The United States of America is run by our country’s Constitution. After the American Revolution, the Americans realized the need for a system of government and law. The Constitution establishes three branches of government. It is important for all of Americans to understand why it was decided on three branches of government. They also should know the obstacles the division of power decide what branch gets what powers.
Our founding fathers were inspired by influential people to write the great documents for America. For instance, Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, was inspired by ideas of philosophers in the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment ideas from political philosophers were used by other founding fathers as a means to motivate others for the Revolution. After the Revolution, James Madison also used ideas of Enlightenment philosophers to construct the United States Constitution. Philosophers, like Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau, all had a great influence in the making of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
The Articles of Confederation played an important part in the American Revolutionary War. The purpose of the Article was to provide a general government for the 13 colonies that had won their freedom from British rule. However, the Confederation government was weak and the Article was a failure because the states tended to ignore and paid little attention to acts passed by Congress. In the late 1780s, more and more American leaders concluded that the Articles of Confederation needed improvements. Discussion at the Annapolis Convention of 1786 led to a convention in Philadelphia in 1787.
An amendment proposed by 2/3rds vote in each house of congress could be approved by either one of two ways. It must be either ratified by 3/4ths of the State Legislature or by the Constitutional Conventions in 3/4ths of the states. To approve an amendment proposed at a National Constitutional Convention it must also be ratified by 3/4ths of the State Legislatures or by a Constitutional Convention in 3/4ths of the States. The First Amendment, freedoms, is one of the most known and the most important of all amendments. The new American settlers brought with them a desire for democracy and openness.
The Magna Carta acknowledged some of the basic human rights such as property rights, protection from over taxation, and the rights of due process. Essentially, the Magna Carta was the beginning stages for our modern democracy, a document that would start limiting the power of the king and expressing the freedom of men. The government is divided into three bodies within the Constitution: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches. The first article in the Constitution focuses on the establishing of Congress, which immediately shows the authors' view on the significance of the representative side of government. Congress would compose of elected officials from all states, and have the power to propose and pass laws.
They were angry at the legislature for not issuing paper money and for not doing anything about high taxes. In July 1787 the Committee of Detail wrote Constitution, which included a plan to give Congress the power to coin money, to raise its own revenue, and to borrow money. There was a lot of debating at Philadelphia and several plans for government were proposed. The Virginia Plan proposed a bicameral legislature with broad powers, national executive, and national judiciary. The New Jersey Plan proposed new powers for Congress, national executive for Congress, and national judiciary.
There was no national court system to settle interstate disputes, forcing settlements to occur in the courts of one of the states involved. Also, propositions for new laws had to be approved by all thirteen states, often resulting in divided votes making progress difficult. The value of the national currency quickly depreciated as the states began to print their own money, eventually harming interstate trade. The American market was soon flooded with European goods while hefty tariffs and trade restrictions were imposed on many products being exported from the United States. The weak and divided economy kept the United States
Federalists and Anti-Federalists In the early 19th century, two men fought for what they believed was right and their thoughts on how to govern the nation and its people. Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson had many confrontations and disputes about whether their political view of government was best fitting to the society. Hamilton was the secretary of treasury, a founding father, one of the significant figures in finding the constitution, and founded the very first political party. Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence, the third president of the Unites States, the secretary of state, a founding father, and alongside Hamilton founded the first political party. These two founding fathers would construct one of the famous documents in the history of the world and represent a rivalry that will further enable parties to fight for what they believe is constitutional.
This plan angered delegates from small states like Delaware and New Jersey. If this plan were accepted then there would be high chance that small states could have no members in the upper house. On July 2, 1787 a committee was created to resolve this issue. The committee compromised a proposal between large states and small states. This proposal suggested that the lower house would be represented by the state’s population, but in the upper house the states would be presented equally with two member from each state.
His more famous name, Publicola, meant ‘friend of the people’,” [5] By April 1788 the men had published seventy-seven of The Federalist essays. All three authors drew on their experiences in national politics and the military. The two main authors, Hamilton and Madison, were a key part of the activities leading to the Federal Convention and the drafting of the Constitution. In fact all three of these men went on to great things. James Madison became the fourth President of the United States and is considered the father of the Constitution; Alexander Hamilton was part of George Washington’s cabinet as the first Secretary of the Treasury, in this position he formed economic policy for the United States that is still used today; and John Jay was