This independence derives from the constitution as the founding fathers suggested Congress was to be “the central element of the new political system” allowing Congress to perform checks and balances on a powerful executive. Congress is the branch of government closest to the people and the framers of the Constitution intended it to be the most powerful. Although, in the nineteenth and twentieth century, Congress has decreased in importance as the powers of the presidency expanded. Constitutionally it was given three main powers, all of which remain important today. First, all legislative power is vested in the house of reps and the senate, and within this broad function, Congress is given special powers to appropriate monies, raise armies and regulate interstate commerce.
To begin, there were such huge numbers of various thoughts that came into play making the Constitution of the United States. The Founding Fathers brought a significant number of various types of government for our new nation becoming free from Britain. They needed to improve an administration than what Britain was. However, they needed a legislature that would work for a considerable length of time after as well. So a chosen few were helped make this conceivable, the Founding Fathers.
That created a new federal dimension of citizenship for all Americans, and sought to guarantee universal male suffrage. Once they were ratified, congress was constitutionally empowered and obligated to protest and enforce them, sustaining the broad new powers and active role of the government. The post war period began with a series of fairly lenient Reconstruction plans put forth by presidents Lincoln and Johnson, who were both eager to see former confederacy returned to the union with as much speed and as little vindictiveness as possible. As the ineffectiveness of Reconstruction became apparent in the face of blatant violations of the freed peoples constitutional rights and liberties, northern voters elected republicans to congress by a landslide, there providing a mandate for the republicans to take the job of putting the union back together again. They were deemed radical by subsequent historians because they insisted that blacks be protected in their new found rights.
Founding Fathers: James Madison I believe that James Madison made the most significant impact on our government. Madison was appropriately nicknamed “The Father of the Constitution” He played a key role in founding America. He wrote a sizeable amount of The Federalist Papers. He co-founded the Democrat-Republican party. Madison was also one of the top contributors at the Constitutional Convention and he drafted the Constitution.
But the basics of their philosophies were the same. The Jacksonian Democracy during 1820s to the 1840s was the way America was ran by President Thomas Jefferson. Being a former common man, Jefferson gave more power to those in his former position and limited the power of the aristocracies which created a balance. Jackson believed in the power of the president and the constitution that gives him the presidential power. This power caused principles in Jacksonian Democracy including Manifest Destiny.
The Supreme Court recognized that Judicial Review must also be cultivated into Judicial Sovereignty; the idea that a law may be held unconstitutional and binding on the other branches. The nation-state relationship served as the greatest obstacle for the Supreme Court in preserving the Union. In order to preserve the American Union the Supreme Court steered the cases, of the period, in order to create a consolidated nation-state. Preserving the American Union is reflected in all decisions of the cases the cases that fallow. In the case Marbury v. Madison the Supreme Court invalidated a law, passed by Congress, by declaring an act unconstitutional for the first time.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights is a document that was written in 1776 to protect the rights of men before the development of the United States. The Declaration of Independence is a document that declared the United States’ separation with England. The Constitution is the supreme law of America. Without the enlightenment works of Locke, Rousseau and Montesquieu fundamental ideas would not be present in today’s United States government. John Locke was a great philosopher and the father of Classical Liberalism.
Origins of the Bill of Rights | By: Leonard W.Levy | Nelson Fernandez3/11/15Per.6 | In today’s world of devious politics & manipulative politicians, it is more important to know your Constitutional Rights better than ever before. Leonard Levy’s book give great insight to what out United States Constitution written by our glorious Founding Fathers has guaranteed and safe guarded to all of us. The book gives insight on all the amendments and what they mean, where they bill of rights came from, skepticisms of people involved with this Bill of Rights, Leonard’s own opinion on the Bill of Rights. Despite the fact that Leonard put together of very informative, insightful book it is also very dull and takes much drudging to go through
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.
He thought that the government would be given too much power. His thoughts on the injustices in the Constitution greatly influenced the making of the Bill of Rights. At the time, Federalists argued that the Constitution didn’t need a bill of rights, due to the fact that the people and states kept any powers not given to the federal government, but Anti-Federalists said that a bill of rights was necessary to safeguard individual liberty. So when the Bill of Rights was made it listed prohibitions on governmental power and the rights that were granted to people. When the Bill of Rights was adopted into the Constitution it was became the fundamental rights of all citizens in 1791.