At the time of the founding of the United States almost all other political systems in the world were authoritarian governments in which rulers fully controlled the government. It was because of oppression by England’s monarchy that the Americans protested for a government that gave the power back to the people. It was then that the Framers of the constitution established a republic.
When writing the constitution the framers established a republic not a democracy, however today many people say we have a representative democracy. The main difference between a republic and a democracy lies in the limitations placed on government. In a republic the power is given to the people, who in turn use their power through elected representatives. A democracy is a government in which all eligible citizens have the rights to equal participation, either directly or through elected representatives.
Political scientists have developed three theories of American
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Pluralism would have one theory that the framers might have preferred because as previously stated it consist on multiple interest groups. I can be argued that the framers also represented different interest groups such as, north v. south, and rural v. urban and many different other viewpoints were also represented. The framers would not have agreed with the hyperpluralism theory because although they did not want an all-powerful government, they also did not want a weak one. James Madison stated in Federal 10 that fractions also know as interest groups, could be a problem and that all factions create gridlock. The elite theory would also be a theory that the framers might have established. It can be argued that the framers believed that a privilege majority should rule in the name of all the other people, with just a small amount of participation from the
James Madison’s Federalist 10 was written amid criticisms that a republican form of government had never been successful on a large scale. Madison’s argument was that a well-constructed union could control factions. He argued that in order to control factions from their causes, we would need to either give up liberty or free thought. Since we cannot infringe upon these two natural rights, we must move on to controlling the effects. A republic, Madison argues, would be able to do this because the people choose the representatives, and they choose representatives who they feel best represent their opinions.
Our Founding Father decided that we were a republic instead of democracy. William then discuss about the system and
From 1787-1790 the ratification of the American Constitution became fight between two different political methods of judgment. America 's best political personalities accumulated in Philadelphia to discuss shared opinion in a legislative structure. The Constitution itself did not say political groups, and it was expected that none was going to emerge. Be that as it may, this was soon demonstrated wrong when the level headed discussions between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists in 1787 and 1788 blend into a two gathering framework. This soon prompted a changeless component in American approaches.
As for which perspective better explains the politics of the Constitutional Convention of 1787? I think it would be Pluralism because who attended the constitutional conventions represented people from different special-interest groups .Everyone had different interests, although the first attempt was not as successful. The point is Pluralism had many individuals with different interest groups unlike Elitism. When a constitution was finally formed, it contained a great many
“The accumulation of all powers..in the same hands, whether of one or many (is) the very definition of tyranny.” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #47, 1788) ( Background Essay) This quote explains the reasoning for one of the framers, (B) Separation of Powers. The framers of the constitution were created to prevent tyranny and create a stronger government that would hold the nation together. Tyranny ultimately means harsh, absolute power in the hands of one individual-- like a king or dictator. The constitution guarded against tyranny in 4 ways: (A)Federalism, (B)Separation of Powers, (C)Checks & Balances, and (D)Small State-Large State.
Previously, the colonists had problems with a faulty government and feared tyranny. When the colonists first had the opportunity to self-govern, The Articles of Confederation was formed and thus a poor example of government. The Articles of Confederation creating a weak, defenceless and powerless country. In the second attempt to create a more perfect government, the Constitution of the United States of America was formed. The colonists decided to place a guard against tyranny and thus, over 230 years after the writing of the Constitution of the United States, The Constitution in fact protects the states, the states rights and the citizens rights against tyranny.
The Great Compromise which was founded at the Constitutional Convention wasn't formed without trouble. Many of the delegates that participated in the convention were wealthy landowners and lawyers, who owned many slaves. They failed to notice the diversity that excited within the nation. As they talked how to repair the Articles of Confederation, issues would arise that would create continuous debates amongst each other. One of the issues that would arise would be the nature of the new government.
In the book, American Creation by Joseph J. Ellis, Ellis talks about the founding of America from the start of it to the finish. He argues that the founding of the United States was not a clash between democracy and aristocracy. He stated that none of the founding fathers even mentioned democracy as one of their goals. The main question was actually how they were going to create a successful nation state. Ellis mentioned, in his book, that the main clash was between the people who favored a full sovereign national government, which were the federalists, and the people who wanted to reserve the state rights over all of the domestic issues, which were the republicans.
These ideologies and desire for resistance through any means possible were the basic characterizations of “Whig theory.” For the Whigs, the common good was what they were fighting for, too. However, their understanding of what this meant was different than Federalists’ views. As Nobles portrayed, rural members of society were not very trusting of urban/upper class members of society because they viewed the upper class “political indifference” and desire to outdo others in their displays of wealth as the cause of bigger political issues.
The American government constitution one of the oldest document in the world and it is clear for their citizens on the justification of to have an equal right and opportunity by the eyes of American government laws. The American government comes in different ways by the difficulty of citizens struggling. Since the beginning of the thought of democracy till the right of to create the constitution in the long run of the 27 Amendments. The American government structure had a clear understanding for American citizens and for others. The American government systems started with the ideology of democracy that to give a right of the first amendment for the American citizens.
James Madison wrote Federalist 51 over 200 years ago, yet its words still impact today’s government in 2016. When writing Federalist 51, Madison had two main objectives in mind; he wanted a government with a separation of powers, and he also wanted minorities to be protected. Both of his objectives have been accomplished and continue to be present in today’s American government with the latter objective being more present in today’s government even more so than in the past. To begin with, power is separated in today’s government, preventing a single person or group from having absolute power since, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” according to John Dalberg-Acton. The American government is composed of three branches which power is separated amongst.
Ever since the colonies of the United States were created democracy was never thought of to become their government. Many of our founding fathers hated the idea of democracy. Even in the Pledge of Allegiance includes the phrase: "and to the republic for which it stands. " The system of government established by the Constitution was never intended to be a democracy. This is evident not only in the wording of the Pledge of Allegiance, but in the Constitution itself, which declares that "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government" (Article IV, Section 4).
In the Federalist Papers 10, Madison argues that the most knowledgeable and virtuous citizens believe that the government is too easily changed and too directly influenced by the people. He wants the government to have more power over the people and for it to be ruled by the minority party, such as himself. This is suspect to suspicion, as many of the people involved in the writing of the Constitution were part of that minority that they believed should possess more power than the common people. Both Howard Zinn and Charles Beard think that one of the main purposes of the Constitution was simply to benefit the wealthy, aristocratic upper class both financially and
Which was something that the Framer's found unappealing because if they chose a democracy it opened the door to unlimited Tyranny-by-Majority. This why they condemned the "excesses of democracy" and abuses under any Democracy
The United States government is best defined as a federal constitutional republic. As a constitutional republic, the U.S. government is organized by the Constitution, setting forth the political threshold of the people, which are known as the federal and state governments. As a federal republic, the control stands by the people throughout the voting process of electing the federal and state officials. The federal government is limited by the distribution of authority within the states as outlined in the Constitution. Although many people like to call the United States a democracy, this is not the case, because the public does not directly control legislation.