4. “The voting turnout this year dipped
4. “The voting turnout this year dipped
The structure of the Republic and its underlying flaws, shown through individual actions, was integral to the weakening of the Roman Republic. This government consisted of two factions; the Optimate and the Populares. The Optimates were traditionalist politicians, who supported the republic and wished to minimize the power of the popular assemblies and the Tribunes of the plebs. The Populares represented the people and relied on the legislative assemblies and the Tribunate to gain power. The senate tended to side with the Optimates as there key interests coincided. They were perturbed with the idea of individuals rising through the assemblies, backed by their armies and the Tribunate. When Pompey wished to secure land for his war veterans in 62 BC, the senate blocked him, as they did not want him gaining power and challenging them. This relates to the relative power of the Senate and the assemblies. The senate could pass decrees in the form of advice. However if this conflicted with a law passed through the assembly, it would override the senates decree. The Senate had tried to undermine this power; yet, was restored under the consulships of Caesar in 59 and Crassus and Pompey in 55. As the republic declined, individuals used the tribunes and the assemblies for their personal gain. This is how Pompey and Crassus passed laws,…
The thirteen American colonies required a functioning government after the Revolutionary War. The Founding Fathers’ John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington wrote up the first attempt at a government called The Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation gave majority power to the states, this weakened the newly created government system. The Articles of Confederation replaced the U.S. Constitution because there needed to be a checks and balance system between the U.S. Government and its states by ensuring neither party had majority power.…
“It is almost exactly true to say they framed it, and it is altogether true to say they fairly represented the opinion and sentiment of the whole nation at that time.” Lincoln shaped his views on American government on the consent of the governed. The Founders made necessary concessions to create a perpetual union. The values expressed in the Constitution reflected the will of the people.…
Thomas Jefferson and his group of republicans had no patience with the federalists view that only the “best people” should rule. To Democratic-Republicans, this view came close to monarchy, or rule by a king. Democratic-Republicans believed that the best government was the one that governed the least. A small government with limited powers was most likely to leave the people alone to enjoy the blessings of liberty. To keep the national government small, they insisted on a strict construction, or interpretation, of the Constitution. Opposingly, Alexander Hamilton and his group of federalists believed that the country should be ruled but the best people, educated wealthy public spirited man like themselves. People that had the tims education and background to run the country wisely. Federalists favored a strong national government, they believed in loose construction, a government's powers under the constitution to unite of the states were not nealy as important as national power and unity. They wanted one powerful national government to run the entire…
"Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company" (George Washington). America wouldn't be what it is today if the Founding Fathers didn't feel the same as George Washington did. Britain was bad company and the Founding Fathers felt that America was better off alone, and as its own country. The Founding Fathers were completely just in the way that they separated themselves from Britain, and had every reason to do so.…
-The framers needed a way to establish a stable and orderly constitutional system that would also respect the liberty of free citizens and prevent the tyranny of the majority or of a single dominant interest…
James Madison within Essay #10 of the Federalist Papers “defines a republic to be … a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure for a limited time, or during good behavior. It is essential to such a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion or a favored class of it; otherwise; a handful of tyrannical nobles, exercising their oppressors by a delegation of their powers, might aspire to…
ϖ Why would the founding fathers want to replace the Articles of Confederation with a federal republic? Why would this not lead to tyranny? Prior to the American Revolutionary War, the colonists were longed for their freedom. They accepted their challenge to demand the natural rights and liberties of a mankind even though they had to give up their lives.…
The Framers of the American Constitution were visionaries. They designed our Constitution to endure. They sought not only to address the specific challenges facing the nation during their lifetimes, but to establish the foundational principles that would sustain and guide the nation into an always uncertain future. The "Founding Fathers" included two major groups. The Signers of the Declaration of Independence signed the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776.…
The Framers of the Constitution represented the ideas for America’s government, not for the people themselves. The Founding Fathers had goals for America, and had visions of what they wanted for the government and citizens. Some of these objectives included: establishing justice, form a more perfect union, provide for the common defense, and making a more perfect society. All of these ideas represented the ideas for the government, but not necessarily America’s people…
Our founders believed that there were good points in government from both theorists. They believed that by combining the idea of helping the society as a whole (classical republicanism) and protecting individual rights and working for people’s own self-interest (natural rights philosophy) , a new better idea of people who work for themselves that could benefit the common good overall is the best for America. Cicero’s quote “For our country did not beget and educate us gratuitously, or without the expectation of receiving our support. She does not afford us so many blessings for nothing, and supply us with a…
Instead, they favored a republic, a government in which citizens rule through their elected representatives…
They questioned, how do we give people the power to control their government while also refusing to them the power to use government to violate the rights of others. As the founders built on their experience with a national government under the Articles of Confederation, the challenge was to establish a government that was not so powerful that people could use it to pursue their own interests at the expense of other people's rights. As a result, they settled on what is called a constitutional republic. That is why they divided our government’s power between executive, legislative, and judicial branches. It is also why they split Congress into two bodies.…
The Founding Fathers all had ideas of how they wanted the government to look, but they put aside their differences to come together and form it. Based on their ideologies, the Founding Fathers had a common vision that the political method should identify the common good. They wanted the people to have knowledge of information they needed. The Founding Fathers believed that the people should be informed about the way the government runs, the role of government in their lives, and the innate rights that all citizens should have.…
Both, Rome and Washington, use the idea of democracy and voting. All citizens should get an equal say in what is happening. For example, the Romans split the power in their government many ways: through the Magistrate, the Consul, the Senate, the Tribunes of the Plebs, and the General Assembly. The US splits their power into 4 groups: The Executive Branch, The Judicial Branch, The Legislative Branch, and the power of the citizens. Both governments also followed the ideas of justice; the United States has the Bill of Rights - stating the rights of all its citizens.…