Federalism, Separation Of Powers, Checks And Balances And The Bill Of Rights

The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention, where it was held in Philadelphia. It was written by a group of people known as “Farmers,” or the “Founding Fathers,” and few of the most famous Founding Fathers were George Washington (The first president of the USA), Thomas Jefferson (The first vice president and the third president of the USA) James Madison (The fourth president of the USA), Samuel Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. The old government, the Articles of Confederation was not working as it supposed to be, it was vulnerable and cannot secure and defend the new born nation and for that reason the constitution of the united states saw the light.

The structure of our American Government was founded in the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution was written to be the “supreme law of the land,” and produces a democratic republic, where citizens govern themselves (Our American Government, n.d). The purpose of our government, is to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” (Our American Government, n.d.). For our country to accomplish this purpose our Founding Fathers created three principles, “inherent rights, self-government, and separation of powers” (Our American Government, n.d.). The government was developed to ensure order in society and protect its citizens, but with all systems, there is strengths and weakness, let’s examine those strengths and weakness. Let’s first look at the strength and weakness of the U.S. Constitution.

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

The constitution guarded against tyranny by giving us federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and large vs. small states. The constitution was written in Philadelphia in the year of 1787. This established America’s national government and fundamental laws

Nearly the late year of 1787, the U.S. Constitution was established, stating the basal laws and fundamental principles that the United States would be governed by. Many philosophers and political thinkers furnished a great comprehension for the modern day structures that are very active today. Our Founding Fathers created a system which divides different acts of government into the legislature, executive, and judicial branches. Following in the form of the Separation of Powers, the checks and balances system ensures that political power isn’t contributing to any individual or group that enables them to gain an abundant amount of power. For the instance of this, “the Constitution provides a method for change, as the Founders created it this

To begin with, the US Constitution is the foundation in which the country was built on and what also held the country together in difficult times. The constitution was established to keep states from operating as independent countries, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. “Before Each state acted almost like an independent country. Each ran its own affairs exactly as it saw fit, with little concern for the needs of the republic. The

The Constitution was created so one person or group wasn’t able to get too much power. At first, the Articles of Confederation was made. The Articles of Confederation was not working because the central government didn’t have enough power to protect the nation. The Constitution was made in order to hold the states together and the people together, and make sure the government doesn’t gain too much power. The Constitution guards against tyranny. Tyranny is “The accumulation of all powers…in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many” (Federalism Paper #47). The Constitution guards against tyranny by separation of powers, creating federalism, and having checks and balances.

The creation of the US constitution was prompted my many different things going on. What established America’s national government and fundamental laws is the U.S constitution. It also guarantees basic rights for its citizens. The U.S constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia, Pa. The first document before the U.S constitution was the Articles of Confederation, with that the government wasn’t very strong and the states didn’t act like they do today. In 1787, at the 1787 convention, delegates made a decision to make a stronger federal government that consisted of the executive, legislative, and the judicial branches. That wasn’t it either, it also had a system of checks and balances because they did not want one branch to be able to overpower another branch. The ten amendments of the Bill of Rights guarantees protections for people like religion and freedom of speech. In total, there are twenty-seven constitutional amendments.

Federalism is a way of organizing a nation so that two or more levels of government have formal authority over the same area and people, ensuring that one does not become too powerful and aids in the separation of powers. Liberty is a state of freedom within a society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one 's way of life, behavior, or political views. Although these two political science terms are different, they correlate and interact with one another in the American Government and are still relevant to contemporary policy issues faced today. James Madison 's The Federalist No. 47 doctrine exemplifies this: "In order to form correct ideas on this important subject, it will be proper to investigate the sense in which the preservation of liberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct."

After the failure of the Articles of Confederation, early Americans were hesitant to create a new federal government and feared that it would become too powerful. To avoid this, the Founding Fathers created the Constitution of the United States of America. The new Constitution was based on several basic principles that limited the power of the federal government and kept it from gaining too much power. These systems helped set a base for the federal government while limiting the powers that it withheld. One of the main parts of the federal government are the three branches: Legislative, Executive and Judicial.

After the United States gained independence from Great Britain, the new country needed to form a strong government in order to prove that it can be successful without being under British rule. In order to do this, the US created the Articles of Confederation in 1781. However, this method failed due to the fact that it supplied the states with more power than the national government. In May 1787, delegates met up in Philadelphia to improve the Articles of Confederation. This meeting was called the Constitutional Convention, and is where the Constitution was born.

In the year of 1787, delegates met in Philadelphia to write the Constitution. Tyranny, a type of government with an absolute ruler was a fear. James Madison realized the fear that people had and understood so he wrote a article in the ”Federalist Paper” in 1788. In it he described how he believed if we had a three branch government system that could perform checks and balances on each other it would prevent tyranny in the colonies( Document A).

In any government, there are the governing principles which help in governing the nation. These principles are used as a basis for governance in the nation. The principles are clearly defined in the nation’s constitution and the bill of rights. The important principles give people a sense of national identity of belonging to a certain nation, hold the people together and allow the government to function competently. In American government, there are fundamental principles which have been established and are used in the governing of the people. The principles include rule of law, democracy, representative government, limited government and consent of the governed. These principles are protected by the constitution of the United States.

The concept of the separation of powers introduced in the American Constitution has been consistently praised throughout early academia as a check on the corruption and tyranny of the federal government. By distinguishing between state and national powers, policies are tailored to fit individual needs, and the personaliz+ed laws of each district collectively appeal to public interests. This statement, however, ignores the historical motives behind the separation of powers. In Slavery in the Structure of American Politics, Donald Robinson unveils the hidden background of American government that lies behind the nationalistic facade cultivated through education at the primary and secondary level. Compared to Hannah Arendt’s positive stance on the separation of powers in On Revolution, Robinson presents a more realistic analysis of the issue through the lenses of slavery and private interest.

Why is it so difficult to accomplish anything in American government? The answer lies within three features of American government: the Hyperpluralist theory, separation of powers with checks and balances, and divided government. All these aspects of government result in gridlock, “a condition that occurs when interests conflict and no coalition is strong enough to form a majority and establish policy, so nothing gets done” (19).