The United States Constitution, adopted by the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787 and executed on March 4, 1789, replaced the less effective Articles of Confederation, and is now the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the oldest written constitution still in use, and plays a decisive role in US law and politics. The Constitution is often hailed as a philosophical marvel, and serves as a template for several other nations. Nevertheless, it has been challenged numerous times since its creation. Our founders included a process to amend the constitution if necessary as they foresaw this. The first ten of these amendments are justly named the Bill of Rights for they protect the natural rights of citizens by putting limitations…
The U.S. constitution created America’s national government and fundamental laws. It guaranteed certain basic rights for citizens and was ratified in 1789. The constitution wanted to make the federal government stronger with three branches; executive, legislative and judicial. They also created a system of checks and balances to ensure no branch would be allowed to have too much power. In 1791 the first ten amendments “Bill of Rights,” were added to the constitution.…
In the year of 1787 the rights and liberties of citizens of the United States would be changed for eternity. The Constitution was signed to create a democracy by which the United States was governed to protect against tyranny (cruel or unjust powers). Before the Constitution, under the Articles of Confederation, there was no chief executive or leader, no court system, and there wasn’t even a way for the central government to force a state to pay taxes. So, how did the Constitution guard against tyranny? Federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and big states v. small states are all ways that protect the people of the United States and the Constitution against tyranny.…
James Madison said, ¨If men were angels no government would be needed.” But men are not angels therefore a limited government is needed in order to rule over a free people. Because the United State's first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, proved to be too weak, the leaders of the country recognized the need for a stronger central government. In the summer of 1787, delegate from the states met in Philadelphia to frame a new government. Their challenge was to create a stronger federal government without giving too much power to any one person or group, thus creating a tyranny. The result of their efforts was a new constitution divided into three separate branches: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. In what ways does the Constitution shield us from oppression? The Constitution guards against tyranny in three ways: federalism, separation of powers, and checks and balances.…
In May, 1787, 55 men from 11 states gathered in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention. The object of the meeting was to frame a government that was strong enough to hold the states and people together, but also could guard against tyranny. At the time, the Articles of Confederation was in use, but it wasn’t working. So the framers were stuck with a big question. How could the new constitution guard against tyranny? Now, we know that the constitution guards against tyranny because it has federalism, checks and balances, separation of powers, and how representation is set up.…
Written in 1787 by James Madison, the United States Constitution was created to guard against tyranny in the new government system. In the words of James Madison, “The accumulation of all powers ... in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many (is) the very definition of tyranny.” The people of the thirteen states were afraid of tyranny due to the tyrant leading their previous country, King George III. The last thing they wanted was for their new world to be a tyranny, just like the one they escaped from, so they created the Constitution. The Constitution guarded against tyranny by separating the powers of the federal and state governments, splitting the government into three branches, and attempting to give big states and little states equal representation.…
The United States Constitution, the first constitution of its kind, was ratified on September 17, 1787, at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The Constitution gave Congress the power to tax and raise an army. The American federal government was established, and certain citizens’ rights were guaranteed, but implications within the document itself garnered hefty resistance. People claimed the Constitution would frame a successful government that the Articles of Confederation failed to do, but others said that the centralization of a federal government would provide an opportunity for it to use its powers immorally. Without a government, the nation might retreat to anarchy, but with a government, the rights of the people might be…
In 1787, the Constitutional Convention convened to strengthen the central government. If they failed at what they were doing they all believed that this would be the general misfortune of human kind . After much wrangling the Constitution was written, attempting to create a perfect unity throughout the states. To prevent against giving the central government too much power, the delegates writing the Constitution added something ground breaking known as the Bill of Rights. This limits the power of federal government in the United States and protects the rights of all citizens.…
Unlike some of the state legislatures that wrote and voted on their constitutions, the US Constitution was to be ratified by special state constitutional conventions. This virtually made it impossible for Congress to change the Constitution on an impulse or to even abolish it, leaving no room for “democratic despotism”. It also placed sovereignty with the people and not with governmental institutions. This very important principle of sovereignty was carried over from the revolution but seemingly got lost in some of the states’ legislatures. The Constitution considered the people to be the supreme authority. The Federalists were arguing that “sovereignty remained always with the people and government was only a temporary and limited agency of the people.” This principle was made even clearer by the opening words of the Constitution: “We the People of the United States”, leaving no doubt as to where sovereignty rested, and considering the people the “only source of just authority.” With the debate of sovereignty finally put to rest the Constitution was ratified, strengthening the union of thirteen states by embodying republican…
The Constitution is a document that establishes America’s national government and grants rights to citizens. The first document that established a structure for the national government was the Articles of Confederation which granted no power to the federal government. This document was proven ineffective because not enough power was granted to the federal government. The Constitution took its place as the framework for the United States and has been in effect ever since. Regardless of personal opinions, the United States Constitution has proven to be effective due to its strict definitions of government institutions, its implementation of checks and balances among the three branches of government, and its ability to have differing, flexible…
When the Constitution of the United States was originally created, it did not contain a Bill of Rights. In the Constitutional Convention, the Federalists argued that the Bill of Rights was not necessary. Opposingly, the Anti-Federalists argued that the central government had too much power and that our Constitution needed a Bill of Rights that would explicitly state the rights of the citizens. In order to settle disputes between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists that claimed the government had an imbalance of power, the Bill of Rights was created. Containing the first ten Amendments, the Bill of Rights ultimately split up the powers and gave specific duties to the separate branches to create balance in power between the state and central…
The United States government underwent major changes in the first century. With the problems with the Articles of Confederation and dealing with foreign policy something must be done. Thus State Delegates met for the Constitutional Convention to discuss such issues. Roughly a year after the Convention individuals wanted more protection from the government, so James Madison wrote up the Bill of Rights to protection individual’s rights. These were to protect individuals from the government and made certain rights undeniable. Another major change the U.S. went through was the Civil War, and the freeing of slaves, then the Reconstruction amendments following the end of the war.…
Could you imagine what the United States would be like if our government didn't protect us from tyranny? Luckily, due to the constitution our founding fathers created, we don't have to worry about tyranny happening any time soon! Written in Philadelphia, 1787, the constitution was made to replace the articles of confederation which were too weak to hold the government together or to be effective. Their objectives for writing it was to ensure that the government was strong nationally and able to run smoothly without allowing any one group to have all the power, or in other words, tyranny to take place. What they came up with was four ways to guard against this, including, federalism, checks and balances, separation of powers, and representation in the House and Senate.…
This article is explaining the author Walter William’s opinion on why the Bill of Rights were written. He states that they were written because “Congress could not be trusted with our God-given rights.” The article also explained that the Amendments within the Bill of Rights were written because the “Government was the enemy of the people.” Even though the government was the “enemy” it was still needed to provided the State's protection.Others think that the Bill of Rights were “unnecessary and dangerous.” One of the individuals that felt it was unnecessary and dangerous was Alexander Hamilton, he felt that the government should have more power than the States.…
The American people have been known from the start for a strong Constitution created to protect the rights of their citizens. As culture evolved, our interpretation of the document has shifted with it, but the document itself and its fundamental concepts have not. The Constitution has protected the basic rights of all citizens, and has granted us certain privileges that allow us to uphold the democracy and the government that serves the people. Some of these include the right to vote and the ability of citizens to maintain their status.…