The Constitution And The United States Of America

The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, in 1777. It was then ratified in 1781, creating a loose confederation of sovereign states, granting most power to the state governments. The Articles of Confederation also supported the direction of the Continental Army under the authority of Congress, allowing the original Thirteen British Colonies to be unified in the face of European powers. Along with the positive growth of the western land business this document brought about, there were many negative outcomes. This causes disagreement as to whether this document was successful in providing the United States with an effective government.

Kristina Schweitzer Schweitzer 2 The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787, yet there was a struggle to ratify it that went on until 1790. This Constitution was created in order to replace the Articles of

The Articles of Confederation was the nation's governing document that was adopted in 1781. It was written to give the American people a government that had structure and organization. It had one major problem which gave too much power to the states and not enough power to Congress. In response, the Constitution of 1787 was written to expand federal power over the states.

The very first document created to run The United States’ government is known as The Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was adopted on November 15, 1777, and ratified by the Thirteen Colonies March 1, 1781. Several drafts were written separately by Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and John Dickinson in the year 1775, but were canceled in 1786.

During the American Revolution, the founding fathers wrote the Articles Confederation, a written set of laws that intended to provide a framework for government. The Articles of Confederation failed to create an effective form of government and could not promote stability for the nation. In 1787, 55 delegates met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. The result was an entirely new document, the United States Constitution. The United States Constitution addressed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, promote unity through compromise, and established a framework for government that effectively promotes the ideals of American Government.

The Articles of Confederation was the United State’s first constitution, it was written in an effort to unite the states after the American Revolution and served as a blueprint for the modern constitution. In order for the Articles to become official, they had to be approved by all thirteen colonies. Although Congress sent the Articles of Confederation to the states around the end of 1777 to become ratified, they were not officially adopted until March 1, 1781. Under these Articles, the states remained sovereign and independent, with Congress serving as the last resort on appeal of disputes. The American people feared a strong national government and as a result of this, the Articles of Confederation were specifically designed to be weak in the sense that each state maintains its own sovereignty and all rights to govern themselves, with the except of the rights exclusively granted to Congress. Since the Articles lacked many necessary components to keep a nation properly structured, they were eventually revised into the constitution we recognize today. Although, the Articles of Confederation seemed as though it only contained weaknesses, within the document, many strengths and accomplishments were made. Overall, the Articles of Confederation were proven to be both efficient and non-efficient during the time period they were in effect.

The Constitution has been operative since 1789 after the ratification of nine states (American Vision and Values, Page 52). Today many question the relevancy of a document 222 years old to our society. The Founders created a governmental framework, defining three branches and giving powers to the government and others to the states. It also guarantees the rights of the people. It took two and one-half years for the 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution. This ratification period was one of great debate and produced a series of essays complied into The Federalist. Authored by John Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay during the ratification debate in New York, they tried to get public support for the Constitution. Thus began the first

Congress approved the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777, but was later ratified by the states on March 1, 1781. This document was the new country’s attempt for a union and form a national government. The Articles formed a union that gave majority of power to the states. The Articles of Confederation was written by the Continental Congress, which was a convention of delegates from the new 13 colonies that became the governing body of the U.S. during the American Revolution. Like stated before, its main purpose was to be the first constitution for the United States. Due to the lack of authority or structure in this document, a new constitution were written. The new constitution was a basis for a more unified government with more power than the Articles of Confederation. This new

“Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power” (Madison, Federalist Paper No. 63). After the Colonists gained their freedom from Great Britain, delegates from the colonies gathered and drafted the first written body of law for the United States, the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation had many flaws, like not instituting an Executive branch to enforce laws and not allowing Congress to tax Americans. It created a weak central government . Realizing this, fifty five delegates representing twelve out of thirteen states, met up in Philadelphia in May of 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation. Too many disagreements upon revising this document led the delegates to draft a brand new document, the United States Constitution. The constitution was made to divide power equally among the states’ and central government, while also giving the people power and preserving their rights. The United States’ Constitution, thus, . The constitution prevented the United States from being ruled by tyrants and/or corrupt leaders because it adapted the concept of federalism, created a separation of powers among the branches of government, applied a checks-and-balances system to the branches of its government, and compromised the needs of big states and small states.

The U.S. Constitution is the document of the principles and system of the United States government. It covers the goals of the new government, the system and purpose of each branch, how the states will work, how to amend the constitution, the supremacy of the national government, and the process of ratification. The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of America, that must be followed by everyone. The Constitution of the United States was established at the 1787 Constitutional Convention and signed in 1787. The Constitution is the structure of America, it tells us how everything will work in this nation of ours. Without the Constitution, there would not be any specified rules of how this country is set up and how it works. The Constitution makes us who we are today, it establishes our system of government, our rules of what we can and can’t do, what the government can do for the people, and how everything in America is set up.

This document was written in the 18th century specifically during the Federalist Era. It was written 18 years after America won independence from England on July 4, 1776. This lead to the creation of the “Articles of Confederation” which were made primarily for the people because they feared central government having all power. Then at The Annapolis Convention (1786) is where the groundworks of “The U.S. Constitution” were discussed to replace the “Articles of Confederation”.

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.

The U.S Constitution sets all the general rules and laws for the United States of America. The U.S. Constitution is very general because it is covering everything for the entire country. It gives an understanding on how the nation’s government works. Provides the framework of the proper functions, responsibilities, and what each section of the government has to provide. The U.S. Constitution is important to the country, but state constitutions are also important. State constitutions go in more depth pertaining to their states laws. Both carry the same amount of information, but each state finds their constitution more significant than the entire nations.

In the 1700s when the United States had detached itself from British rule it was then seen as a plutocracy. The U.S established as a democracy; a government of the people and by the people. However, this establishment was in favor of the rich, educated, and powerful and anyone who was categorized or known as elites and it has remained in favor of these people ever since. Yes we can say we have witnessed variations and seen a semi-democratic rise in the past two centuries, but we have remained a plutocracy hidden behind the word that people use to cover its true identity, democracy. Those like the framers, the public opinion role, interest groups, and money all portray our hidden plutocracy.

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.