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Brief biography of abraham lincoln
Brief biography of abraham lincoln
History of Abraham Lincoln and his achievements
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In William Brennan’s view on the American Constitution he focused on human dignity to determine his interpretation. As he states in his essay, “But we are an aspiring people, a people with faith in progress. Our amended Constitution is the lodestar for our aspirations. Like every text worth reading, it is not crystalline.” (Brennan).
Brief Introduction: The Summer of 1787: the Men Who Invented the Constitution was written by David O. Stewart and was published by Simon and Schuster Paperbacks in 2007. The book is 368 pages (including the special features) and the book is an exquisite biography written about the United States Constitutional Convention. David O. Stewart has many qualities to write about the Constitutional Convention because he practiced and studied law in Washington D.C. for more than 25 years. Furthermore, Stewart argued a case before the Supreme Court as a lawyer and he was also a law clerk to Justice Lewis Powell, a member of the Supreme Court.
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was probably best known for being the president of the Civil War but Lincoln played another big role as he also helped fuel the Civil War. He helped get this war started by speeking against slavery. Lincoln said slavery shouldn’t be abolished but excluded the territories. Because of what lincoln said this put southerners in a state of fear because if he were to win his election and slavery would be excluded from the territories that would mean that no new slave states could be added thus getting rid of slavery as a whole.
Instead of a revision though, the delegates met and decided to create a new government and ratified its guidelines, the Constitution, with only nine states’ approval. This was illegal according to the Articles of Confederation, where it stated, “nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them [articles]; unless such alteration be agreed to in a congress of the united states, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every state.” This blatant disregard for the law and the wishes of the general public shows that the American government at that time was more tyrannical than the republic it portrayed itself as. Thomas Paine, a popular Revolutionist writer of the time, wrote on law and monarchs, “For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king.” Despite Paine voicing the opinion of the public, that is not what happened when they called for a rewrite of the Articles of Confederation.
James Madison once said, "[the Constitution was not] the offspring of a single brain." This is true, however, Madison, who is known as the Father of the Constitution, certainly played a huge role in its writing and ratification. In fact if he had not written the Federalist Papers the Constitution might not have been passed. Also, it was he who suggested the use of a three branch government.
Since its inception in 1787, the U.S. Constitution has been considered as the oldest and most influential document. It laid down the principles and foundation which helped shape U.S. as a nation, and the more than one hundred countries that used it as a model for creating their own Constitution (Constitutionfacts.com, n.a.). But the circumstances during its creation were critical. The American War of Independence (1775-1783) against Great Britain had ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris that gave sovereignty to the U.S. in 1783.
Believe it or not, the Constitution was not America 's first form of government. Our country started out with the Articles of Confederation, which were...shall we say... less than perfect. They gave the states much more power than the central government, due to a pervasive fear of strong central governments. This fear stemmed from the reign of the tyrannical King George III, and the founding fathers did not want to give their country the ability to establish another monarchy. In the Articles of Confederation, the central government had no power to tax, regulate trade or commerce, enforce laws, settle disputes between states.
Throughout history , presidents have taken different steps in abusing the executive orders and other presidential directives. Many citizens expressed different views over the executive abuse and benefits the presidents have. The increased use of executive legislation in the absence of challenges from Congress has expanded the power, boundaries, and pose a serious threat to the democracy.
“On the Faults of the Constitution” was a speech written by Benjamin Franklin to try to explain the weaknesses of the Constitution. In his speech, he states some of things about the Constitution that he believed were weak, but I also realized that he also started to point out certain strengths in the Constitution. In certain parts of the speech, the beginning, Benjamin Franklin basically explains how the Constitution is not really good, that it is bad and tries to explain the weaknesses, but towards the end, Benjamin Franklin’s viewpoint goes off of what he wanted to first state. In the beginning of his speech, Benjamin Franklin says, “I confess that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution at present; but, sir, I am not sure I shall never approve of it, for, having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise.”
Creating a government that was strong enough to overcome other governments was key, but not so powerful that it concerned the people of their own state’s individual rights. There were many American diplomats that contributed to the first constitution or The Articles of Confederation. Opinions were given, disagreements took place, and revisions were made. Still there were some that were
War of 1812 James Madison is considered to be the "Father of the Constitution," but it was the War of 1812 that defined his presidency. In the War of 1812, the United States took on the greatest naval power in the world, Great Britain, in a conflict that would have a great impact on the young country’s future. Causes of the war included British attempts to restrict U.S. trade, the Royal Navy’s capture of American seamen and America’s desire to expand its territory. The United States suffered many costly defeats from the British, Canadian and Native American troops over the course of the War of 1812.
Abraham Lincoln was one of the best US president. He was born into a poor family. Despite his background he was able become president. He starts to self study law. Lincoln had the idea that states do not have the right to leave the Union.
James Madison (1751-1836) was the principal creator of the us Constitution, the Secretary of State below President Chief Executive, and therefore the fourth president of the us. throughout the Revolution, he helped draft Virginia 's state constitution and served within the congress. within the years in real time following the war, he grew convinced of the domestic and international disasters that may follow unless the national government was reformed, and so joined those vocation for a Constitutional Convention. He teamed with solon and diplomat to publish the Federalist Papers. once the Constitution 's confirmation, he served within the us Congress from 1789 to 1797.
James Madison, founding father and fourth president of United States wrote the federalists paper number 10 in favor of the constitution. He believes that constitution is the only way to keep balance and control any problem this country faces. He uses faction as an example and talks about how it can cause problems but most importantly how to deal with the problems. He defines faction as groups of people who came together to promote their own interests and opinions. He said that these groups take advantage of the public and violate their rights.
During the early stages of our country, the individual states felt that creating a central government was going to produce a government with absolute power. This led some of the representatives to dispute the idea, as they did not want to lose the power they already possessed. Edmund Burke said: “All persons possessing any portion of power ought to be strongly and awfully impressed with an idea that they act in trust: and that they are to account for their conduct in that trust to the one great Master, Author, and Founder of society… Power to be legitimate must be according to that eternal, immutable law, in which will and reason are the same.” Between the creation of the Constitution and the Civil War, there was a period of implementation.
