The birth of the United States of America began with the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration set the standard of justice for which the country would move towards overtime. The Declaration also provided guidance for the constitution. One of the major themes that demonstrates this connection is the institutional design of the executive. This is greatly evidenced through the grievances stated in the Declaration and it’s clear that these greatly influenced the design of the executive in the constitution starting with the term limit, and overall structure of the the executive branch. This structure contains major differences to that of the British king but it also contains distinct similarities that were necessary to keep when it came to a singular and energetic executive. More evidence can be found in Federalist No. 67,70, and 69 in which The Federalist Papers argue in favor of the Executive Branch and many of the arguments made are strongly guided by the principles of the Declaration. The whole point of the revolution was to overthrow the British king who was in essence the executive of England. The result of the king’s overthrow greatly affected the way that people viewed the executive branch. In a sense citizens viewed the president as just another king, and wished to give him no power. …show more content…
The founders knew the Articles of Confederation were not working so there had to be another way to govern the people the way they had originally intended. The role of the executive is to execute laws for the public good and as stated in the Constitution, for the welfare and common defense.1 Under the British king, there was no such thing. The king has become a tyrant and began oppressing the rights of his citizens, or in the former case, subjects. This behavior influenced the design of the executive in the
We the People On November 15th, 1777 the Continental Congress set into motion the first Constitution of the United States. In the early days of the American Revolution Congress knew that a stronger union and more powerful government was going to be essential in order to defeat Great Britain and stand alone. Fear settled in the hearts of the civilians of this new nation as one organization was to be put into place to implement laws. Rumors began to circulate that a republic could not serve a nation as large as the United States sufficiently.
After the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, thirteen American colonies desired a government to displace and overturn the rule of British. So, they attempted to establish a governance of the Article of Confederation. As the first written constitution of the United States, the Articles of Confederation was not faultless. The Articles formed a weak central government and a loose confederation of sovereign states, leaving most of the power and independence with the state governments. Although the document gave Congress authority to make treaties, coin money and maintain army force, the central government still lacked of ability to implement these rules (Foner, 1991).
It was the heat of the Revolutionary war and The Thirteen Colonies were preparing to declare their independence from Britain, yet before they do so, they needed to establish a form of self-government. Through the Articles of Confederation in 1776, the colonies had established their first independent government, although with it followed many problems. These problems, although numerous, did not come without some, yet very little, success and perhaps one of the best outcomes of the Articles of Confederation is how they paved the way for the much sturdier Constitution. The Articles of Confederation had been created in a rush and by were no means a permanent form of government for the colonies.
By instituting a system that distributes it’s power as fairly and equally as possible, the Framers sought to not only protect this nation from tyranny but to preserve it’s liberties. With the Articles of Confederation too weak to support this country, the Framers knew that this country was in desperate need of a change. Therefore, the Framers fashioned a more balanced structure of government through the doctrine of separation of powers. The division of the three branches of government and the federal and state powers finally created a dynamic of government that would prove to be effective and enduring. But, the Framers did not come to this solution alone, they utilized the various theories of political philosophers such as John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu.
After the American Revolution, the colonies needed to reconstruct a new, fresh government. America, however, was extremely restrictive with giving the central government any forms of power after the hardships the colonies faced being under the British government and Parliament. The colonies did not want to undergo another period of unfair taxation and regulated systems. Thus, America’s first government, The Articles of Confederation, gave the central government immensely few granted powers. After an eight year period, the majority of America knew that they needed a new form of government.
During the Revolutionary war, the leaders of the American colonists thought it necessary to devise a government that would replace the previous British ruling. Their goal was to establish a strong form of government that would give power to the people, representing the same concept that they were fighting for. This would ultimately lead to the creation of the Articles of Confederation. Yet, despite the Founding Fathers' attempt to create a successful national government, The Articles of Confederation were considered a failure, not only because it neglected to give Congress the power to tax, but also for not establishing a strong central government, as well as creating a problem when dealing with foreign affairs.
And lastly they just did not give the government enough power. When the Articles of Confederation came into play, they did not work as planned. With them, there was not really an executive branch. There also was not a judicial branch of government. All there was was a legislative branch, which was the Congress.
2. The central government was designed to be very, very weak. The Articles established “the United States of America” as a perpetual union formed to defend the states as a group, but it provided few central powers beyond that. But it didn’t have an executive official or judicial
The Articles of Confederation had left the central government weak and ineffectual, prompting the call for the Constitutional Convention . As James Madison argued in Federalist No. 10, "The friend of popular governments never finds himself so much alarmed for their character and fate, as when he contemplates their propensity to this dangerous vice.” To address this issue, the Constitution established a system of checks and balances between the three branches of government, ensuring that no single branch would dominate . The separation of powers across the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, along with checks and balances, made it difficult for any one branch to dominate the others. The Constitution further divided power in the legislature through bicameralism in Congress.
Most importantly, it recreated a strong, central government. The aim of the Revolution was to give power to the people rather than having one large body control all the power. However, the Constitution did just the opposite by creating three central bodies of power: the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. Moreover, the writers of the Constitution enacted many other laws that further centralized power such as providing for a standing army. The authors of the Constitution argued that America needed a standing army to ensure the country could defend itself and would otherwise be powerless.
A problem that arose during the Articles of Confederation was the fact that there were no laws over states, no enforcement of these laws, and no interpretation of these laws. The founders saw these three errors and came up with the legislative (creation of laws), judicial (interpretation of laws) and executive (enforcement of laws). These three branches gave the federal government the ability to solve issues between states and also to form treaties and negotiate with other countries. A system known as checks and balances was also put into place to keep control in the hands of the people. The system lets the branches check the power of the other branches and keep them from becoming too strong.
In creating this new and improved government, the disadvantage is the time required to perform these procedures set out by the founders. The executive is one individual that accompanied by the advice of his advisors can make swift decisions without as many constraints. In a war or emergency period, time is an opulence the government would not have. It is not probable to wait for Congress to delegate powers or act, when the executive can respond more swiftly. Jackson argues that the power to legislate for emergencies belongs in the hands of Congress and only Congress can prevent losing these powers.
The “search for a national government” in the United States came at a time when the country was at it’s lowest. We had finally declared our independence from Europe, but the country was lost. After our forefathers had written the Declaration of Independence, the country began creating governments, however the governments they began creating were on the state level. No one thought about creating the national government. When they did begin creating the national government, the people that formed the state’s governments thought to make the national government Republic.
A Colonial Response to the Declaration of Independence After reading the Declaration of Independence, I would wholeheartedly agree with the Continental Congress and the Declaration. As a Patriot, I completely believe in everything that was written. In the first section of the Declaration, The Purpose of Government is to Protect Basic Rights, I especially agree with the statement “…That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive on these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish I, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect the Safety and Happiness.” This basically means that if the government isn’t looking
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (Paraphrased) In some cases there will come a time when the people need separate themselves from their country and create a new one. This is an important decision so the causes to which made them seperate needs to be said. All people were created equally, God did not pick one to be more powerful than the other. All people were granted rights that the government can not take away, these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.