2.3.8 Practice: Analysis Essay: Independence and Constitutions
Practice Assignment
English III (2013) Sem 1 (S2605467)
Ashley Heaton
Points possible: 50
Date: ____________
Assignment
Write a literary analysis essay of the U.S. Constitution.
Focus on how the Constitution provides liberty for American citizens.
Use quotations from the Constitution to support your points.
If you choose, you can compare or contrast the U.S. Constitution with the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace (the Iroquois Constitution).
Your essay should use a basic three-paragraph structure (introductory paragraph with a hook and a thesis, a supporting paragraph, and a concluding paragraph) and should be written in 12-point font with one-inch page margins.
For
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This document lessened some of those issues and attempted to accommodate the requests of all states. However, Elitist framers manipulated the idea of a constitution in order to protect their economic interests and the interests of their fellow white land and slave owning men' by restricting the voices of women, slaves, indentured servants and others.
The Constitution that was created had a strong central government and weaker state governments. Under the Constitution, Congress was given the power to levy taxes, regulate trade between the states, raise an army, control interstate commerce, and more. A three-branch government was established in which a judicial branch handled disputes in a federal court system, a President headed an executive branch, and a legislative branch. Conversely, the anti-federalists believed in weak central and strong state governments, as the way it was in The Articles of Confederation and believed in strict adherence to the writings of the constitution.
Furthermore, the creation of The Constitution caused much debate between the elite and democratic states because they thought that if the Government got all of the power, they would lose their rights. The conflict between the North and South played a major role in the development of this document. The North felt that representation in Congress should be based on the number of total people and South felt that it should be based on number of whites. However, The Three Fifths
When the founders were creating the Constitution for the new nation they wanted to keep the freedoms of the United States but wanted to have a strong government. They thought the best way to get a strong government but to keep the people’s rights were to create the three branches of government. The three branches of government are Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branch. Legislative makes laws, Executive enforces the laws, and the Judicial branch explains the laws. Know we will key on the Legislative Branch.
The Articles provided no executive branch,so Congress had the complete authority to govern the U.S. The Constitution provided a president who would enforce the federal laws (Doc 5). The legislative branch was represented by one house, with each state having one vote. Also, no votes were needed to begin an important legislation. The Constitution created a bicameral legislature, and each state had equal representation in the Senate (Doc 5). Unlike the Articles where no votes were needed to enact a major legislation, the Constitution required a small amount of authority to proceed with a major legislation. The Articles of Confederation created no federal court system, so no states could sort out major affairs. The Constitution created national court system that could sort out the affairs between states and citizens. the different states had a changing population of Federalists and Antifederalists. One example of power regulation added into the Constitution is the checks and balances governmental system.This system of government in the branches made it so the three branches could regulate each other’s power. Another example of power regulation, is the addition of the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments of the Constitution which protected the individual rights of people. Again, the most major difference between the two guidelines of government was the shift of power. This shift of power altered the political environment of the United States as a young
During the Revolutionary War, colonists believed that they needed a sense of unified government, so this led to the creation of the Articles of Confederation, the first written constitution of the United States (history.com). Although the Articles of Confederation had its strengths, such as allowing the central government to create treaties and maintain military, it had many weaknesses, such as preventing the central government to levy taxes and regulate trade. It also could not be changed unless there was a unanimous decision and it lacked a stable currency. Since the creation of the Articles of Confederation had many issues and weaknesses, the Continental Congress rewrote the Articles into what is now known as the U.S Constitution. The Constitution established a national government, guaranteed basic rights for the colonists and revised almost everything that was wrong in the original Articles, such as the sovereignty that resided primarily in the states and the lack of power from the national government. The Constitution was later ratified by all 13 states in May 1790, with the support of the Federalist Party. [A] Federalists believed in the commitment to a strong national government and in the practice of a separation of powers. However, Anti-Federalists had the opposite view which was the opposition of a strong national government, the support for small landowners, and the representation of rights of the people. Anti-Federalists believed that a strong national government
After winning the Revolutionary War, the states faced the strenuous task of creating a national government that balanced federal powers with individual and state rights. The first endeavor resulted in the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation gave too much power to the states and not enough power to the federal government. The imbalance of power resulted in a weak national government. The Constitution replaced the feeble Articles with a powerful federal government that incorporated republican ideals. Under this new system of government George Washington and Thomas Jefferson established new procedures, laws, and policies that set the standards and structured the new government. The laws, policies, and actions of both George
The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution and served to form a type of government for the 13 colonies at the time. ”The Articles of Confederation is the original framework for the government of the United States, adopted in 1781 and superseded by the U.S Constitution in 1789. It established a “firm league of friendship” among the states, rather than a government “of the people” (Dye 66). When the Articles of Confederation were established the federal government lacked power, but most of the power was held within the states. “The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments” (Primary Documents in American History). The articles of confederation failed by giving state more power than the federal government. U.S. feared that if the federal government had
The Articles of Confederation were seen by the Anti-Federalists as a solution to finding a government binding document instead of the Constitution. Although the Articles of Confederation could draw up treaties, borrow money, and produce money they could not enforce treaties, repay the money that was borrowed, and it could not stop certain states from the attempts of issuing their own money. These were just some of the reasons the Federalists believed that the Articles of Confederation could no longer be used to run a country. The Constitution was believed to solve all of these problems with the states as a whole but also give the states the power that they longed for. In order for all of the power to be divided, three branches of government were made; executive, legislative, and judicial.
But the articles denied Congress the power to collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce and enforce laws. Because of this, the central government had to request donations from the states to finance its operations and raise armed forces. The states attempted to limit the power of the national government because they feared that it would become a monarchy. In an effort to limit the power of the national government, Congress created one without enough power to govern effectively, which led to serious national and international problems.
It gave the national government the power to tax, draft troops, and as stated above to control interstate commerce, etc. It also created an executive branch and a federal court system, both of which were lacking under the Articles of Confederation. One of the biggest arguments against the new Constitution was that it gave the national government too much power. This argument was addressed by the framers by creating a system of checks and balances, creating a system with three branches, each with its own separate powers (separation of powers), and creating a federal system where powers were divided between the federal government and state governments, with some powers delegated to the federal government, some reserved to the states and some shared by both. For example, each state government makes decisions for educational policies within that state.
The United States Constitution that was created from the convention put forth a federal government with more specific powers, including those related to conducting relationships with foreign countries. Under the reformed federal system, many of the responsibilities for foreign communications fell under the authority of an executive branch, although important powers remained with the legislative branch. The constitution came into effect in 1789 and has served as the basis of the United States Government ever since. To resolve certain issues with the rising debts from the revolutionary war and other domestic costs, the delegates at the constitutional convention created a system of checks and balances among the three branches of the federal government.
Furthermore, the Articles of Confederation left all governing power with the states, while the Constitution divided power into three branches: the executive, legislative, and judiciary. Using a system of checks and balances, the powers of each branch were kept in check by those of another. (Three Branches Of Government, 2015.) Articles I, II, and III detail the powers of each branch and how they are to managed. For example, a section of article II states “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President…” This is an example of how the executive branch is to be run.
Nonetheless, disagreements and various opinions lead to the formation of two different groups. The Federalists, and the Anti-Federalists. The Anti-Federalists opposed this revision of the Constitution, because they did not approve of one single, strong, central government. A long list of possible abuses of power by the central government were written by the Anti-Feds, which included a Constitution’s lack of protection for individual rights, and ignoring the rights of the majority people. The Federalists, on the other hand, were in favor of the Constitution, because they approved the balance of power between the central government and the states governments. In their opinion, the division of powers and a system of checks and balances among other branches from the government, would prevent any tyrannical actions. These branches of government were the Judicial Branch, which held the Supreme Court, the Legislative Branch that concluded of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the Executive Branch which included of only the president. Each of these branches, had a “check and balance” with each
The United States Constitution establish a national government and fundamental laws for its citizens. Before the Constitution, however, there was the Articles of Confederation, it was the country’s first governing document. The Articles were ratified in 1781, two years before the end of American Revolution to get independence from Great Britain. At the time of the American Revolution, the nation was a loose confederation of states that operated like independent countries. The national government only had a single legislature, there also was no president or judicial branch. Under the Articles of Confederation, it gave Congress the power to govern foreign affairs, conduct war and regulate currency. These powers, however, were limited because
In creating the Constitution, the states had reacted differently on the subject, whereas some were against it and others understanding. The Constitution was made in the May of 1787 in Philadelphia. It's purpose being to answer the call for a constitutional convention where fifty-five delegates came. Though Rhode Island's representative had not come and New Hampshire's would not come until July. The matter of the meeting was to create a new constitution since the existing Articles of Confederation did not work. It was too weak and let states act independently, and thus the challenge was to create a stronger one without creating a tyranny and hold the nation together. The new constitution would have to hold the states and people together, but not let any of the new branches or governments from the new frame gain too much control. The question was how they did it, how did all of their measures help avoid tyranny? Tyranny is the accumulation of power used unfairly in the hands of a certain person or group. The Constitution guarded against tyranny by including federalism,
Under this new document, power is distributed between the states and the federal government with the federal government having more power. The central government was granted eighteen enumerated powers, which are listed in Article 1, section 8 in the constitution, and all powers not listed there a granted to the state, according to the tenth amendment. Since the federal government was given the vast majority of power, the founders split the government into three different branches, Executive Branch, which enforces the laws, the Legislative Branch, which makes our laws, and the Judicial Branch which interprets laws according to the Constitution. At that time people were outraged and it split the nation in half, and people were either federalists, who supported the Constitution or the anti-federalists, which were not in favor of the constitution. The main reason that the country was divided due to the constitution was not having a bill of rights. After the founders edited the constitution and added a bill of rights, the constitution was accepted and it became the supreme law of the
America quickly realized shortly after the Revolutionary War, that forming a type of government was the next crucial step for the newly Independent country. What came about was a very loose and extremely weak government body known as the Articles of Confederation. Further analyzing the word Confederation, we will find that this word ultimately represents a type of agreement among men with many limitations of power compared to that of the later federalism that would come about. The Articles of Confederation was merely an accordance of opinion between the thirteen states all of which were only represented by a one-house congress. Without a president, executive branch to make laws or even a national court system, the thirteen states would continue to act as if they were their own separate countries.