History Reaction Paper

The Constitution & Bill of Rights The U.S. Constitution was not adopted until 1787, after nearly 6 years of independence for the new country. From adoption to ratification in 1788, it produced a storm of controversy and debate over the nature and role of government. That debate was mainly between the Federalist and Anti-Federalists. The argument between those in support of the Constitution (which were the Federalists) and those opposed (which were the Anti-Federalists) outlined the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the document that would become the law of the land. Today, some people argue that the Constitution is a flexible document that was intended to evolve as society did. Other people argue that is has a fixed meaning and to move beyond is only denying it’s value. I believe that the Constitution was designed to protect individual freedom and to limit the power of the federal government. Although there were many opinions and arguments for our Constitution, I feel that it still became a good compromise for individual liberty and freedom and has survived in our government today because of this. America just got out of a society changing war that they weren’t even expected to win. Now that they finally won the war, they had to deal with the struggles of their own government. They for sure knew that they didn't want the same kind of government as Britain. I think that this was one of the only things that everyone actually agreed on. The Constitution was a major priority for the nation because there needed to be some kind of structure and rules. The Federalists favored the Constitution and thought that the structural features were very important. James Madison argued that the size of the population would make it hard for a national majority group to form. Federalists wanted to branch out the government to where the national government would be confined (Something completely different than Britain). They wanted a president, the senate, and the house of representatives. I feel like this system has always worked great for the United States. We’ve never had any major problems that drastically changed the structure of our government. It gives everyone a fair say in the way that we make our decisions when it comes to the laws, the economy, and everything else that we have to deal with. The Anti-Federalists were not happy about this Constitution. This is where the Bill of Rights came into part. I feel that the Bill of Rights was a huge compromise between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. The only reason that the Anti-Federalists accepted the Constitution in the end was because the Federalists added the Bill of Rights as a part of the Constitution. It’s laws specify the basic rights and most admired liberties of the American people which also protected them from popular majority opinions and aggressive government officials. I feel like the Bill of Rights has always been a good start to our country because it has been changed once (18th Amendment Prohibition). Our founding fathers did a great job of starting a foundation, through the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, of protecting our rights throughout our whole course of history. Though America even started out with two disputing parties (Federalists and Anti-Federalists) I feel that both parties contributed and did a wonderful job at making sure our rights, liberties, and freedom were secured. If it wasn’t for the Federalists, we wouldn’t have our Constitution and if it wasn’t for the Anti-Federalists, we wouldn’t have the Bill of Rights. Both of these documents are very important to American today, as well as throughout the course of our history. Today, because of our founding fathers, the Constitution still stands strong as the law of our country.