Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Founding Fathers, George Washington

The Founding fathers did not want to create a government with too much power so they created the Articles of Confederation. This government turned out to be a failure. In 1787, the founding fathers met again to create a new framework of government. Most people feared creating a government that was too strong. To create a new government there had to be many compromises, the U.S. Constitution is the result of these compromises reached in Philadelphia in 1787. The Articles of Confederation were too weak and created many problems which led to a stronger National government. Two weaknesses of the Articles of confederation were that Congress did not have the power to tax. Another problem was that the states had most of the power and the National Government had little power. Two decisions made by the

1.) How did both Classical Republicans and the natural rights philosophers influence the Founders’ views about government? In the beginning stages of what we know today as our system of government, the Founders were combing through numerous sources in order to inquire about past entities and were in constant debate over how the United States was to be set up and how it was to run more smoothly than previous examples. The Founders were profoundly interested in the works of two different ideologies: Classical Republicanism, which was inspired by the political writings of Greek philosophers, Aristotle and Polybius, and Roman philosopher Cicero; and Natural Rights Philosophy, which came to the forefront by many political philosophers including

The committee assigned writing the Declaration of Independence consisted mostly of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine who agreed on the points in the first draft. However, they knew that the final document would have to be artistic and precise. Because Adams was too rough, Franklin was too sick, and Paine was too controversial, the task was given to Jefferson. His landlady recorded his struggle that was made obvious by his pacing which lead to little being accomplished. Once Jefferson sent home for a violin he played and had quiet, which produced the complete and ready document in a few days. Music unlocked Jefferson’s linguistic genius. Few know how music helped form our country.

After declaring independence from the British monarchy, the colonist believed they should set the new form of government on paper. With the failure of the first constitution, Articles of Confederation brought together James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and many more to contribute to the new form in which the new country would operate. The founding fathers understood that if they had too much nation government it could lead to the same form of government the British had

The founding fathers wanted to create a constitution because many believed that the national government had to be stronger than what it had been with the use of the Articles of Confederation. But at the same time they were fearful of human nature and how often it could be seen in the history of other countries such as Britain, for people in the position of power to infringe on the rights of others, by becoming hungry with power. Taking this into account, they wanted to create a government with another power to keep order and to govern. But also make sure there were sufficient checks put in

After the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the United States Government was reorganized under the Constitution. This gave the federal government far more power than did the Articles of Confederation, which invested power within the states. Basically, the Constitution created three branches of government (Executive, Judicial, and Legislative) which would work together to run the government. To make sure that there was an equal balance of power among the branches, a system of checks and balances was devised so that each branch could limit the power of the others. It is important to note that "the doctrine of separation of powers is not established by any constitutional provision [but] rather it emerges from he framers'

The United States of America was founded on a Constitution that was supposed to preserve our freedoms and certain liberties. All Americans at that time wanted to keep America a free an independent nation with rights for its people. However there was two different groups, the Federalists lead by Alexander Hamilton and the Democratic-Republicans led by Thomas Jefferson, which thought this could be achieved in very different ways.

The Founding Fathers had learned from the past that a democracy was a form of lawless mob rule. They saw that the ancient Greeks tried a true democracy that had failed and led to chaos. A true democracy would not run efficiently or properly. The Founding Fathers saw our Government as a Republic (McManus 2001). They were realists who believed in limited government and low taxes. Their ideal was to build a unique structure of government to put into action their beliefs in nationalism, limited government, and separation of powers with check and balances, and judicial reviews. The Founding Fathers wanted to generate a strong government while ensuring that the government would not become a threat to liberty or property.

What exactly led the Founding Fathers to their idea of a nation of laws for America? In 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act was an act that was implemented in the American colonies that required most printed material to be taxed. The American colonies believed this to be unfair because they did not have a say in the taxation. After months of protesting, the act was vetoed, but a new act was implemented into the colonies in 1773. This act, the Tea Act, forced the colonists to purchase tea from one and only one company. These were the sparks that would soon start a revolution. This is the result of being ruled by man. Because of this, because the Founding Fathers did not want a repeat of what happened with Great Britain, because the Founding Fathers knew that there would be corruption if a nation is ruled by man, they chose America to be a nation to be ruled by law; a nation of laws.

The type of government America created once they declared independence was fixated on the people. James Madison, the father of the Constitution, also spoke about how he believed the government should be run in other documents, such as The Federalist Papers, which he authored along with Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury, and John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, “A good Government implies two things: first, fidelity to the object of Government, which is the happiness of the People; secondly, a knowledge of the means by which that object can be best attained” (The Federalist Papers). This recognition by James Madison on his vision for the new country of America, shows the new way of government that were being thought of, away from the traditional monarchy practiced around the majority of the prominent countries in Europe. One thing that could have influenced his view of an effective government, would be the Enlightenment, which was a time when old, trusted philosophies were being questioned and a lot of new discoveries and ideas were recognized and started to be accepted into cultures. This could have affected the founding fathers reasoning for establishing the American government to be the way it is for one major reason: to be the first country in the western hemisphere to practice a true republic.

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were two important presidents who had an enormous affect on our nation’s stable government and beginning years of our country. Each made their unique contributions to a new government under the Constitution after the failed adoption of the Articles of Confederation. After the war for independence, the Articles of Confederation, began to fail because there was no direct effective way to to collect revenue, to much power was given to the states, and Congress did not have a lot of power. Historical figures, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, helped establish a stable government for their citizens.

The Founding Father labored for weeks to conceive a type of government they believed was founded in a theory that was best articulated in the constitution of Rome, “the essence of freedom is the proper limitation of government”, (Rexine, 1976, p. 331) The majority of the Founding Fathers were some of the most highly education men in their time. Researching history of ancient Greek and Roman Constitutions, as well as, the philosophies of Aristotle, Polybius, Cicero and other ancient historians for what ideas would work best for the benefit of the people. This supported the incite and theory which incorporated the concepts of balance of power and checks and balances (Rexine, 1976), as well as the supremacy of a

The U.S. government was founded on three philosophies, naturalism, classical republicanism and constitutionalism. John Locke’s contractual theory of government placed great value on the people’s natural rights. Locke believed that people would willingly complete their civil duties of [paying taxes and serving in the military, in return for the government’s protection and ear. People would do these things only if the government would listen to and protect them. Locke believed that in a natural state, men protect and control their property, but they are in a state of constant danger. When the people unite and form a government, their natural rights of life, liberty and property are protected. Locke believed

All of the founding fathers of the United States were great because they acted on their values and beliefs, helping to sow the seeds of a new nation. The work of the founding fathers became instrumental for independence from the British Crown. Being willing to stand up to Britain was no small feat, making the deeds of the founding fathers even more admirable. The founding fathers will be celebrated throughout history for their contribution not just to America but to the world. Although many men and women can be considered instrumental to founding the nation, there are seven key players that most historians identify as being the founding fathers. Those seven include George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe, and Ben Franklin. All seven of the founding fathers and their contributions are important. Therefore, it can be helpful to compare and contrast three of them—such as Washington, Hamilton, and Franklin--to better appreciate the ways their diverse talents, skills, and philosophies helped to create a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal.

After the Constitution was put into place, there were many conflicting ideas on how to run the country. Two people, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, led seperate groups that helped shape America today. Hamilton and Jefferson became the prominent leaders of the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans parties.