The Quality Of The American Government

In the books The Quartet and Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Ellis and Joyce Appleby discuss their thoughts on two important moments in American history and how they believe them to be revolutionary. The Quartet describes the political situation of the United States immediately following the American Revolution and how it made the transformation from a confederation into a republic. To do this, it follows the actions of four prominent men – George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison – as they work toward their goal of bringing about a new national government and discusses nationalism, issues such as economics and expansion, and arguments about personal, state, and federal powers. He argues that the debate over the Constitution was between “nationalists” and “confederationists”, that the second Revolution was a by-product of the first in that it took the systems of the newly-independent states and reworked them into a coherent national collective, and that without this change, the United States couldn’t have become a modern model of government.

Our American government became independent from Great Britain, on July 4, 1776. There was a committee of five people who wrote the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration has a structure of an introduction, a statement of ideals about government, a long list of grievances against the British, and a Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Yet the four ideals; consent of governed, Equality, Unalienable Rights, and the right to alter or abolish, are the foundation of our government. Equality is the most important and the reason our government is so successful to this day.

The tyranny of England was not the sole power that led to the rights and liberty declared in the Declaration of Independence. Instead, it was Britain’s own Bill of Rights which acted as a precursor to America’s document of freedom. Although there are a vast amount of similarities between the two documents, I will argue that they are different in stated grievances, remedies, views on sources of political power, models of governance, and of rights and government.

In the making of the United States, there were many events that are important. This paper intends to highlight a few of those events including; Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and the Federalist Papers. Many events in America’s history helped to establish the United States as a free and independent country. The Declaration of Independence in particular explains the rights and freedoms that Americans. Each document is like a stepping stones that leads to the next and building upon the pervious document.

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.

The danger of politics lead to the principal factor of checks and balances, within the government and Founding Fathers, throughout the “most crucial and consequential [decade] in American history” (27). Politics were also what lead to the quarrel between John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.

In modern America, many citizens hold to the notion that the Constitution was adopted unanimously, without debate or disagreement. Not only is this not the case, the debate and disagreement that took place during the institution of the governing articles for the newly formed country are ultimately responsible for the system we have in place today as the concerns and counterpoints raised in the discussion were more crucial to the successful continuance of stability in the nation than any unanimous decision. Given the apparent import of such discussion, it is therefore prudent to examine the original points of contention to determine their merit and to further ensure that the concerns originally raised have been addressed sufficiently.

When America’s founding fathers broke away from England, they weren’t the first colonial Englishmen on the American continent, there were plenty of French, Spanish, Dutch and even Russian colonial outposts established before them. What makes the English colonies along the Eastern seaboard story so important, was the fact that 13 colonies joined together to form what is now known as the United States. Furthermore, this 13 colonies New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia risk their lives, fortunes, and sacred honors to start a new nation free from Great Britain’s rule. In the mist of declaring independence from the most powerful nation on earth, America’s founding fathers created a governmental system that was unfamiliar during their era. America’s founding fathers created a government designed to protect civil liberties and encourage independence, a complex yet young and evolving system.

Americans desperately fight against the poison of tyranny with their best weapon, the Constitution. During the Colonial Period, King George III, demanded many things from the colonists. These demands were caused by the aftermath of the French and Indian War. England had increasing debts, so the king raised the taxes of both America and England. The increase of taxes caused anger to rise from the Americans, which allowed a roll of events to unfold. After many harsh exchanges between the colonists and King George III, America declared its independence on July 4, 1776. Soon after the declaration, things began to heat up as fight over representation in government began to be more debated.

In 1775, America began one of the most important moments of its life as well as history overall, the America Revolution. This war was fought to free the new colonies from the tyranny of the British monarchy and the unfair way it treated them. The fight was long and hard, but in the end the battle was won and the colonies became their own nation, left to rule under their own circumstances and set up their own government. Ironically when it came to setting this up, was in some ways, more difficult than the physical battle that came and went. The first attempt at a government blueprint came as “The Articles of confederation” which was the first written constitution and attempted to unify America under a set of rules that the citizens would better follow and appreciate. Martin Kelley quotes it as a creation of a “confederation of states whereby each state retained "its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right . . . not . . . expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled." (Kelley). The failure came from its creation of independent states and as Ted Brackemyer puts it “…the lack of a strong national government in the Articles of Confederation led to three broad limitations.” These limits were economic disorganization, lack of central leadership, and legislative inefficiencies (Brackemyer).

The purpose of this paper is intended to summarize my views on what has influenced my understanding of politics and government prior to taking this class, and how my understanding is now since completing this course.

Once the United States declared independence from Britain in 1776, they immediately started to create a government. Tomas Paine’s “Common Sense” was the first ever pamphlet to advocate American independence. It started many ideas that began the Revolution. In 1777, Congress submitted the Articles of Confederation which is the nation’s first constitution even though it was ratified a few years later. Congress could not handle the country’s economic affairs under the Articles because most state currencies were useless due to the wartime inflations. They even tried to print and use their own Continental dollars so they could keep the economy alive but that had also failed.

Back in 1776, Thomas Jefferson and other drafters wrote the Declaration of Independence in order to break free from Great Britain. American colonies were under the control of the king of the Great Britain for such a long time. Because of that, it was not easy for them to break free from Britain and create its own government. However, with the Declaration of Independence, they successfully became its own country, not someone else’s. Without this powerful declaration, America’s freedom might have not been existed.

Any nationwide endeavor across the world over is always faced with a myriad of challenges when one factor in, the interest of different individuals or groups. During the early years of the USA, there were many problems that politicians at the time faced when trying to create and strengthen the country’s Constitution. In the early 1780’s the young country was in a deep depression, and this played a key role in influencing the exercise as it ultimately led to a heated debate about the powers of the National and State governments. Most of the conservative politicians at the time preferred a stronger federal government while state radicals believed that states should have more power since it was in a better position to determine what was best for their citizens (Jilson, 2009). More sticking points divided the founding fathers which threatened the stability and establishment of the USA, such as slavery and federalism.

We then learned the historical perspective of government. It started with the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. This was a declaration that was formed by the Continental Congress in which the original thirteen colonies that were at war with Great Britain considered themselves as thirteen newly individual states and not a part of the Britain Empire. In the Declaration of Independence it states where these thirteen colonies were given the right to be treated as independents states; “ these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do”(Declaration of Independence, 1776).