Complications of the U.S. Constitution The delegates of 1787, gathered at a convention in Philadelphia to try and revise the existing government, but almost immediately threw out the Articles of Confederation when an entirely new document emerged. It became the known system called federalism, in which a strong national government with a clear separation of powers between executive, legislative, and judicial branches functioned alongside state governments with clearly designated responsibilities. Along with arguments about how best to ensure the rights of individual states were to be protected and how “the people” would be represented in congress were also resolved by establishing a senate with equal representation for each state, and a House of Representatives for the number of delegates was determined by population counts (Shi 2015 pg. 218). However, many of the delegates during the period of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution had widely different ideas about how each of the independent countries should be organized and run, including George Mason and Ben Franklin. To start with, George Mason, who was a delegate at the Constitutional Convention increasingly became uneasy with the document, because he feared and questioned, “Whether a consolidated government can preserve the freedom and secure the rights of the people. It is ascertained, by history, that there never was government over a very extensive country without destroying the liberties of the people. To a
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was held to address problems in governing the United States which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation since it’s independence from Britain. Fifty-five delegates from the states attended the convention to address these issues. The delegates consisted of federalists who wanted a strong central government to maintain order and were mainly wealthier merchants and plantation owners and anti-federalists who were farmers, tradesmen and local politicians who feared losing their power and believed more power should be given to the states. The Constitutional Convention dealt with the issue of the debate between federalists and anti-federalists. The debates, arguments and compromises
The ratification of the US Constitution in 1787 sparked a ferocious and spiteful debate between two large groups of people, those who supported the ratification and those who did not. Both sides were very passionate about their ideas yet they were so divergent, as one believed that the ratification could create a more powerful, unified country, while others worried about the government gaining perhaps too much control. The supporters and opponents equally had various strong reasons in their beliefs regarding the ratification of the US Constitution, the most common for the supporters being that the current government was heading badly, and a ratification would fix all the mistakes made originally and set the course for a successful government. On the other hand, the biggest concern for the opponents was that the ratification would give the government too much power, and there would be no controlling force to keep the government in its place.
In 1787, the Constitution was written and submitted for ratification by the 13 states, but not everyone agreed with it. There were two groups of though. One was the Anti-federalists, who opposed the Constitution and the other group were the Federalists, who supported it. The Anti-federalists were people who supported the Articles of Confederation because they were doing well under them. They were mostly poor people from rural areas and were supported by the big states. They believed that the Constitution did not secure their rights and gave the central government too much power. The Federalists were mostly the wealthy people who lived in or near city areas and were supported by the smaller states. They believed that the separation of
When the Framers of the Constitution met in Philadelphia, they came together with one common purpose in mind. They needed to form a fair and solid system of government that would stand the test of time; one that was both fair for the people and would not involve a monarchy. Each of these men had their own ideas on what would constitute this system, however, so many compromises had to be made. Together, the men gathered in Philadelphia created a federal system of government and drafted a constitution outlining this government. They took care in developing three branches of federal government with a system of checks and balances so that no one branch would gain too much power, thus avoiding any
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,
As said by John Adams; the Constitutional Convention as “the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever see.” Most of the delegates at the convention had already been risking their lives by being threatened to being hung as traitors by the British. They were very worried that their states reactions to their decision to abandon the Articles of Confederation and create a new one wouldn’t be very accepting. Making the states realize that they should accept the constitution was as hard as they thought. It
55 delegates of twelve states wrote the Constitution at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787 and in 1788 the states ratified it. That gathering at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall brought nearly all of the nation’s most prominent men together, including Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and George Washington. Several of the men appointed had records of service in the army and in the courts and others were experienced in colonial and state government. When Thomas Jefferson found out who had been appointed he wrote “It is really an assembly of demigods” to John Adams. That summer in Philadelphia, the men, drew out a document defining the distinct powers for the the president, the federal courts and the Congress. This division of authority that was established is known as the principle of separation of powers, and it ensures that none of the branches of government can overstep their boundaries.
In the hot, humid summer of 1787 state delegates met for the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and drafted a new frame of government for the United States: the United States Constitution. A new federal system of government was set forth which distributed powers between the state and federal government and created three branches of government as checks and balances for each other. The new Constitution also gave the new government the power to both tax and regulate commerce.
When the United States declared itself a sovereign nation, the Articles of Confederation were drafted to serve as the nations first Constitution.Under these Articles, the states held most of the power; but due to an almost absent centralized government, colonists were ill-equipped to deal with such practices as regulating trade both between states and internationally, levying taxes, solving inter-state disputes, negotiating with foreign nations, and most importantly enforcing laws under the current notion of "Congress". Realizing that there were several deficiencies in the current system of self-government, the states appointed delegates to ratify the situation and come up with a way to attain the aforementioned practices they needed to
In the year 1787, early America, officials and delegates came together to form a constitution that would restore the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was the attempt at creating a government for the newly independent America. But, it soon became clear that the document was not strong enough to govern America. Therefore, delegates who came to be known as Federalists and Anti-Federalists issued major arguments on the ratification of the U.S Constitution. Federalists were individuals who wished to unify the 13 states in negotiation, and
During the Convention there were many controversies between these men, some were focused on not wanting to upset their constituents back in their home states, and the smaller states were constantly trying to protect themselves from the influence of the larger states, while the southern states feared that a national government would upset the slave trade. However, many of the delegates shared a bigger fear throughout the convention, which was putting too much power into a central government and the fear that the senate and House of Representatives would have too much power. George Mason, an initial advocate of a strong central government withdrew his support and refused to sign the finished Constitution, claiming that the new government would “produce a monarchy, or a corrupt, tyrannical aristocracy” so for the sake of trying to find a balance, the idea of giving the chief executive the power of veto over legislation was proposed. Along with this power a check was needed, so the idea that a three quarters vote from congress
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
However, having a centralized government could also create disunity between the people and the government because of the feeling of detachment the people might have from their federal government. Additionally, if the federal government were to become the corrupt there would be no official way to stop them. Americans wanted to be sure these officials had the nation’s interests in mind. Consequently, this weakness created fear for the peoples’ freedoms and liberties. After just fighting to become independent from a monarchy, who was to say the federal government would not become one as well. These fears brought into question the delegates motives as well. Overall, the critics of immediately ratifying the Constitution felt that doing so would restrain the rights of the individual, an important need of America.
After the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, it was voted that Constitution would become the new foundation of the national government, not the Articles of Confederation. At the time, there were thirteen individual states that had to vote to ratify or reject the Constitution. Within these thirteens states, there were two groups that consisted of the Federalists and the Antifederalists. The Federalists supported the Constitution; however, the Antifederalists opposed the Constitution.