How about the U.S constitution, what factors were held to point out? What went on with the Articles of Confederation? Both classes had disagreements with the Articles of Confederation. Federalists say that the articles were weak and ineffective because the state governments was too weak to apply laws and ordered for a national government instead. We Anti-federalists however believed that the Articles of Confederation was a good plan and that there should not be a government more powerful than the state governments.
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. Alexander Hamilton, statesman and economist, proclaimed "Laws are a dead letter without courts to expound and define their true meaning and operation”. The Articles of Confederation which gave rise to the Confederation government that took effect in March 1781, did not give the national government any means to enforce the federal laws. The states could, and often did, choose to interpret or enforce federal laws in any manner they saw fit. This led to disputes amongst the states that could not be readily settled, as it relied on each state’s court system which invariably chose to discount the ruling of the other states.
* Federalists- People who supported the Constitution during its adoption. They believed in large national government, weaker state government, and government by the elites. * Anti-Federalists- People who opposed the Constitution during its adoption. They wanted a small national government, strong state government, rule of the common man, and protections of individual liberties. * Define and give an example of separation of powers and checks and balances * Separation of powers- An aspect of the Madisonian Model of government that requires each of the three branched of government to be independent of and to share power with each other so that one cannot control the others.
Zinn also uses an excerpt from historian Charles Beard to explain his reasoning. Beard basically said that the rich controls the government or the laws the government operates by. Zinn points out that the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights shows that quality of interest hides behind innocence. Meaning that Congress completely ignores the freedom of speech. Professor of history Gordon S. Wood views the struggle for a new constitution in 1787-1788 as a social conflict between upper-class Federalists who desired a stronger central government and the “humbler” Anti-Federalists who controlled the state assemblies.
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.
This made it difficult to conduct business from state to state. When people purchased goods from other states, they had to pay a tax. In these respects, under the Articles of Confederation, the United States were not treated as united states, but as many different countries. The new Constitution corrected this by stating that only the Federal Government has the right to coin money. Therefore, people no longer had to worry about changing the currency when crossing into other states.
Federalists, on the other hand, believed in broadly adhering to constitution, characterizing them as broad constructionists. This allowed the Federalists to make decisions that were not clearly supported by the constitution, ultimately giving the government more power than the constitution. While the Federalists and Republicans were thought as very diverse parties, their beliefs ended up crossing during the presidencies of Jefferson and Madison. Therefore, from 1801 to 1817 while the Federalists were considered to be broad constructionists and Republicans strict constructionists, they both went astray from their beliefs so each party could do what was best for themselves and, most importantly, the country. From 1801 to 1809, during the presidency of Jefferson, it was the first time that the Republicans and Federalists didn't abide by the ordinary ideals each group previously followed.
The United States Constitution was the first constitution in the world. It was play an important of American history, marked America became a democracy country. Many events prompted Congress to approve the Constitution. Although America had defeat Great British and won the Revolutionary War, the United States government was weak. The 13 colonies followed the Articles of Confederation, but every state had its laws, so the government had not enough power to solve the problem between each states.
How do you think our rights were protected against tyranny by the Constitution? Tyranny is when one person is given all the power to control a country of a government in a dictator like manner. The Constitution guarded against tyranny in several ways, which were federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, big states vs. small states. The first guard against tyranny was Federalism, a system of government in which power is divided between a federal government and state government. The guard of federalism is shown one way in the Constitution when they set up the compound government to make sure that the federal government doesn’t get too much power.
Jefferson and the Jeffersonian Republicans believed that the authority of the federal government was based on a strict constitution. The Federalists believed in the opposite. Federalists believed that the constitution should be interpreted in a loose and broader way. The Federalists were able to make decisions that were not written word for word in the constitution. 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).