At the time, the states feared a strong central government, for this reason, the Continental Congress tried to give the states as much independence as possible. After the ratification of the Articles of Confederation the states pretty much governed themselves, they regulated their own interstate trade, they raised their own militia, and the Sovereignty resided in the
The main weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation are that it legislated for states but not for individuals. Congress had no power to tax or regulate trade. It lacked power to control commerce. And it was too difficult to change any of the articles. Then the Constitution was put into place 1787 to overthrow the Articles of Confederation.
What were the major arguments that surfaced in opposition to the new Constitution proposed in 1787? How did supporters of the Constitution counter those arguments? Before the Constitution was proposed in 1787, under the Articles of Confederation, there was no control of the country; debt was piling up and there was no enforcement of taxes. Many arguments surfaced in opposition to the new Constitution, but the main concern had to do with the concept of a “president” where there was a single executive leader and centralized government, and that there was no bill of rights. Supporters of the constitution countered these arguments by adding some safeguards in some cases and also by thoroughly explaining the limited powers that the leader and government would have and the necessity for a strong central government.
Alexander Hamilton once stated, "Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint." By saying this, Hamilton meant a government is required because people cannot make decisions based upon their instincts. The voice and thoughts of one are too irresponsible or unreasonable to make decisions. Mankind needs laws and obligations to live by, not only to keep peace but to protect ourselves from our basic nature.
Founders James Madison is the real father of US government in my point of view. He wrote Constitution, the main rules of the government, as a pioneer. In his idea, the structure of government had to be republic rather than democratic because it was quite difficult to have a direct democracy in such a nation with so many people, and not all of them needed to be listened to by government when making decisions. What’s more, he changed the way of dividing the political powers among several parts of the entire nation, which was quite significant for the emergence of US government at present. First about republic, James Madison decided to abandon the democratic governmental form and used the republic form instead because the latter tended to
Branches of Government Jefferson said it best, “My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government” (The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., 1996-2012, para. 1). After the ultimate control while under rule of the crown, the founding fathers sought to create not only a government that provided for rights and liberties of the people, but also to ensure that government interaction and authority was spread amongst various branches. This distribution of power would provide checks and balances to guarantee reduced influence, while allowing each section to operate independently. However, agreement of each party would be problematic to achieve when needing to enact new laws and regulations.
Many laws have evolved and changed meanings over time, and therefore, the “law of our land” must be applied as accurately as possible for the criminal justice system to work effectively. The original content for which the amendment regarding counsel stemmed from a need to reinforce the standards set by colonial Americans when they were facing the English. The right to counsel was not necessarily a positive state because often the counsel appointed was not working necessarily for the defendant’s best interest. Nowhere does the amendment explicitly state that the accused will be provided counsel by the government (Sonneborn, 2004). There has been an addendum that had to be put in place later to combat any legal issues that would have been faced when integrating the right to counsel clause into the modern criminal justice
It all began with James Madison who was, “considered the “Father of the Constitution,” and believed that strict limits on federal power were best for liberty. Powers of the federal government which were not enumerated in the Constitution were forbidden” (“Constitutional” 1). This is how society should be today, where the federal government is restricted to enacting on the laws solely stated in the constitution. Now many presidents and high authority leaders began to follow this idea. With all other powers off limits to the federal government, they didn’t get too powerful.
Jefferson states his disagreements with James Madison when he says, “Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government.” (Document A). As the years went on James Madison and Thomas Jefferson started to see eye to eye. Jefferson and the Jeffersonian Republicans believed that the authority of the federal government should be based on a strict constitution. Americans should follow every rule stated in the constitution and to obey them. Jefferson stated that, “ I consider the government of the United States as interdicted the constitution.” (Document B).
"Title: The Federalist No. 10 Author: James Madison Time: November 22, 1787 Short Summary:. The Articles of Confederation did not effectively control and reduce the negative effects of factions on the nation, and thus a new government was necessary. The government laid out in the Constitution was ideal because it was a republic, a representative government that would prevent self-interested passions from holding too much sway over the government. It was also large, containing representatives from every state and many different interest groups, making it difficult for one group to dominate and suppress the others.