The Constitution DBQ The Constitution of United States is regarded by many as an important document, for it gave the common people the power to form a government the way they want. Yet, despite all the benefits that it brought to the American people at the time, people also had some concerns about the Constitution such as: it is creating a Central government that is too powerful, only white men that owns property are allowed to vote, not everyone in the nation are treated equally, etc. When the Constitution was first being drafted, Representatives from each state hoped to add terms that would benefit their own states—this lead to a heated debate on how the Constitution should be formed.
The Articles of Confederation was written in 1777 by nearly the exact same people who would later go on to write the United States Constitution. This document was meant to unify the colonies to create a sufficient government. The Articles of Confederation’s focus was to ensure that the state and local government possessed the power throughout the colonies. However, the document failed the country due to the lack of a central government because the states did not want to reestablish the type of government that England had after the Revolutionary War. The lack of bigger government caused many problems that would make each state almost look like they’re were separate.
The structure of the articles was that congress needed 9 of 13 votes from the states to pass legislation which was difficult. Also, congress were given the authority to coin money, make treaties and maintain
This was their way of checking each other making them agree on any laws before passing them. This also gave the President the power to veto any acts of congress. This gave us the federal Structure of the government. The House of Representatives were elected by the people. On the 17th of September 1778 thirty nine delegates signed the Constitution though Ben Franklin said (“Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution, because I expect no better, and because I am not sure it is not the best”)
During the Constitutional Convention, in the summer of 1787, several divisions arose among the delegates. There were differences between the northern vs. southern states, merchants vs. farmers, free vs. slave states, large vs. small states, and east vs. west. However, the main division of the Constitutional Convention was the Virginia Plan vs. the New Jersey Plan, essentially the large states vs. small states. The primary objective of the meeting was to somehow find a balance of power without leaving any one group or person with absolute control.
In May 25, 1787, a convention was called in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to express the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation. However, the intention from many delegates was to draft a new constitution; create a new government rather than fix the existing one. Rhode Island was the only one of the 13 original states to refuse to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention. At the Convention, the first issues they had to address was the representation in Congress.
How do you convince some newly independent citizens of the benefits of ratifying a constitution? According to Alexander Hamilton, through writing, and lots of it. In 1787, Hamilton, along with James Madison and John Jay, published a series of documents, addressing concerns the people might have about the Constitution drafted by the Congressional delegates. The Constitution was being sent to the states for ratification, but in New York, many were opposed to the ideas put forth. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote eighty-five documents which would later be named The Federalist Papers, as they voiced the common opinion of the Federalist party, which was in favor of ratification.
When the thirteen colonies declared their independence from Britain, they no longer had a government or authority to rule. So, the Articles of Confederation was created and became the first constitution to govern the United States. This plan was created in order to organize the nation and fight the Revolutionary War for independence. The Articles of Confederation had many weaknesses such as the government only had one branch that only created laws and did not have branches to execute, interpret, or enforce the laws. As a result, the Confederation failed the nation and it was abolished then a new constitution was created entitled the U.S Constitution.
In the late 1770s, the Constitution caused much controversy and pitted the Federalists and Anti-Federalists against each other even further (“Brief History”). The Constitution created a stronger central government and weaker state governments which Anti-Federalists were not in favor of. (“Brief History”). The Constitution also included three branches of government: executive, judiciary, and legislative and included checks and balances. The new constitution caused many to speak out in opposition and for it and among those people were James Madison and Mercy Otis Warren.
The Continental Congress drafted the Articles of Confederation soon after the conclusion of the war as a new system of government, the lawyer John Dickinson served as the chief author (Schultz). The federal government formed their existence in 1777, under the Articles of Confederation. This shaky beginning existed simply because the new country was deeply in debt and under the watchful eye of foreign nations waiting to see just how the infant nation would fare. The Articles were written so that the governing power had no separation, it existed as a single legislature, that closely followed the Continental Congress's system (Schultz). It is very hard for me to imagine our country leaderless, without a president, a monarch or a prime minister,
With alot going on during the creation of the Articles of Confederation, Due to the on going effects and changes of the American Revolution. The colonies had been in search to create a more centralized government. Since most colonies had taken more care of their own individual interests, it had been much easier to agree upon and form state institutions. Rather than focusing on the importance of the growth of a strong united but yet equally independent structure for their own national gorvernment.
The Articles of Confederation were created for the basic rights of citizens. The Constitution was needed so it could establish fundamental laws. There were a lot of people that participated to create the U.S Constitution. During the Second Continental Congress in 1776, there was a draft by a committee headed by John Dickinson, a statesman. The revised draft, adopted by the Continental Congress on Nov. 15, 1777, called for a government that theoretically possessed many powers but was actually subordinate to the states.
The Constitutional Convention occurred from May 14 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The tradition was held to address issues in overseeing the United States, which had been working under the Articles of Confederation taking after freedom from Great Britain. In spite of the fact that the tradition was expected to modify the Articles of Confederation, the aim from the beginning of a number of its defenders, boss among them James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, was to make another government as opposed to settle the current one. The agents chose George Washington to direct the tradition. The aftereffect of the tradition was the United States Constitution, setting the tradition among the hugest occasions in the historical backdrop
(https://history.state.gov). The reason being for the Articles to be created was because of how unorganized the states were handling power. It wasn’t until 1777 that Congress came together and “realized that they should have some clearly written rules for how they were organized.” (www.ushistory.org).
One of the compromises made in the Constitutional Convention is the three-fifths compromise. In this compromise, the southerners wanted to add slaves to the population of the state they lived in. If slaves were included in their state’s population, that state would be able to add more representatives in the House of Representatives. Northerners did not agree with that statement because slaves did not have the right to vote. After the delegates compromised, they agreed that only three-fifths of the slave’s population would be counted into the state’s population.
