A Brilliant Solution : Inventing The American Constitution

Carol Berkins book “A Brilliant Solution:” Inventing the American Constitution shows how the twentieth century and the seventieth century were similar. As in the twentieth century while the presidential election was in process America waited to see who would be the one to take power in the Oval Office, as in the seventieth century the framers feared greatly that the experiment of self-government would fail. The twentieth century presidential election took a down turn on the day of September 11th, 2001 when the twin towers where hit in New York. The United States believed that they were under attack. September 11th which turned out to be one of the many obstacles that the government came upon. In 1787, when the founding fathers where inventing

David O. Stewart, by profession, is a lawyer with a resume that includes everything from arguing appeals at the Supreme Court level to serving as a law court to the acclaimed Junior Powell. But in writing The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution (specifically, I read the First Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition May 2008, copyrighted in 2007), he uses that experience in law to prove himself a gifted storyteller. Two hundred sixty-four pages long, this United States history nonfiction book does indeed have the substance to engage the reader throughout. It has special features that include two appendices featuring the elector system and the actual constitution of 1787, author’s notes, suggested further reading, acknowledgments and an index (which escalate the total length of the book to three hundred forty-nine pages long).

This book emphasizes the alternative interpretations offered by Americans on the origins of the Constitution. Holton’s purpose with this book was to show that the framers interests involved making America more attractive to investors. In order to do so, they purposefully made the government less democratic with the writing of the Constitution. However, with the addition of the Bill of Rights, one could argue the Framers had at least a slight concern for the American people and their civil liberties.

Following the United States’ independence from Great Britain, the Articles of Confederation were formed in order to hold the country together politically. The Articles proved inefficient, as Congress couldn’t collect taxes or regulate interstate commerce, the government couldn’t raise an army, there was no national currency and most importantly, there was no central government. But the spark that triggered Americans’ realization that they needed to call a constitutional convention happened after an event in Massachusetts in 1786, called Shays’ Rebellion.

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the subsequent ratification of the constitution proved to be a more significant event in American political history than the Declaration of Independence. Many of the american leaders believed we needed to a new, stronger government. They had to persuade the states that stronger government was the right direction to ensure the country’s success.They did that with the constitutional convention but, To sway the states in the right direction documents such as the Federalist papers led the states to ratify the new U.S. Constitution. Which then led to the U.S. Constitution that we still live by to the day.

In May 1787, the Founding Fathers, who were made up of 55 delegates from one of the 13 states besides Rhode Island, met in Philadelphia for what would come to be called the Constitutional Convention [BRE]. When they met they intended to fix the consitution that was already in place, which was called the Articles of Confederation. This document had many weaknesses which ultimatly led to its downfall: it only had a legislative branch, so it could not hold trials or enforce laws, it could not raise taxes (it was able to raise money, however to do this the legislative branch had to ask the states for funds), it could not draft an army, so the federal government would have to use state militia, it could not control interstate or foreign commmerce,

In modern America, many citizens hold to the notion that the Constitution was adopted unanimously, without debate or disagreement. Not only is this not the case, the debate and disagreement that took place during the institution of the governing articles for the newly formed country are ultimately responsible for the system we have in place today as the concerns and counterpoints raised in the discussion were more crucial to the successful continuance of stability in the nation than any unanimous decision. Given the apparent import of such discussion, it is therefore prudent to examine the original points of contention to determine their merit and to further ensure that the concerns originally raised have been addressed sufficiently.

In the book “A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution” by Carol Berkin she explains the constitution from start to finish from how it all began, to the debates inside the convention and finally the end product. Berkin takes the reader and puts him directly in the middle of the convention of 1786; throughout the book you can feel the excitement, the frustration, the tensions between delegates and the overall commitment to making a new government work for all.

By the late eighteenth century, America found itself independent from England; which was a welcomed change, but also brought with it, its own set of challenges. The newly formed National Government was acting under the Articles of Confederation, which established a “firm league of friendship” between the states, but did not give adequate power to run the country. To ensure the young nation could continue independently, Congress called for a Federal Convention to convene in Philadelphia to address the deficiencies in the Articles of Confederation. While the Congress only authorized the convention to revise and amend the Articles the delegates quickly set out to develop a whole new Constitution for the country. Unlike the Articles of

Developing a country and its principals comes with many debates, arguments, and many decisions to be made. In the end of the eighteenth century the Founding Fathers of the newly established America dealt with the difficulties of creating a country with strong political, social, and economic power. With the writing of the Articles of Confederation the country had now developed a national government, but was weak and ineffective. The top leaders of the country knew the flaws of the Articles and gathered together to rewrite the draft. When these decisions makers met in Philadelphia for the Convention the Constitution of the United States was written. This Constitution developed the foundation of the American governmental system. Along with

On September 15, 1787, the delegates at the Philadelphia convention agreed on a document that would cause great change in America, the Constitution. Some Americans agreed with this idea of having a reformed Articles of Confederation. Others feared that this new document would stifle the growth of the new nation even more than the Articles of Confederation. Certain citizens even feared the effect the Constitution would have on their rights.The decision of whether to ratify this Constitution became a point of between the people of America and caused debates among the Americans. Nevertheless, protecting the rights of the people was the most important concern of America, which affected the choices of the nation.

“In a word, it’s at it’s end, and unless a remedy is soon applied, anarchy and confusion will inevitably ensue” said Thomas Jefferson. There were many problems with the current government, so the gathering of the Constitutional Convention was needed for a cleansing and revising of the government. There were many challenges facing the Convention, including keeping the meeting a secret from the public and the current government, convincing the delegates to agree on issues, and finding knowledgeable and influential people who were enthusiastic about doing the work needed. The old government had be replaced so they had to try and get together to make something better and more effective central government

The constitutional convention of the 1787 was held in Philadelphia to ratify the new constitution that resolved the existing articles of the confederation. This article did discuss about how the central government looked like before the new constitution was approved by the existing states. In this article, some of the weaknesses of the federal governments discussed were, its inability to have a strong foreign policy that would make all the states uniform. The article also elaborated about the role of the new constitution on the checks and balances of power between the branches of the government. Like other articles that discussed about the constitution of the 1787, this article discussed about many contents of the constitution; however, it

The Constitution of the United States has been criticized on, primarily, three grounds. Firstly, the Constitution’s dealing with the rights of the people, or the lack thereof. Secondly, the Constitution’s unwillingness to mention the slaves within the several states. Finally, many point to the notion that the Constitution allows for a massive, corruptible government wherein an elite group of officials, or the majority of the people, can become tyrannical and work against the liberties of a minority. These claims do not accurately portray the position of the Constitution.

After the victory over the British, each state had its own Constitution and Bill of Rights, but there were no centralized government. The Continental Government had a number of responsibilities that were not granted to them legitimately. They had created the Continental Army, printed money, managed trade, and dealt with the nation’s debt. They felt that they needed to legitimate their actions and realized that there was a need for a centralized government (Schultz, p115). In this report, I will compare and contrast the Articles of Confederation with the new Constitution of 1787, analyze the drafting of the Constitution and how the states compromised to draft it effectively, compare and contrast the debate over the ratification between the