The Constitution of Japan was promulgated in November 3, 1946 and came into effect 6 months later on May 3, 1947. Since then, it has never been amended. For over 65 years, the fundamental laws that govern Japan hasn’t changed. This could mean two things. Either, the Constitution is so superb that it needs no revision or it is inefficient. The Constitution of Japan is patently functioning as Japan is a peaceful and democratic country. However, this doesn’t mean the underlying structure of Japan shouldn’t be revised as the world changes. The Constitution of Japan has been efficient so far but it needs to adapt. The creation of a new Japanese Constitution were already in the minds of the Allied Forces in 1945 at Potsdam. From July 17th to August …show more content…
He promptly resigned and started working as a imperial appointee at the Office of the Privy Seal to revise the constitution. After presenting the first draft to Emperor Hirohito on November 22, 1945, the draft was presented to MacArthur in February of next year. MacArthur rejected this draft by calling it “nothing more than a rewording of the old Meiji constitution." To take the task upon himself and also to eschew other Allied Forces, he created a committee that consisted of 25 members. Most members were military officers and others were civilians. The committee was all American. No Japanese were involved in the making of the Japanese constitution. MacArthur commanded the committee to have an revised constitution of Japan in a week. He wanted a draft by the first Far Eastern Commission which was on the 26th of February. A member in the committee, Beate Sirota Gordon recounts the event as follows; “we were stunned of course. But, on the other hand, when you're in the army and you get an order, you just do it. You just go ahead.” Immediately after it was done, the constitution was validated by …show more content…
International politics functions with the presence of military in the background. The U.S. for example, has the largest military in the world and consequently is the most influential country in the world. The revision of Article 9 may allow the SDF to engage in combats. However, just because a country is allowed to have a war doesn’t necessary mean it will. If anything, the threat of a military fighting back will keep war further away. Japan is no longer in a post war period. Since the birth of the constitution, the world has changed and so should the Constitution of
The meeting was to discuss improvements on the Articles of Confederation. It lead to them discarding the first document and creating the U.S. Constitution. Many, including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine, and John Adams, built the U.S. Constitution. With seven articles in the new document, the following was also put into it. People were
In the early years, after winning independence from Great Britain, the American colonies set up their government in accordance with their first constitution, the Articles of Confederation. This means that the majority of the power laid in the hands of the states and Congress, “the only institution of national authority” (Brinkley 151) at that time, had very little power. This distribution of authority was the manifestation of the American’s fear of a strong, central government. However, as time passed, more and more people came to agree that the national government was too weak and needed to be strengthened.
During the revolutionary war congress felt that it needed a document to unite the states and set forth the principles and laws of the nation. Benjamin Franklin wrote the first draft of the articles to congress although it was never formally considered. It wasn’t until the 4th version of a draft was presented by John Dickinson, which congress began to feel closer to what they were looking for. After being revised three times, the document was approved to be submitted to the states in November 1777. All but one state, Maryland, agreed to the articles.
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.
The Constitutional Convention took place from May 25th, 1787 to September 17th, 1787 in the city of Philadelphia. The official purpose of the convention was to amend the articles of Confederation/ how the country was going to be governed. Although the convention had been called for revising the Articles of Confederation, two delegates (James Madison and Alexander Hamilton) wanted to make a totally new government. Seventy delegates from each original state were supposed to come to the Constitutional Convention, but only 55 out of the 70 arrived. The first two months of debating were only about the 15 points of the “Virginia Plan” that James Madison thought of to replace the Articles of Confederation.
The Articles of Confederation was written by Congress. Benjamin Franklin was the first to make up an article and to present it to Congress in July 1775, his draft was never fully considered. John Dickinson from Pennsylvania was the fourth to submit a draft for the Articles of Confederation. Dickinson’s third summit was presented to Congress.
On July 5, the day the committee presented its report Yates and John Lansing left the convention and then later in a joint letter to the Governor of New York, they gave their reasons for their early departure and their views on adopting the constitution. They continued to warn against the dangers of centralizing power and urged opposition to adopting the Constitution. (“Delegates to the Constitutional
May 1787. 55 delegates, one long, sweaty conference. The Constitutional Convention was a huge event for the United States. During this convention, the 55 delegates from all states except Rhode Island met up to change their Articles of Confederation. Instead of editing, however, the 55 delegates rewrote the whole thing into the Constitution, which is still used today.
After Shay's Rebellion, the Congress invited 55 delegates to travel to Philadelphia to discuss about the Articles of Confederation. Some of them included James Madison, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin. The meeting became known as the Constitutional Convention, starting in 1787. As soon as the Convention started, they elected George Washington as president of the convention. Edmund Randolph, introduced the delegates to Madison’s plan, also known also the Virginia Plan.
The Constitution still protects its citizes on several accounts, including through democracy and power distribution, nevertheless failing in premitting the President to wield all powers during a national emergency. As for the future, the Constitution will continue to be amended to protect the citizens to the best of its ability from tyrants and their dictatorial
Despite the fact that The Constitution is 226 years old, it is a living document and there have been and will be changes made which make it still relevant. Critics argue that “that writing the Constitution was far easier for the Framers while they were writing it and could avoid the problems we face today like needing a super majority to change the Constitution,” (Irvine) however, the Constitution allows amendments to be made and to date has 27 of them which discounts that argument. The process of amending The Constitution, although may seem grueling to a typical critic, proves to be successful. Each amendment serves a vital role in protecting the American people and was not added without popular demand. The Constitution is tailored to meet the needs of modern day society that the Founding Fathers were unable to account for while constructing the political and governmental masterpiece.
Imperialism in Japan Background: Japan prior to the Meiji restoration was ruled in a hierarchy very similar to other European countries. The hierarchy was that of lords, samurai and then peasants. The Japanese equivalent to a king at the time was a military dictator called a shogun. During this time the capital was Kyoto and the shogun was part of the Tokugawa clan. That is why this period is referred to as the Tokugawa Shogunate.
It describes the rights and responsibilities of the government and of all the states as a federal government. A system whereby several states form a unity but remain independent in internal affairs. Since the Constitution came into force in 1789, it has been amended twenty-seven times to meet the changing needs of the maturing nation which is now very different from the eighteenth-century world in which it was created. The ideals of the Constitution are to form one union from all the states. The states work together as one nation but have independent internal laws.
Because of its vagueness, it will continue to adapt with the times. It can be determined that the Constitution was a good first step in the right
Two changes I would make in the constitution both fall into the second article. This is the article concerning the presidential election process and duties. While other articles could of course be modified in some way or another, I find that the two changes I came up with could be agreed with by almost everyone. I tried to make these decision not based on how I feel about politics and my beliefs, but instead I made my decisions based on what is best for everybody. I wanted to put my political affiliation aside for this question because in the grand scheme of things what I will suggest are things that could legitimately be addressed without too much complication.