As a new, democratic country, the United States of America had many obstacles that they had to overcome. One of these obstacles was coming up with a framework for the new government to follow and abide to. The first written attempt was the Articles of Confederation, which failed because of some weaknesses that it possessed. Of these weaknesses included a weak central government, over powerful state governments, and no national court system, so instead of uniting the country, it just loosely kept them together. In order to write, or modify this into a better framework, the Continental Congress called for a convention of delegates to meet in May of 1787 in Philadelphia. After much arguing between the delegates (federalists and antifederalists), the Constitution of the United States was passed under the condition that the Bill of Rights would be adopted. The Bill of Rights, at the time, consisted of 10 amendments; of these 10 comes one of the most controversial ones, the Second Amendment, which is the right for individuals to bear arms. This amendment was, and will continue to be one of the most controversial issues from the time of the ratification of the Constitution of the United States up to the 21st century. As a nation, there is still a battle between people who want to put restrictions on this amendment and people who believe that it should be left alone. The book, A Well Regulated Militia by Saul Cornell, goes on to describe the controversies of the Second Amendment, as
Though the Constitution provides a better system of government than the Articles of Confederation did, there are still clashes between decentralized and centralized power. One of the issues that there have been disagreements in is gun control. Under the second Amendment, people have the right to bear arms so theoretically, the government has no right
There are certain principles in the constitution that the US Supreme court should rely on when it comes to defining the limits of state and federal authority. To define these limits concepts such as implied powers, checks and balances, separation of powers and limited government will be discussed along with the benefit that comes with their implementation in our government. As these concepts are defined along with their implementation into the government I hope to give the reader a firm understanding of these concepts individual importance within the constitution and society.
In 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the framers of the Constitution of the United States of America worked together to identify the best way to elect the President (Patterson, 2013). The ideas suggested varied and ranged from selection by members of congress chosen by lottery, to a popular vote of the people. By the end of the Convention the matter had yet to be settled as the framers fore saw that many of the suggestions were prone to corruption, error, and were very chaotic. The issue was passed down to the Committee on Postponed Matters, who in turn created the system that is used today and is commonly known as Electoral College (Kazin, 2011). The Electoral College was outlined by the Committee to up hold the views of the founding fathers, who were the framers of the Constitution.
The constitution of the United States of America is the founding document on which the government of America is built. It currently has twenty-seven amendments. It lines out the specific government practices as well as the system of check and balances. It was first drafted July, 1787 after the first form of government, the articles of confederation, had proven very inefficient to a point where it became almost redundant to have them in place. After a large amount of debate the acting continental congress decide to completely revise the current system. The constitution was efficient and fair and it kept the parts of government in place while not giving too much power to one or more branches.
Ever since the beginning of American Revolution in April 1775, Americans have sought to create a nation with no ties to the British monarch and create and more, perfect union. They decided to create a democratic, republic government consisting of voted officials voted by the people, governed by a system of checks and balances with limited powers and the purpose of providing protection and services to its citizens. However, The Founding Fathers believed that should the government decide to eliminate civil rights, the citizens of the U.S. must be able to defend their rights. The First Congress created the Second Amendment, the right for an individual to keep and bear arms and the right for a state or local government to create and maintain a militia. However, the Second amendment is the most controversial amendment in the Bill of Rights as many people believed that the amendment only allows for state militia and not the ownership of firearms. Firearms have both directly and indirectly affected the American culture with both positive and negative effects. Some organizations have both protected our right to bear arms while others have protested congress to abolish the second amendment.
The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1789. The federalists declared that the Constitution granted the new government limited powers. Anti-federalists, such as George Mason, sought after a stronger confirmation from the federal government that certain rights would not be encroached upon. After just recently breaking away from Great Britain, it is understandable that the Founding Fathers feared the rise of another domineering government. Mason wrote, “A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural and safe defense of a free state.” If the government had the jurisdiction over citizen’s right to use firearms, then it could disarm them as the British had once done. This led to the creation of the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, which reads, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Fast forward to present day; our nation is currently in the core of a large controversy over gun control laws and the meaning of the Second Amendment.
The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." This amendment has been understood amongst the American people, as simply “the right to bear arms”. The creation of the United States constitution was left in the hands of young men whom had served in the Continental Army prior to the draft of the historical document. Having witnessed the violence of the Revolution, these Federalists had the fear of suffering from a weak centralized government. “Anti-federalists”, members that opposed the Constitution, feared that this new government could build one centralized professional army, disarming the 13 state militias.
In 1787, our founding fathers came up with a few principles that would establish what we now know as the United States of America. These principles were put on paper to serve as a guideline for how the United States would be operated and structured. This historical piece paper became known as the Constitution of the United States. In the Constitution, a Preamble is implemented at the beginning that essentially tells what the founding fathers set out to do.
Provide the class with the details of the project (location, acres restored, methods used, species benefited if available, etc.). Be sure to integrate what you find with what you are learning in your text and other readings and supplement it with additional research.
The United States Constitution provides the National Government three distinctive branches of government: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial Branch, each with its own form of powers, duties and roles. Separation of powers and duties within the branches enable them to check and balance one another as well as balance the authority of the other two.
Topic #2. Explain the major points of contention in the writing of the U. S. Constitution.
In the Preamble of the Constitution it states that one of the reasons the U. S. Constitution was set up was to promote the general welfare of the people. This provision foresees the legal American right for citizens to have its government serve the welfare of the people. However, the constitution states that this welfare is for the people’s general welfare– not welfare which takes resources from the people to benefit certain states or certain people. Those who receive the welfare are mainly poor and not actively seeking jobs; giving these people money would just be subversive. Providing social welfare programs to the poor is unconstitutional, damaging to those who receive the government funds and to other members of society.
The US Constitution is made up of three branches, The Legislative, The Executive and The Judicial, each having a part in the US Constitution. The Legislative Branch makes the law and consists of two houses that are the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Executive Branch enforces the law while the Judicial Branch interprets the laws. All branches were given important powers but not enough for one branch to dominate the other branches and the government, which can be supported, by the first three articles of the US Constitution.
The Constitution helped the United States of America move forward in progressiveness and equality through several ways. It provided the citizens of America with basic rights and liberties through the Bill of Rights. It helped to make a stronger central government that could protect the governed by raising arms in defense. It helped secure a democratic government and prevent it from turning into a tyranny or dictatorship. In doing this the Constitution has managed to become the single most important document in American history.
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.