They also opposed a national bank nervous it would give too much power to t he central government. Republicans or anti- federalists believed the American economy should be based on agriculture while Federalists counted on industrial and commercial economy. With or without Hamilton and Jefferson’s intelligence and strongly backed up ideas, a division between government was unavoidable. Too many people had too many ideas and no matter what there couldn’t be a solution of plans in America. George Washington expressed a good point when he said “This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its roots in the strongest passions of the human mind.
President Woodrow Wilson wrote “the he Constitution of the United States is not a mere lawyers’ document, it is a vehicle of life and its spirit is always the spirit of the age.” One must keep this fact in mind when comparing the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation. There was a vast difference in the “spirit of the age” when these documents were drafted. Coming on the heels of the Declaration of Independence and the war against England, and afraid of a dictatorship or a government that did not listen to its people, the Articles of Confederation (which will be referred to as AoC) were written it a way that gave more power to the states. The problem with this type of government was that it was too difficult to enact or enforce laws and the government could not collect enough taxes to support itself. I believe the Constitution did a better job of protecting liberties, specifically in the areas of the federal court system, representation of the people, and the levy of taxes.
The principle was adopted by the Founding Fathers due to their fear of totalitarianism. Montesquieu argued for separation of powers in his book L’Esprit de Lois, where he stated that separation of powers will avoid tyranny ‘When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person…there can be no liberty.’ On the contrary to the US, the UK’s powers are fused; the Prime Minister is both the executive and part of the legislature. In the US system there is also a separation of personnel, this means that no person can be a member of more than one branch at the same time. When Senator Al Gore was elected vice-president in 1992, he had to resign from the Senate. Similarly, in 2008, Barack Obama too had to resign from the Senate.
Outline Although the founding of the Constitution was a revolutionary, positive turning-point in American history, the US Constitution has a few unconstitutional and democratic shortcomings. Introduction In order to understand the shortcomings of democracy of the US Constitution, is it is important to know the background of its’ founding and how each article serves our country. Federalist No. 10, written by James Madison, asserts the importance of having the image of a democracy without its real substance. There seems to have been a very strong opposition towards democracy at the Constitutional Convention, although the framers were in the midst of creating democratic principles to appeal to the majority of the country.
The solution was the United States Constitution. In fear of power, dictatorship, and political chaos the framers of the United States created the U.S Constitution on September 17th 1787. The Constitution is divided into three parts, the preamble, the articles, and the Amendments. The Preamble is the first part of the Constitution, which is considered the introduction of the Constitution that gives you the why of this important document. The preamble gives the patriotic foundation of the union stating the famous quote “We the people of the Unites States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America”.
Rigobero Chavarin English 10 11/08/12 What are the principles rulers of the people should follow? Thomas Jefferson defines his interpretation of the rights and freedom of the people within the Declaration of Independence; however, even if a government under those elements and Jefferson’s conception were developed, history would repeat itself, thus making the people live under the principles of Machiavelli. As Machiavelli said, there’s a difference between the way we ought to live and the way we do live. Niccolo Machiavelli would find Jefferson’s concept of ideal government absolutely useless and antagonistic towards his aspect of government, which he defines as reality. Machiavelli would find Jefferson’s skepticism of immoral justification and Tyranny within the British government as antithetical towards his belief in successful power.
Power To The People? Government Actually In Federalist Paper #6, Alexander Hamilton’s argument to the public of the 13 states is that if they were to remain independent states they would undoubtedly end up fighting with one another and engaging in wars with one another. Neighboring states or nations are naturally going to compete for resources and therefore could result in turning hostile. History has shown that republics are just as likely to fight against each other as are states. Hamilton states that the only solution to this foreseen problem is to form a union with institutions for resolving disputes, now known as the United States court system, to prevent devastating conflicts between the states.
Hamilton was an ardent believer that the states were incapable of uniting the people politically and economically. He feared the interests of the states would lead to chaos due to “an excess of the spirit of liberty, which has made the particular states show a jealousy of all power not in their own hands” (Morse, 1890). Hamilton was leery of state power because of how ineffective the Articles of Confederation were in promoting a national identity capable of defending the homeland and creating the basic foundation for economic development. Unlike many of his colleagues, Hamilton did not grow up a child of privilege and carried with him the stigma of being a bastard because his mother was previously married and his biological father abandoned the family. He grew up on the small Caribbean island of Nevis that “generated more wealth for Britain than all of her North American colonies combined” (Chernow, 2004).
The Eighth Amendment: protective or useless? In the United States government, the Constitution was formed to provide the basic structure of government. To appease the states and citizens who felt as though they were losing power and were scared of a strong national government in the wake of the stranglehold the British crown had held over the original colonies, the Bill of Rights was drawn up. The Eighth Amendment states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishments inflicted” (Colbert 12). In theory, the Eighth Amendment provides protection to those who have been accused of a crime and those who have already been convicted.
The Anti-Federalists’ strongest argument, however, was that the Constitution lacked a Bill of Rights. The Anti-Federalists warned that without a Bill of Rights, a strong national government might take away the human rights won in the Revolution. They had great apprehension about the potential loss of sovereignty through the power given to the national government in the proposed Constitution and the resulting horrific effects that such a loss would have on the nation and the people as a whole. The Anti-Federalist belief was that through the integrity of state sovereignty, effective restraints would be in place to keep the national government from deteriorating into a despotic government thus protecting the liberties and freedoms of the people. Anti-Federalist felt that the Constitution gave more power to central government and less to the states.