not be reenacted to increase the number of the United States? combat troops.
This is because doing so would create a state of war in and of itself. Locke states that the correct form of civil government should be committed to the common good of the people, and defend its citizens’ rights to life, health, liberty, and personal possessions. He expects that the civil government’s legislative branch will create laws which benefit the wellbeing of its citizens, and that the executive branch will enforce laws under a social contract with the citizenry. “The first and fundamental positive law of all common-wealths is the establishing of the legislative power; as the first and fundamental natural law, which is to govern even the legislative itself, is the preservation of the society and (as far as will consist with the public good) of every person in it. ”1
The American Revolution stirred political unity and motivated the need for change in the nation. Because many Americans fought for a more balanced government in the Revolutionary War, they initially created a weak national government that hampered the country's growth and expansion. In the Letter from Abigail Adams to Thomas Jefferson, Mrs. Adams complained about the inadequacy of power that the American government had to regulate domestic affairs. The Articles of Confederation was created to be weak because many had feared a similar governing experience that they had just eliminated with Britain. The alliance of states united the 13 local governments but lacked power to deal with important issues or to regulate diplomatic affairs. Congress did not have the power to tax, regulate trade, or draft people for war. This put the American citizens at stake because States had the power to refuse requests for taxes and troops (Document G). The weakened national government could not do anything about uprisings or small-scale protests because it did not have the power to put together an army. The deficiencies of the confederation government inspired the drafting of the American Constitution. The document itself embodied the principle of a national government prepared to deal with the nation's problems. In James Madison's Federalist Paper, he persuades the American public to adopt the Constitution so that the government can protect humans from their nature and keep them out of conflicts.
Those who feared that the federal government would become too strong were assured by Madison in Federalist No. 14 that “in the first place it is to be remembered that the general government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administrating laws…The subordinate governments, which can extend their care to all those other objects which can be separately provided for, will retain their due authority and activity”