On March 4th 1789 the constitution of the United States of America came into effect. Derived from the visions of seven political leaders and statesmen and consisting of only seven articles, the US constitution would become the first of its kind, the bedrock of democracy and lay the foundations for democratic political systems across the world. Since 1789, America has progressed in ways that would have seemed unimaginable at the time. Politicians and their political ideas have been and gone, World wars have been fought, equality is no longer a wishful dream but stringently expected and the American flag was even planted on the moon. However, one aspect of America has stayed the same. Its democratic values. Made possible by the actions of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. The US constitution has been described as a ‘living document’, designed to adapt through the ages and find solutions to the problems of modern day American politics. The transformation of the US constitution has been a vast but necessary, America has progressed, as have its people. The need for change was to be inevitable, America was after all the leader of the modern world, and its constitution would need to reflect this. To say the constitution ‘has transformed beyond recognition from the vision of the Founding Fathers’ is correct, however, it was meant to.
The Founding Fathers knew the constitution would have to change with the times, it would have been illogical and naive to have believed that the necessary laws of 1789 would reflect that of laws centuries down the line. In Article Five of the Constitution is states “The Congress, whenever two-third of both houses shall deem in necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution”, furthermore, states themselves were given the opportunity to propose changes and amendments, and should