Federal Government Dbq Analysis

The U.S government although created in the late 18th century incorporates ideas about government originating back to the early 11th century. The American Founders were influenced immensely by preceding government philosophy and authoritative documents. The Age of Enlightenment, specifically, was a period of political novelty and innovation leading to vast governmental and societal advancements. The American FOunders were part of the ENlightenment and adapted an abundance of the innovated ideas to formulate our government. Similarly, the principles established in the Magna Carta and English Bill of RIghts are paramount to the formation of the Constitution. Collectively they formulated concepts such as limited governments and challenged many dubious institutions and notions.

When looking up the definition of a government it says, “the governing body of a nation, state, or community”(dictionary.com). This helps to understand it a bit more, but what is the purpose of a government. Government has many purposes that keep its people safe and protected, this includes to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. There are so many ways that the government is use and there are so many sub categories and even those have categories. So when one is faced with a question like this there any number of responses, and but the main purpose of a

You see, in the American colonies, we believe that the purpose of government is to protect the citizens that live here. Government should approve laws such as no drinking and driving and that minors should attend school regularly. It should follow the principles of John Locke, such as people having natural rights. This idea means that people should be able to have rights that come naturally

When the Constitution was written in 1789 it specifically stated that the national government would be granted the power to delegate. Federalism is defined as, “...the allocation of powers and responsibilities among national, state, and local governments and the intergovernmental relations between them. (Paletz, 85)” The founding fathers wanted a federalist governmental system to allow for greater participation in politics and to limit the power of the national government. Under federalism, states and local governments can establish and run their own governments without national interference.

During the Revolutionary war, America was under a government called the Articles of Confederation. Fearing a tyrannical ruler, the Articles gave states more power than the National Government. However, it became apparent that the Articles were not functioning properly, as the economy and wealth of America plummeted. At one point, a mob of Massachusetts farmers rebelling into what would be called Shays rebellion. Our current government, the Constitution, was the solution to the chaos created by the Articles. The Constitution was a necessary change for the success of the United states, because it addressed taxes, law enforcement, and court systems.

Having a strong government is essential for a working republic but instead we had a weak one. When the Continental Congress took initiative in 1777 it wanted a lasting and unifying government. Citizens were already debating how much authority each state government would get and who decided about taxes and so forth. When the Articles of Confederation was ratified in 1781 it created a frail confederation of the 13 states basically a strong friendship between the states. There was no separate

Early colonists needed to have a written document that recognized the purposes and roles of their national government. This need arose soon after they declared their independence from Great Britain. Because of their experience, they feared strong national governments but needed a constitution to bind their states together & protect them from future assaults and to strengthen their economy by trading with each other and other nations. The document that was adopted by the continental congress was the Article of confederation. But because of its weakness, the colonists needed a stronger federal government which forced them to adopt the new Constitution. (Keene, Cornell, & O’Donnell, 2011).

There were a few reasons why the commission wanted the federal government to take the lead. Cruel and prejudice acts;(lynching for example) were being committed and assisted by local public officers and these wrongdoings were not being eliminated, thus a reason for federal safeguards. Truman felt the African-American community were being treated unfairly by southern states. He felt the states laws were dishonoring civil rights of the African-American communities. In order to show and prove that America was nothing like Hitler’s rule, he urged federal government to direct this change.

It states clearly in the Declaration of Independence that the government is designed to protect the rights that everyone receives. These are known as unalienable rights meaning that the rights can't be taken away from them. These rights should never be violated and if they are, the rights of the citizens come into play. The declaration of independence states, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,— That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish

The first form of Government in America was the Articles of Confederation, the Articles of Confederation worked but had a few flaws which included no system of national courts and also Congress lacked strong and steady leadership. The weakness’ were quite significant so the Constitutional Convention was held to revise the Articles of Confederation but instead led to the creation of the United States Constitution. The Federalist wanted a strong central government but the Anti-Federalists were scared that would be like Britain again so they opted for a small weak central government; their roles in the Convention were to make The Articles of Confederation please both parties and make compromises. The Constitutional Convention kept the Government from being overpowered by creating Checks and Balances, The Executive branch was responsible for enforcing the laws, Legislative creates the laws, and the Judicial Branch interprets the law. The Checks were intended to keep one Branch of Government from being more powerful then another Branch. The smaller and larger states compromised when creating laws by having the Senate and also the House of Representatives, smaller states like the Senate because this means all states would have an equal amount of reps but larger states preferred the House of Reps because the amount of reps was based on population.

After the colonists declared themselves free from the tyrannical rule of England, they set out to create a new nation free of the rule of a strong national government. State rights became an important feature in the new government, as most colonies identified themselves as citizens of their state or colony and not the nation as a whole. The Articles of Confederation brought the colonies together as a loose confederation with state powers being considerably more important than the power of the federal government.

In the beginning, government was created: the beginning of America, that is. Since this beginning, and also considerably long before it, government has been deemed as absolutely necessary to avoid anarchy and destruction. The Founders of the Constitution faced a challenge that had never been dealt with before: they needed a way to create a democracy but also nurture the notion that not every citizen was equipped to decide on issues facing the country. Direct democracy never even crossed the minds of each individual Founder because they immediately recognized its foolishness. They struggled, then, with making sure every citizen’s rights were protected while still having an effective government. From this, the idea of representative democracy was born. Coming up with ideas for the Constitution was difficult, but seeing that the document would be accepted by a majority of the states proved to be even harder. James Madison and others wrote the Federalist Papers to try to convince the states to institute the new Constitution. One paper in particular, the fifty-first, proved to be useful in showing how the rights of the people would be protected in this new representative government. Through the fifty-first Federalist Paper, it can be deduced that James Madison thought of the people as their own branch of government with their own set of governmental characteristics.

The founders established the government to be the foundation to set on a great and powerful nation. Although the United States has many accomplishments specifically involving the government, the founders did not intend for the American government to evolve in the way it has become. From even the past involving the New Deal from the Great Depression era, leading into the problem of a much powerful president these two factors greatly impacted the original idea from the founders.

After the American Revolutionary War, the colonists needed a government so no one could take away their power. There were several things the colonists needed to do to accomplish this task. Here is how the United States Constitution overcame the weaknesses of The Articles of Confederation and provided the organization a new government. They started by gaining a strong government, providing power, and ended by giving the United States more abilities. Sense The Articles of Confederation was the first government in the U.S. it made the central government weak. This was when the Continental Congress made a plan for the nation. On the other hand, there was the Constitutional Convention. This point in time was when representatives created The Great Compromise and Three-Fifths Compromise. In the Debate Over the Constitution you were either a federalist or anti federalist which meant you either supported or opposed to the new constitution.

What is the proper role of the government? The colonist created their own government because king george the 3rd took control and advantage of them.There is not much power given to the government because the checks and balances were limited so no branch of government could become too powerful,that is where the bill of rights come in so people could have freedom of speech and having a voice meaning individual liberty. The proper role of the government is to protect the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness of the citizens.