The New Constitution And The Constitution

In comparing Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists, The Declaration of Independence, and U.S. Constitution, it is evident that the basis of all three documents is the idea that all human beings possess God-given fundamental rights and that government is created to protect those rights. The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, is the first of the three documents penned. This is important because it defined the rights of liberty and equality of all American citizens as outlined in John Locke’s natural law thesis (Martin, page 113). In addition to providing an itemized account of the grievances colonist’s held against King George III of England, it served to justify the colonist’s quest for independence and separation from British rule. The Declaration of Independence conveyed to the crown that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, which among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The Founders’ of the New World understood that their pursuit of liberties and autonomy specified in the Declaration of Independence could not come to fruition without instituting decrees. In 1787, the U.S. Constitution, was written to replace the Articles of Confederation with a better defined series of stringent laws that would legally uphold the freedoms and privileges established in the Declaration of Independence. The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights in

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are two significant documents that transformed the history of the United States. The people of the “New World” went from being ruled by British law and living in the thirteen colonies, to becoming an independent nation with a democratic government. The Declaration was written to ensure that all official ties with its mother country, Great Britain, were suspended indefinitely. It then went on to describe the concepts and ideologies behind a just and fair government. The Constitution, however, outlined how the newly democratic government would operate. In 1776, after the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, a verdict was made that the only constructive way to ensure independence as a nation would be to declare independence from King George III, Parliament, and Great Britain. The colonists sought to fashion a clear, detailed document, known as the Declaration of Independence, which stated why the people chose to move in this direction as well as providing several arguments to support their case. This world-renown document is a symbol of the unity between the 13 colonies during their fight for independence during the American Revolutionary War.

In 1776 Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. In the Declaration of Independence, many important concepts were written some of these are Equality, Democracy, Government protects rights, and the people have a right to change the government. In 1787 the U.S. Constitution was written but, it wasn’t ratified until 1788. James Madison wrote the document that formed the model of the constitution. In the constitution, there are many civil rights or personal freedoms. The U.S. Constitution did live up to the ideals in the Declaration of Independence about how the people have a right to change government and government protects rights, however, it didn’t live up to the ideals of

The Revolutionary War affect enslaved African American in a major way. The Revolution brought freedom to slaves. Even the slaves that had escaped in the chaos of war was free. Thousands of slaves left South Carolina and Georgia when those states where evacuated. Some of these people remained free, while others ended up as slaves in the British Caribbean. The Revolution brought freedom to slaves who joined the armies (Finkelman, 2008). The Revolutionary War brought about change to all people “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. However, African American in the American Revolution war was something that was done against their will. African American had no choice to take part in war because they had no legal rights. After Cornwallis' surrender, the Americans rounded up the surviving blacks for re-enslavement. This was when the French soldiers ambushed Cornwallis' men at Yorktown, Virginia, the

An article of Confederation was adopted by the Continental Congress, on November 15, 1777. It was the first constitution of America. Though, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not take place until March 1, 1781. After some all the states realised that article of Confederation is inadequate to resolve the national and international issues. As a result on March 4, 1789, Articles of Confederation was replaced by the new Constitution of 1787. This new constitution was signed by the members of the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia. In new constitution, members tried to strengthen the central government. The new constitution was the demand of time. It was more practical. It was broader than the article of Confederation. Under article of Confederation, states were free to form their military. But under new Constitution of 1787, this power was taken from states and given to centre. In new constitution, foreign affair and defence department was given to federal government. No state was given power to sign treaties with other nations. Some changes were also brought in the composition of congress under new constitution. Now, seats in congress were decided on the basis of population of each state.

The aftereffects of the American Revolution were different for various groups of people depending one who they were. Slaves were hugely impacted by the war since it brought about the end of slavery for those in the north (Schultz, 2013). Cornwall promised to free his own slaves after the war and many others ran away from their owners so that they could live free. Virginia and Maryland were two states that created laws that allowed the owners to free their slaves without being pressured to do so; around 1880 the number of free African Americans was one out of ten. This change in views on slavery also made some legal changes when it came to slavery as well and slaves in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Five other states allowed African Americans

According to Keene, Cornell, and O’Donnell (2013), the Articles of Confederation were put together in 1777, but were not sanctioned for another four years. In the Articles, a bond was formed between the Colonist States and allowed each State the freedom to govern itself. The Congress that developed the Articles did not want to give any absolute power to a Federal Government for fear that it would be just as oppressive as the British government had been to the Colonies. This created a very weak Federal government that could not tax people, have diplomatic relations, or have any military power. Due to fighting with the British and the need to rush, the Articles were written very quickly with needs for revisions. To pass, it had to have one hundred percent of the votes from all States.

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote The Declaration of Independence; declaring our independence from Britain and stating the unalienable rights of men to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The ideals of The Declaration of Independence are the same ideals that we rooted our nation in. Nearly every political struggle since the composition of this document (ie. women's suffrage) has been in an attempt to reach these ideals for all individuals. Eleven years after the signing of The Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers assembled at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to draft a document that would shape the modern government. The United States Constitution is a document that established the duties and limitations of the federal government. It clearly laid out what the federal government can and cannot do, and how it is to go about doing its duties; this includes the idea of three branches of government and the checks and balances to maintain an even distribution of power. Our federal government has changed very little since then and still directs itself on the guidelines stated within the Constitution. These founding political documents and governmental plans obviously directly influence our modern politics and, in turn, modern society

The American revolution was an inspiration to black people they hope the words of the patriots would apply equally to them, but they were wrong there was 700,000 slaves in the united states at its birth they had no rights and no power yet they determined hold america to its ideals there struggle would last for generation. Chapel massachusetts at the time before the time of america country this was slave country slavery was legal here just as it was in each of the 13 colonies, but the revolution brought new laws to this land one slave began to test these laws her name was Macbeth she heard talk about a new constitution that said all men were free so Mambeth decided to act.

We live in a world that is based around freedom and rights. As citizens, we expect to have a say in how we live everyday life, whether it involves employment, owning a house, or who we elect as president of the United States. Either way, our world is based around our natural rights. After the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was written, this caused a wave of revolution. This Declaration had an impact on populations such as Haiti, but also had a major impact on countless other slave populations. For the basis of slavery, we read through Abina and the Important men and saw how different characters in the story defined the term slavery. Another view came from a former slave Frederick Douglas who was a leading abolitionist. For

In atrocious times when slaves wanted their freedom when they were tired of their white slave-owners, they ran away, but they were hunted like animals and if they were alive when captured, they were imprisoned. On the contrary, slaves were known to work for their slave owners, in the South, they were known for agriculture. Slaves produced different products that could help not only the South but the North as well. When they refused to do the work, they wanted to be with their families more. If the African-American slaves disobeyed their slave owners, they had to come to terms to face bad consequences. Meanwhile, whites at this time felt superior over slaves during the Revolutionary War Era, they thought they could make them do all the work and chores they were given. In the meantime, the slaves had to balance out their challenges, to get hurt or to work towards an advantage at an exceptional lifestyle fit for all their strong

In the wake of the American Revolution, people were struggling for economic stability and national unity. American instituted the Articles of Confederation, which provided for strong state governments and a weak national government. Under the Articles of Confederations, Americans suffered through poverty, inflation and high unemployment. Americans struggled with issues of taxation and diplomatic relations with foreign governments. The new Constitution should not be ratified because it creates a strong central government that would have a lot of power and affect the rights of citizens.

This fresh, new foundation came in the form a document that outlined the way the government would work. Unlike the way Europe was governed before the Enlightenment period, Americans, since they had recently liberated themselves from the British throne, wanted to establish a government in such a way that would prevent tyrannical monarchy. By this time, they still were faced with the challenge of a republican self government. But again, we see the influence of Locke’s ideas from his Treatise, where he proposed that people had the right to establish their own government for their own protection of their natural rights. As a result of this idea, the preamble to the Constitution was created. This section provided analysis as to what the whole Constitution was about; improvement on the current government (to ensure that they are just) and protection for its citizens.

The American Revolution is claimed to be a revolution of equality. The founding fathers and all those who fought for this cause believed that all men were created equal. Some of the founding fathers especially the Northerners believed that the African Negro who were enslaved in the United States were also entitled to be treated as equal as everyone but this never meant they were citizens because neither the naturalization act of 1790 and 1795 made them citizens of the United States. This meant they were still considered aliens. The reminder that the Negro Africans were still aliens was made by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney of the Supreme Court. In fact the constitution never made the African Negro citizens until the Naturalization act of 1870. The fact that the constitution did not make a clear pact for the Negro Africans to become citizens in America made it difficult for the abolishment of slavery nationally. Most Southerners or slave holders believed that the Negro Africans were not equal with the Whites. Some even used the bible to explain and defend the institution of slavery.

Once the American Revolution/ the American War of Independence was finished (1775-83), a great portion of colonists started to attach the oppression of slaves and their own oppression by the British, and to call for slavery’s abolition. In 1782 Slavery was a big deal. The original draft of the Declaration of Independence had been approved which meant no slavery until after the revolution in 1776. But the original draft was not approved therefore slavery was not abolished.