Creation of the Bill of Rights and Amendments Colonists longed for a different type of government before, during, and after the Revolutionary War. Before the war, the power stayed within the hands of the King. Many years later, a document called the Articles of Confederation was created. The creation of the articles was one of the strategies taken to merge the colonies in becoming one nation. The articles were supposed to help the governmental problems at this point in time. However, this particular document had several weaknesses and was not sufficient enough for the colonists. The weakness that the colonists focused on the most was the lack of power within the central government. With many of the colonists following behind Whigs’ ideology on the creation of their future government and how things should be carried out, aided them in their views on the Articles of Confederation. Whigs’ Ideology Whig ideology evolved over the course of the Revolutionary War due to English, American, and Revolutionary Whigs. Schweikart & Allen (2014) state that the English Whigs adopted the concept that everyone was created equally and deserved equal rights and opportunities (p. 98), which is also known as egalitarianism. The English Whigs were firm believers in having the government small and closer to home. The American Whigs preferred that the legislative should remain the most powerful as it was in the Articles of Confederation. Schweikart & Allen (2014) suggest in the following quote
While the Articles of Confederation unified the American colonies for the first time, the individual states had a hard time allowing a central government to solely control their territory. Due to fear of an all powerful monarchy like the one they had experienced in England the colonies were wary of allowing a central government certain powers. These certain powers included control of commerce, ability to tax, and even the ability to act directly upon individual citizens of a state. While the Articles provided a loose confederation to unify the new country, they were only a temporary solution due to their obvious weaknesses in several areas. The Articles of Confederation were essentially
Establishing an effective system of government has proven to be an obstacle for centuries. Fortunately, the Founding Father recognized the common flaws of governments, as did many common men in the colonies. Consequently, the ratification of the constitution was vital for a healthy governmental system, though it did bring about much debate and persuasion. There were two main positions which people took during the ratification, those being the Anti-Federalist and the Federalist. The Anti-Federalist were a diverse assembly involving prominent men such as George Mason and Patrick Henry, and also the most unlikely of individuals, those being Farmers and shopkeepers. The chief complaint about the Constitution was that it confiscated the power from the sates, thereby robbing the people of their power. Oppositely, the Federalist believed in removing some control from the states and imparting that power to the national government, thus making America partially national. Throughout this debate, many letters were shared between the two sides, and eventually, it led to the federalist winning over the colonies.
During the time of the Revolutionary War, the American Colonies were upset about the England’s tyrannical rule and exploitation through harsh taxes. Eventually, the colonists revolted and split from England. They wrote the Declaration of Independence and created a new government whose outlines were written in the Articles of Confederation. Unfortunately, the Articles of Confederation had an overall negative impact, as it created a weak central government, a poor financial system, and inadequate militias. There are more disadvantages than advantages to this document.
Created September 25,1978 and ratified December 15, 179, the Bill of Rights was imputed into society as a tool to establish law,order, and morality. James Madison, a political theorist, was known as the father of the Bill of Rights. One of the most important amendments in the Bill of Rights is the right to freedom of speech, expression and media. In the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The First Amendment guarantees the citizens of America that they have the right to freely express themselves about anything, including political arguments and views. This amendment also guarantees the press/media the right to overtly publish their ideas on any topic in the newspaper. The purpose of this amendment is to assure America’s people that they shouldn’t worry about being censored or punished for the expression of their feelings because they are human just as everyone else.
The Articles of Confederation confirmed the weak decentralized system which was already in operation. The Articles did not make it clear that the Congress was to be a real government. It was therefore, an uncertain central government. Many people felt that the colonists should just try to set up a new confederation
Both the right to petition and assemble manifested themselves well before the Bill of Rights existed; they date all the way back to the Magna Carta, which was formulated in 1215. The Framers of the Constitution, using this historical document as well as a myriad of others as a basis, added a Bill of Rights to the end of the Constitution in 1789. Today, people exercise the many rights included in the Bill of Rights to express their opinion on an issue, but the extent to which these rights are practiced is quite controversial. Although some people believe that the right to petition and assemble should be unlimited, leaving these without restriction could be dangerous for the American people as it blurs the line between peace and violence, could
When the colonists first arrived to the New World there were very few obligations and rules that the British government had set for them and they were on their own to live their life in the way they saw fit. Throughout the years, England realized how much of an asset the New World was to their economy. Due to the American colonies great advantages to their economy and their everyday lives, Great Britain became greedy and decided that only they should be able to exploit from the colonies. This greed prompted the Crown to implement new taxes and regulations in order to obtain a larger profit. After many attempts to work with Great Britain and being dismissed, the colonist declared independence from England. This caused the Revolutionary War and in 1783 the colonists were finally free from Great Britain. The colonists drew from the positive and negative experiences from the Crown's rule when writing their own country's government. The crown's supreme rule over all aspects of the colonists life compelled the colonists to incorporate a limited government into the Constitution. Because of the lack of representation that the colonists possessed during during colonial times, when making the constitution they secured the idea of popular sovereignty as an effort to make sure that all citizens could have an opinion in their ruling. Separation of power was implemented into the Constitution for the purpose of denying one person excessive power. Checks and balances fall under
The United States Constitution was recognized to Americans as a vague statement in clarifying the privileges and the rights of individuals and centralizing the power within the government itself. With the passing of the Bill of Rights and the first ten amendments, it grants the people to what is said to be their “natural rights” following additional rights that have significantly changed our society.
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
The thirteen American colonies unified by forming a national government that began as a singular body of government under the Articles of Confederation and evolved into a government with multiple branches under the Constitution. The Articles of Confederation acted as a plan of government to help America get back on its feet during and after the Revolutionary War. However, Congress could not enforce the laws of The Articles of Confederation or ensure that their taxes would be collected. After the war America owed a lot of money to other countries and could not pay it unless they started to tax more. They faced serious economic problems and had to rely on the states for money. Therefore, people did not agree with the Articles because it taxed
The Articles of Confederation, was a form of government that was a very radical, first of its kind, which did indeed prove to be unworkable. I believe the reason it was passed so quickly and was such a failure is because the citizens of this new and independent America were very quick to set up a government, as they were already involved In foreign trade, and had their own currency. I also believe that young America wanted to become the exact opposite of its primary mother country, Great Britain. This was an idea that “seemed good on paper” quite literally. The colonists wanted a government with no distinct central power, and representation for all, which seems to anyone who has endured oppression from a monarchy, like a great idea. However
In his book titled The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction, Akhil Amar tries to offer the interpretation of the Bill Rights by evoking the world of framers of the constitution and that of the people who amended the constitution. According to Amar, there are numerous differences about the original bill of rights as they were originally framed and those that are contained in the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868. Amar tries to construct a theory of Bill of Rights that is comprehensive by focusing on the implications that are drawn from constitutional text as well as its structure. Amar points out, “The main goal of the Federalists was to forge set of the federally enforceable rights which were against the abusive state governments and this resulted to Fourteenth Amendment” (4). The book tries to explain the first 10 amendments by interpreting them and offering the new insights. This essay focuses on discussing the differences between the Founding Fathers Bill of Rights and the Reconstruction Amendments as it argued by Amar.
After declaring independence from the British monarchy, the colonist believed they should set the new form of government on paper. With the failure of the first constitution, Articles of Confederation brought together James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and many more to contribute to the new form in which the new country would operate. The founding fathers understood that if they had too much nation government it could lead to the same form of government the British had
After the Revolutionary War, the newly formed United States still had a major task ahead of them. They had to form a new government that would satisfy the demands of the people and ensure the success of their nation. The Articles of Confederation was the first system of government that was proposed and put into effect. This attempt at creating a system that protected the people form a strong central government ultimately failed but was an important step in the development of the current government system. The weaknesses presented by the Articles of Confederation helped lead to reforms that made the Constitution successful. Both the Articles and the Constitution demonstrate the struggles that the colonists went through with the British and
The Bill of Rights took many steps to be created. Because of the creation of the new government, many people questioned the protection of the people of the United States of America. As an agreement to this conflict, the Bill of Rights was created. By demanding people’s rights George Mason put it into effect. These amendments give the people of America rights of religion, speech, assembly, etc. They made sure that the new federal government wouldn't ruin the states. George Mason fought for rights that are extremely important for us today.