In the book of His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis, the author introduces Washington, the Father of the United States, in a fresh portrait focused on the characters of Washington. This book is an impressive biography of Washington's remarkable dedication to the United States history. According to the author, George Washington is an omnipresent figure as he was growing up, described as the man in the moon who was aloof and silent. This book focuses on Washington's wartime service which became some of his major contributions to the United States, rather than merely telling the true story of Washington, its main thesis is focusing on analyzing his contributions and how his governorship had affected the American history. Washington's life is divided into three areas in this book.
In the late 1700’s, it was America’s goal to create a republic that had a representative government that was based upon the approval of the people. Unfortunately, the people feared a strong central government because of the previous trouble the colonies had when they were ruled by Britain. They were always being unfairly taxed and had very few rights. In order to avoid this, a very weak government was developed that seemed to satisfy the people, but would not satisfy the well being of the country. It wasn’t until Shay’s rebellion which brought light to the fact that the Articles of Confederation were not going to cut it, so the Constitutional Convention was created and convened to find an alternative solution which was the creation of the Constitution.
After making the Declaration of Independence, the United States had to make a new form of government. The Articles of Confederation were the first constitution. States were afraid of the government being tyrants, so they decided to make their own rules. Without a proper government, there was total mayhem between the states, and the Articles of Confederation failed. At the constitutional convention in Philadelphia, the delegates meant to
The debate over the Constitution created much tension throughout the new country. From problems with the Articles of Confederation, western expansion, Shay’s rebellion, problem’s at the Constitutional Convention, slave trade, and the start of the War of 1812 all created tensions over the Constitution but nothing that the greats minds of the time couldn’t handle. Initially, the Articles of Confederation were the first written constitution of the United States, drafted in 1777 and ratified four years later by Congress (Lecture). The Articles of Confederation provided for a government by a national legislature but left the crucial power of monies, as well as all final power to make and execute laws, entirely to the states (US: A Narrative History,
The result of this victory enabled the following event to transpire: the Constitutional Convention. In 1787, four years after the American Revolution ended, George Washington and fellow influential people met in Philadelphia. The before them was imperative to the newly independent nation’s success. The newly formed Government needed to replace the Articles of Confederation, which had been hastily put together after the American Revolution. There needed to be a permanent and binding document that would unify the states as opposed to individual state power.
Hence Federalists came up with the Bill of Rights as a way to get the Constitution ratified and for people to really see a needed change. The Bill Of Rights which lists specific prohibitions on governmental power, lead the Anti-Federalists to be less fearful of the new Constitution . This guaranteed that the people would still remain to have rights, but the strong central government that the country needed would have to be approved. The 1804 Map of the nation shows that even after the ratification of the United States Constitution there still continued to be “commotion” and dispute in the country.(Document 8) George Washington stated that the people should have a say in the nation and government and everything should not be left to the government to decide.(Document 3) Although George Washington was a Federalist many believed he showed a point of view that seemed to be Anti-Federalists. Many believed that The Bill of Rights needed to be changed and modified and a new document’s time to come into place.
George Washington was selected as president of the convention. Many delegates feared that creating the Constitution would give the government too much power, and would diminish the power of individuals and states. Many different
The convention was held solely for the purpose of replacing the Articles of Confederation. The new Constitution was created with the intention of establishing a form of a central government that with real power. The lack of power and ability to unite the state governments as one sovereign nation had been an extreme issue with the Articles. The articles had left the state governments sovereign and bound them together with an extremely weak form of a “treatie” for emergency situations. This left trade and other important issues at the mercy of the states and put the young nation in a state of turmoil.
The Federalist papers are a series of documents created by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. The papers discuss how the new government system that was beginning to be developed in the 1780s was going to work and be carried out. The authors wanted to write the Federalist papers to create a document that would help to interpret the United States constitution. Federalist papers #10 and #51 were both written by James Madison.
After the failure of the Articles of Confederation, numerous delegates met for a convention, now known as the Constitutional Convention in 1787. At first, the convention’s purpose was to fix the Articles of Confederation. But, the delegates ended up making a new document called the Constitution. This document set the base of the United States’ government, as it established various laws and basic needs for the government.
Constitutional Convention: The people that decided to correct the government’s problems were typically educated, well known, and rich. They had the characteristic quality of a leader. Respected, successful, and willing to fix things were other traits of the men that met at the Convention. Most of the members of the convention were lawyers and half of them had college educations, which was very rare at the time. George Washington, a well-known man, was the president, or chairman, of the Convention.
James Madison wrote The Federalist 51 in order to state how the future government would make liberty possible in society. Madison believed that each branch should be, for the most part, independent. Montesquieu previously thought of this idea of separation of power. He then goes on to explain that to ensure that each branch is independent, it would mean that the citizens would select the president, legislators, and the judges. However, framers found great difficulty in making the correct decision when it came to an election.
The Constitutional convention that met in Philadelphia started off as a goal to amend the articles of confederation it rapidly turned into constitutional convention. The convention would let each member to speak his mind without fear of political retribution. One of the main agreements completed in the convention was that George Washington should be president of the convention, Washington’s reputation protected the convention from accusations. The division that had the most importance in the convention were the northern states versus southern, and merchants versus farmers. The major accomplishment of the Convention began four days later when Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia presented and defended a plan for new structure of government called
The United States ratified the Articles of Confederation in the year 1781. The Articles were the first system of national government of the country. Because it was the first national government, the Articles of Confederation had multiple problems that made it a poor form of government. These problems would lead to the calling of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, where a new system of government would be created. The new system of government was provided by the U.S. Constitution.
George Washington is an example of a “good king” because he had the “good king” characteristics of strength and generosity. Washington is also an example of a “good king” because he did not exhibit the characteristics of cruelty or ambition that are associated with being a “bad king”. George Washington was a “good king” just like the literary figure of Shield Sheafson from Beowulf because he exercised strength in his rule. Strength is considered to be a characteristic of a “good king” because in the epic, Beowulf, the king, Shield Sheafson is, “A wrecker of mead-benches. . . /[Whose] powers waxed and. .
