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Checks And Balances Of The Founding Fathers In The United States

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In 1787, seven key figures known as the founding fathers in United States history came together and wrote the US Constitution. These men were George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe and Benjamin Franklin.(Kettler) They decided the republican form of government would allow for the best outcome in the United States. With these intentions, they planned for the more educated, which in this time meant more wealthy, to have more influence on the decisions being made. The way that they laid out the voting system was to listen to the states decisions but if the electoral college, composed of more educated people in society, disagreed with their decision then they had the right to overturn the …show more content…

This branch of government is composed of “the House of Representatives and the Senate, which together form the United States Congress”. (The Legislative Branch) In the legislative branch, many major decisions are made, such as the declaration of war or the passing of laws. Since the founding fathers made the legislative branch the most powerful, that made this branch responsible for overlooking the other two branches. This is an example of checks and balances. The legislative branch is there to make sure that the executive branch, which is made up of the president, vice president, and the cabinet, are keeping the best interest of the United States as a whole instead of focusing their decisions based on a more personal level. As you continue to read through Articles 4, 5, and 6 of the US constitution, the idea of federalism is brought into play. This is the idea of that the state is given more power than the federal government but not all the power. This is an original design that our current government has kept in …show more content…

Within the guidelines of Federalism, there are many things that allow for the states to be independent and to make their own decisions. This became a disadvantage when certain states began to out do the other ones. For instance say that one state made the legal driving age 18 and another 14 this could prove to be a serious issue as there is no stability in this. Also another example that was seen in history before the constitution came to be is that certain states would have trade monopolies with other countries leaving the interior states at the mercy of the coastal and bordering states. Florida did this with spain in the grace period between the revolutionary war and the ramification of the

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