Before the constitution, America was governed by the Articles of Confederation. This governing document was somewhat effective, but was very weak and caused many states such as Texas to act as independent countries. America was not unified like it is today, and many saw the need for change. No single person governed our country, there was no judicial branch, and Congress had little authority. A group of delegated saw this need for change, and met at the Pennsylvania State House to determine a better system for our country. 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 …show more content…
James Madison was the fourth president of the United States, and help build a foundation for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights was introduced in 1789, and had several different purposes for our country. The first one was to establish liberty and freedom for the citizens of the United States. Many rights we take for granted today, such as freedom of press, freedom to protest peacefully, and the freedom to share your opinions with the government. The right to bear arms and the right to a speedy trial was also introduced. Some of these rights are still debated to this day, but they are key to establishing a dependable relationship between our government and its people. They establish a sense of security for our people, and gives them the confidence to express their opinions with the government. On the contrary, if we didn’t have the Bill of Rights within our Constitution, the fundamental principles that we all share as US citizens would not exist. Many of the immigrants traveling to our country would not come, because many of the immigrants who travel here are trying to gain more freedom. Our government would be more Communistic, and the freedom we all have taken for granted since birth would not …show more content…
These obligations help us as citizens of the United States stay safe, and help us become better people in the long run. Some of these obligations include defending the rights of the Constitution, defend the country if needed by the United States (getting drafted), paying taxes to both your state and federal governments, obeying the laws that our country has established, serving jury duty if you have committed a crime, and serving as a witness at a court trial. We as citizens are obligated to live by these rights, and respect the rules and obligations of the government. These duties and obligations are included within the constitution, and without them, our government would not be able to control many of its citizens. These obligations help show our loyalty to both our country and government. If we all could live by these obligations in our country, crime rates would be little to none, and there would be a system of unified respect between all of the citizens of the
Last, but not least, the right to Limited Government. Without limiting our government they could gain way too much power and leave us with none. “Power to the people!” wouldn’t mean anything, because the people wouldn’t have power if government wasn’t limited. We have these protected rights for a reason. Reason is simply because without them, we’d be just like the slaves who came here on that nasty ship; dirty and
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
The book, A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution covers many more topics than just the making of the American constitution that Americans know today. It discusses events prior to the constitution that made the founding fathers have to revisit the governmental structure they built. The founding fathers knew that they did not want a big centralized government since that is what they were escaping from in Britain. With that in mind, they gave a lot of power to the state governments, which reinforced the states not wanting to cooperate with each other since no one was really telling them or had the power to tell them to unite under one nationality. But it was a struggle to figure out how to divide up power to not let one section
“How did the Constitution Guard Against Tyranny” In 1787, the delegate decided to meet up in Philadelphia to write the Constitution. The Constitution decided to guard against tyranny in many different ways, which was the Federalism, Separation of Powers, Check and Balance, and Small and Large States. The first guard against tyranny was the Federalism, which was the Central and State Government. The reason Federalism is protected from tyranny is because they want to make sure that the state and national governments have power but not too much, where they can come to powerful (Document A)
A Bill of Rights was demanded by the smaller states to ratify the Constitution to ensure liberties. It took almost a year until the new government was put in motion on October 10, 1788.
The delegates unanimously agreed to debate the proposal called the Virginia Plan, after reading it they almost immediately rejected the idea of amending The Articles of Confederation, but instead they decided to use it and create a whole entirely new Constitution (The Challenge of Democracy 60). This is a big contributor to one of the main reasons why the Constitution is
The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787, but there was a grapple for its ratification that went on until about two decades after the ratification. Members of Congress believed that the first government of the United States or the Articles of Confederation, needed to be adjusted while others did not want anything to change. After the Revolutionary War, the people did not want a strong central government, because it reminded them too much of what they were trying to escape from. Under the Articles, each state had their own laws, and the need for a new Constitution was desired by many. The Constitution of 1787 created huge debates, arguments and splits in the nation that lasted for several year after its ratification between people who
In May of 1787, 55 delegates came to Philadelphia to have a Constitutional Convention. They had this meeting so they could make the U.S. Constitution. They wanted to make one because the articles of the Confederation were not working. They wanted to make a Constitution that would benefit the U.S. The Constitution also guarded against tyranny in 4 different ways, Federalism, Separation of powers, checks and balances and big State little State, compromise.
The Bill of Rights was created to lay out the most essential rights of the people and the states as a free
The Bill of Rights also changed the government and transformed it for the better. The government is the way it is because of the Philadelphia Convention. The delegates knew that America would evolve and adjust so they offered some protection. They didn’t want the constitution to hold back the country from developing, so they inserted a law in Article Five stating that the government could make changes or amendments to the constitution. This crucial decision has benefited generations.
The Federalists and The Anti-Federalists: Two different ideologies After the American Revolution, the United States had to face the war debt and challenges of constructing a new country. In an effort to create a system that solved these problems, they created the Constitution. In order to institute a new government under the Constitution, the ratification required the approval of nine states conventions. States that did not ratify the Constitution would not be considered as a part of the United States. The creation of the Constitution became a complicated process, especially between two political groups with different ideologies, who fought over the distribution of power.
After declaring of independence from Britain in 1777, the representatives, who participated the Constitutional Congress meetings in 1774, formed together to create the Congress. Power within the Congress believed that creating an official document, a constitution specifically, will create a timeless guide for a beneficial and successful government system for the United States. Not only will that document bring peace between all of the current thirteen-states, but for also the future of America. The first constitution that was officially agreed on was the Articles of Confederation. the Article of Confederation, however, was not as successful as many had thought during the first time it was written.
Slavery in the U.S. Constitution After the Unites States declared Independence from Great Britain in 1776, they greatly feared a strong national government that would be like a monarchy like the one Great Britain had. To prevent this tyrannical government from happening in the U.S., a convention of delegates from all thirteen states were brought together to create the U.S.’s first written constitution: the Articles of Confederation. This convention was called the Continental Congress. The Articles of Confederation focused on having a federal government, or a loose alliance of the states.
In the late 1700’s, James Madison wrote the first Ten Amendments that are listed in the United States Constitution. The Bill of Rights were written to ensure American citizens that they have freedoms and rights that the government can 't infringe. Out of the Ten Amendments, I believe that the First and Eighth Amendment are the most significant. The First Amendment grants us freedom of speech, religion, press, petition, and for people to assemble peaceably.
The Articles of Confederation was the first form of government of United States. The Articles of Confederation was so weak because the Federal government didn’t have the right to tax the citizen, so they would not have enough capital to pay the loan that was borrowed during Revolutionary War. Nevertheless, every amendment required all 13 states to approve, so it was so difficult to set up an amendment. Therefore, changes were almost impossible to happen. It led to the Constitutional Convention because the politician thought the Articles of Confederation was too weak, so they did need improvement.