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Essay on American Constitution
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay on American Constitution
Federalists vs democratic-republicans apush
Federalist vs republican party
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In the early years, after winning independence from Great Britain, the American colonies set up their government in accordance with their first constitution, the Articles of Confederation. This means that the majority of the power laid in the hands of the states and Congress, “the only institution of national authority” (Brinkley 151) at that time, had very little power. This distribution of authority was the manifestation of the American’s fear of a strong, central government. However, as time passed, more and more people came to agree that the national government was too weak and needed to be strengthened.
DBQ Essay The United States Constitution is a document that or founding fathers made in order to replace the failing Articles of Confederation (A of C). Under the Constitution, the current government and states don’t have the problems they faced when the A of C was in action. The Constitution was created in 1788, and held an idea that the whole nation was nervous about. This idea was a strong national government, and the Federalist assured the people that this new government would work. The framers of the Constitution decided to give more power to the Federal government rather than the state governments because the A of C had many problems, there was a need for the layout of new government, rights, and laws, and there was a need for the Federal
The federal government does not have full, complete power of the government, due to the fact the federal government has to power to tax, regulate commerce, and put laws into place if and only if laws are so called “necessary and proper.” Another thing was for each branch of government to have their own separation of powers and check and balance other branches of government. Either though, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists did not agree on ideas, the Constitution is a document of the general compromise between the two political parties. The weakness of the Articles of the Confederation was resolved through the compromise of the Federalists and Anti-federalists political
The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787, but there was a grapple for its ratification that went on until about two decades after the ratification. Members of Congress believed that the first government of the United States or the Articles of Confederation, needed to be adjusted while others did not want anything to change. After the Revolutionary War, the people did not want a strong central government, because it reminded them too much of what they were trying to escape from. Under the Articles, each state had their own laws, and the need for a new Constitution was desired by many. The Constitution of 1787 created huge debates, arguments and splits in the nation that lasted for several year after its ratification between people who
It took the convincing of the Anti-Federalists to explain how the Constitution gave too much power to the central government and did not state the rights and freedoms of the people, therefore lacking a Bill of Rights. The Federalists agreed to a Bill of Rights, and later the Constitution was ratified with nine out of thirteen votes on June 21 of 1788. Soon after the Constitution was ratified, the separation of powers was understood in the United States government. The separation of powers separated each branch of government.
In the 1790s, the tension of citizens rights and national security became so severe because the nation was very young and the people were not used to a democratic government. The nation was divided into anti-federalists and Federalists who disliked each other. The two groups only agreed on the Constitution because it protected both as individuals. Despite their consensus on the Constitution, they continued to not trust each other.
The U.S. Constitution signed September 1787, not only unified America as one nation, but it also enriched America’s core structure of government on a national scale. One cannot ignore the significant disunion that existed during the time of the Articles of Confederation. Due to the fact that the states were allowed to act like independent countries, Congress had insufficient power to make and enforce laws or collect taxes. Both the national government and individual states had acquired a substantial amount of debt due to the cost of the American Revolution and needed the means to pay for it. The main source of government revenue became tariffs imposed by each state.
When the United States first gained their independence from Britain they needed to create a strong government for their colonies. The United States created their first government called the Articles of Confederation. The Articles came with many problems like no power to tax, no power to enforce the law, or regulate commerce. 10 years after having a weak government, they believed that a new type of government need to be created in order to become a strong government. They came up with the Constitution.
When the colonists were still with Great Britain, King George III misused his power. As a result, colonists wrote the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, to the king, to state their separation from Great Britain, to form a new country, the United States of America. After creating a new country, Americans wrote the Articles of Confederation in the year 1777, which they purposely weakened central government, so the abuse of power, wouldn’t exist. This meant the states had all the power. Although this structure of government seemed great, the creators of the Articles quickly realized that with no central government, states weren’t united because they were busy on increasing the growth of only their state.
Following the Revolutionary War, America had just gained independance from Great Britain and needed to form a new government. The Articles of Confederation were established as an attempt to create a government that was unlike Britain’s. Unfortunately, the Articles of Confederation had several weaknesses. When in the process of repairing those weaknesses, the Federalists and the Anti-federalists formed. The Articles of Confederation were very weak as well as useless to America and because of this, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists could not agree on a new type of government.
One of these things was the amount of power the federal government should have. Federalists argued for a stronger national government, with the rich having most of the power because they were "less wicked and sinful" (Alexander Hamilton). Antifederalists wanted stronger state governments and wanted all people to be represented, not just the rich elites. They wanted the government to be "a true picture of the people" (Melancton Smith). This debate doesn't have as clear-cut of an ending as the one above; instead, it led to the division of two political parties and is still a major debate
When we look back at our history there were a lot of decisions that had to be made when trying to figure out how to bring together a strong constitution. Our founders had a lot of strong opinions that had to be talked about when trying to reach a conclusion. There where challenges and compromises that had to be faced when trying to ratify the constitution. We all know that the constitutional convention meet between May and September of 1787. As we were already taught in class, there was a weak central government under that articles of confederation that had to be changed in order for everyone to agree upon.
The United states has dealt with many issues within the government many of which how much power the national government should have and how much power the state government should have. They created the three branches of government-a Legislative branch, an Executive branch, and a Judicial branch. Each having its own role, but they didn’t want each branch to dominate each other. The delegates established a system of checks and balances. Two Supreme court cases that included checks and balances were Marbury vs. Madison, Dred Scott vs. Sanford.
The fourth President of the United States, James Madison, once said that, “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.” That being said, it is the people’s right, and the people’s right alone to govern the country, and hereby the government shall abide by the wants and desires of the population, and not the wants and desires of the federal government. During the eighteenth century, the United States’ federal and state governments were at constant odds over where certain powers should lie, whether rights should go to the federal government or to the states was the unsolvable enigma.
In the beginning many argued how powerful should our federal government be. Many questions were raised on what instances did the federal government had the standing and precedence to act. Notable figures who disagreed were Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. The power of the nation expanded greatly between the years of 1789 and 1820. Economical policies by the treasury, decisions by the Supreme Court and the Acquisition of more territories resulted in more powerful federal government.