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Essay On Did The Constitution Establish A Just Government

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Did the Constitution establish a just government?

A just government is one that shares its power with its citizens and allows them to have equal representation. The goal of the framers of the U.S Constitution was to establish a just government that differed from the oppressive British monarchy; but was also more efficient than the Articles of Confederation. To achieve their goal, they developed a constitution that allowed direct citizen participation through voting for house legislators (Article 1 Section 2) and equally represented all citizens in the senate (Article 1 Section 3). However, citizens are not given so much power that they can change the government without thorough cause. The framers succeeded in creating a just government through …show more content…

State representation at the national level was a challenge for early government; some states supported New Jersey’s plan for representation, calling for each state's population to be represented equally, while others supported the Virginia Plan which stated that the population should determine the amount of representation each state should have. This dispute was solved by the Great Compromise, dividing congress into two houses: the house and the senate. The House reflected the Virginia Plan, allowing states to be represented accordingly with their population. In contrast, the Senate called for two representatives of each state regardless of that state’s population. With this compromise, no legislation could pass without the approval of both the house and the senate, giving them equal power. This made the constitution just because it allowed for equal representation for every state without giving large states too much …show more content…

People did not want a super authoritative government like they had with England, but the Articles of Confederation’s failure proved that strong federal government was necessary. To prevent the new national government they were implementing from becoming too powerful, they developed a system that prevents it from infringing on the people's rights. For instance, if a bill passes both the house and the senate, the president has the power to veto the bill and send it back to congress (Article 1 Section 7). However, if congress votes on it again and ⅔ of each house vote for it, the bill will override the president’s veto and be signed into a law. The supreme court can check this power too, as they can get rid of laws too if they are not in accordance with the constitution. This system was ingenious because it prevents one branch of the government from using (and abusing) too much power. As Federalist No 51 states, “you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself”. The constitution is just in this way because it limits the government's own power, which prevents it from being able to become

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There were two major plans for government submitted by the states: the Virginia plan- A.K.A the Large States plan, and the New Jersey Plan- A.K.A the Small States Plan. The Virginia Plan was made to specifically benefit the large, slave-holding, southern states. It called for a bicameral legislature which would take a state’s population into account when selecting the number of senators and representatives for a state. This would have given massive power to the southern states which had large populations due to slaves as opposed to the free, northern states. In reply to this was the New Jersey Plan, which was unicameral and gave equal representation to each state regardless of population.

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all states were represented equally in the Senate. This made the smaller states happy. In the House of Representatives, representation was based on population. This pleased the bigger states. The Great Compromise settled the method of representation in the legislative branch.

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Constitution DBQ What is tyranny and how do you guard against it? Tyranny is most often defined as harsh, absolute power in the hands of one individual - like a king or a dictator. The constitution was created May of 1787, in Philadelphia. “The accumulation of all powers … in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many (is) the very definition of tyranny.” It was made to replace the old constitution, the Articles of Confederation (Background Essay).

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In an attempt to address concerns dealing with representation of the states in Congress, delegates chosen from the states: Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Connecticut, and Georgia met in Philadelphia on July 16, 1787 in a meeting called, The Constitutional Convention. Among these delegates was Roger Sherman of Connecticut. Sherman was seen as awkward and unmeaning, giving off the air of a sub-conscious farmer when seated quietly. Although Sherman’s posture and physical appearance was not up to par of other politicians, and gave insight on his background as a Yeoman farmer, his superior intelligence was often recognized and spoken about on a grand level by those

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These authorities that the national government should have, were all up to the states to decide under the Articles. With the taking away some of the states rights in the Constitution, Anti-federalists feared that this would leave the states too weak, resulting in more problems. Under the new Constitution, many powers that were now in the government 's hands are: the power to levy and collect taxes, the power to regulate interstate commerce, the government set up a national court system consisting of district, circuit, and a supreme court, the government could enforce laws, there was now a house based on population, and a senate based on equal representation (two votes per state), to amend the Constitution, a ⅔ vote of Congress was needed, and a ¾ vote of the states were needed, and a majority rule was needed to pass bills. These new powers and abilities of the national government helped to create a strong, new

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Federalism helped the Constitution guard against tyranny by specifying which powers belong to the Federal government and which ones belong to the State government. This separation leads to a double security so that the state government can watch the federal government and the federal can watch the state. James Madison states in his Federalist Papers #51(Document A), “power surrendered by the people is first divided between two

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Finally, the Small State-Large State Compromise is a framer of the constitution that helps guard against tyranny. “Representatives shall be appointed according to the population.” “The Senate of the the United States shall be composed to two senators from each state.” (Constitution of the United States of America, 1787) (Doc D) Each state had equal representation, yet the larger states had the representation the amount of people living in the state.

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This, later know as the Great Compromise, was an idea by Roger Sherman from CT. At the time, this was called the CT Compromise, as they likely did not understand how big of a deal this would become. It was simply a combination of both the Virginia and New Jersey plans. It took the two houses from the Virginia plan, but they decided the Senate would be equal, pleasing the small states, and then House of Representatives would then be based off population, satisfying the larger states. This is so important because they created a government we would continue to use for hundreds of years to come, including

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As it applies to the Articles of Confederation there were many weaknesses in the way it went about governing the United States. For one, the loose federation of the states was too weak to act as a foundation to be considered or act as a central government. In addition the state legislatures had too much power and in turn had the ability to influence economic issues of all kinds. This strong legislature is the same one that allowed for mob ruling and actions by debtors. The Articles of confederation were also weak because the required congress to have all 13 colonies in agreement when a new tax was to be passed.

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At the Constitutional Convention in 1787 differences between the delegates and the interests they represented made compromise absolutely necessary. The Great Compromise was made because small states felt there wasn’t enough representation for them in Congress. The Three-Fifths Compromise was established to solve the problem of slavery representation in Southern states. Delegates at the Constitutional Convention had to face the problem of giving fair representation to both small and large states.

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However this idea was eventually scrapped and they wrote a whole new constitution. This constitution would protect America from tyranny, so they could keep a civilized and united country. The Constitution that was made helped defend America from almost all types of tyranny and is still helping us hundreds of years later. One way the Constitution prevented tyranny is by supporting Federalism.

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After the countless debates, the Great Compromise was what the convention would come into agreement with representation by population in the House of Representatives “The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one Representative. ”(add footnote) The smaller states were pleased with equal representation in the Senate “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senates from each state and each Senator shall have one vote.”(add

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The Constitutional Convention was arranged for the “purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation” (208). As a result, it was concluded that the power of this great nation should fall in the hands of a “direct authority” rather than within each state (209). Additionally, the national government must provide the Constitution as the representation of the people’s voice and their rights. Consequently, the New Jersey plan became in effect in which equal representation amongst the states in a “unicameral (one-house)” (210).

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One of the compromises made in the Constitutional Convention is the three-fifths compromise. In this compromise, the southerners wanted to add slaves to the population of the state they lived in. If slaves were included in their state’s population, that state would be able to add more representatives in the House of Representatives. Northerners did not agree with that statement because slaves did not have the right to vote. After the delegates compromised, they agreed that only three-fifths of the slave’s population would be counted into the state’s population.

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This helped guard against tyranny because when this compromise happened, both big and small states had equal representation in the Senate equally, (Both big and small states had 2 representatives). In the House, a bigger state will have more representatives. (Doc D). This helps guard against tyranny because since both big and small states have equal representation, none of the states can become tyrants.

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