ipl-logo

How To Treat The Constitution Revolutionary

989 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Arguments between Federalists and Anti-Federalists

Creating the Constitution After gaining their independence from Great Britain, the Americans colonies were struggling in establish a new stable nation. Many plans were proposed to unify the country as a whole. However, due to the difference in perspective of how the nation should be governed, the Congress had a difficult time convincing the states to sign the constitution. Many changes in the constitution were made to please the people who once had suffered tyrannies. This changes also knowns as a revolution-- Revolution is forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system. For that reason, I believe the U.S. Constitution is revolutionary because it was created to establish a system of government far from monarchy, …show more content…

Many states did not want to sign the articles due to their fear of another monarchical government. Because of that, the articles was created with a weak central government. This somewhat pleased the states however it took three years and a half for the Articles of Confederation to be ratified. Fear of another tyranny, “ The Articles of Confederation did not include a president,” The cruel and oppressive government had led the colonies to revolt against the long live monarchy, which explained why the articles did not propose a president. This new form of government crushed the idea of a government governed by a king. This important event had ended the monarchy power in the America and it marked a new beginning of a republic nation. The revolution was followed by an economic depression in the nation. The main problem was the Articles of Confederation gave too much authority to the states, leaving the Congress with so little power. The Congress had so little power that they could not do anything to enforce or protect the nation. Seeing, another Constitution of Convention is opened to revise the Articles of Confederation. The new constitution was proposed with a bicameral legislation meaning “ All legislative Powers herein granted …show more content…

As the result, the nation split into two groups: federalists, the supporters of the constitution and the antifederalist, the people who against the constitution. The antifederalists argued that “the Constitution lacked a religious test for officeholding and the Constitution failed to guarantee a right to counsel and a right not to incriminate oneself in criminal trials, or to prohibit cruel and unusual punishments,” In response, the Congress proposed the Bill of Rights, consisted of Ten Amendments to guarantees that every citizen would have such rights as “ the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” It is also guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” This new proposal gained a number of states agree to sign the constitution. The Bill of Rights saved nation from going to another bloody civil war. It protects and guarantees the rights for every American

Show More
Related
1069 Words | 5 Pages

The limited powers of the United States central government under the Articles of Confederation, exemplified by events like Shays' Rebellion, significantly influenced the development of the Constitution between 1777 and 1789, leading to the creation of a stronger and more centralized federal government. This transition from a weak and decentralized government to a more powerful federal authority was a direct response to the challenges and shortcomings experienced under the Articles of Confederation. The period from 1777 to 1789 was marked by the aftermath of the American Revolution and the formation of a new nation. The Articles of Confederation, adopted in 1777, established a decentralized government with limited powers given to the central authority. However, this system of government faced numerous challenges, including economic instability, lack of national defense, and difficulties in implementing policies.

Read More
1159 Words | 5 Pages

DBQ Essay The United States Constitution is a document that or founding fathers made in order to replace the failing Articles of Confederation (A of C). Under the Constitution, the current government and states don’t have the problems they faced when the A of C was in action. The Constitution was created in 1788, and held an idea that the whole nation was nervous about. This idea was a strong national government, and the Federalist assured the people that this new government would work. The framers of the Constitution decided to give more power to the Federal government rather than the state governments because the A of C had many problems, there was a need for the layout of new government, rights, and laws, and there was a need for the Federal

Read More
1109 Words | 5 Pages

When the states were first independent, they needed a government to run the country, thus creating the Articles of Confederation. Under The Articles of Confederation, the government was feeble and the country was failing. America was in major debt due to The Revolutionary War, states weren’t paying their federal duties, and Congress was unable to tax the states, which led to the government having no money. The image depicted was Shays Rebellion. Shays Rebellion was an army of Massachusetts farmers, led by Daniel Shays, who had created a rebellion against government, angered by taxes forced upon them.

Read More
827 Words | 4 Pages

Hence Federalists came up with the Bill of Rights as a way to get the Constitution ratified and for people to really see a needed change. The Bill Of Rights which lists specific prohibitions on governmental power, lead the Anti-Federalists to be less fearful of the new Constitution . This guaranteed that the people would still remain to have rights, but the strong central government that the country needed would have to be approved. The 1804 Map of the nation shows that even after the ratification of the United States Constitution there still continued to be “commotion” and dispute in the country.(Document 8) George Washington stated that the people should have a say in the nation and government and everything should not be left to the government to decide.(Document 3) Although George Washington was a Federalist many believed he showed a point of view that seemed to be Anti-Federalists. Many believed that The Bill of Rights needed to be changed and modified and a new document’s time to come into place.

Read More
1439 Words | 6 Pages

United States of American escaped the tyranny of Great Britain by fighting the Revolutionary War. The American Revolution was started with the Declaration of Independence, which was an attempt to end tyranny through a political demanding approach. Then the Constitution was the document to establish a new foundation for the American government by creating new laws. Howard Zinn in “A People’s History of the United Sates,” emphasizes the fact that the Constitution was developed by wealthy Americans. The Constitution was a way for the rich to, “...either control the government directly or control the laws by which the government operates.”

Read More
585 Words | 3 Pages

Following the Revolutionary War, America had just gained independance from Great Britain and needed to form a new government. The Articles of Confederation were established as an attempt to create a government that was unlike Britain’s. Unfortunately, the Articles of Confederation had several weaknesses. When in the process of repairing those weaknesses, the Federalists and the Anti-federalists formed. The Articles of Confederation were very weak as well as useless to America and because of this, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists could not agree on a new type of government.

Read More
1149 Words | 5 Pages

In 1777, after the American Revolution had ended, the new United States of America adopted the Articles of Confederation as the new central government. The Articles made the government weak, powerless, and vulnerable out of fear for tyranny. This system had many flaws and created a lack of unity between the states. As a result, the Constitution of the United States was developed in 1789 to solve many of the problems that arose from the Articles. This new system re-constructed the government into three branches and created a system of checks and balances to prevent the government from becoming corrupt.

Read More
316 Words | 2 Pages

When the colonies split from Britain they created a government plan called the articles of confederation. This gave power to the individual states rather than a central power. This proved to not be effective so a rewrite was called. Eventually with help from the Constitutional Convention the Constitution was ratified. This was good, the Articles of Confederation were full of problems and a new document needed to be ratified.

Read More
1115 Words | 5 Pages

The Confederation Congress was the central government, but due to the Articles this restricted what the government was able to control. This caused them to lack power. Congress had no ability to tax the states, force states to honor agreements with foreign nations, create laws regulating trade within the states, and laws regulating citizens behaviors. This led to many problems within the country and with international nations (“We The

Read More
1897 Words | 8 Pages

The idea of the Constitution was brought up after the failures of Articles of Confederation. The founding fathers had a meeting on what improvements should be made to the Articles of Confederation. But the meeting eventually ended up in creating the United States Constitution. This took place at Constitutional

Read More
472 Words | 2 Pages

How revolutionary was the revolution? Based on the information in the 10 documents I believe that the revolution was not very revolutionary. The word revolutionary means involving or causing a dramatic change. I strongly believe that the revolution was not very revolutionary because the changes it made were not very dramatic or strong and a lot of the things from that time stayed the same after the war ended.

Read More
1106 Words | 5 Pages

The Constitution—the foundation of the American government—has been quintessential for the lives of the American people for over 200 years. Without this document America today would not have basic human rights, such as those stated in the Bill of Rights, which includes freedom of speech and religion. To some, the Constitution was an embodiment of the American Revolution, yet others believe that it was a betrayal of the Revolution. I personally believe that the Constitution did betray the Revolution because it did not live up to the ideals of the Revolution, and the views of the Anti-Federalists most closely embodied the “Spirit of ‘76.” During the midst of the American Revolution, authors and politicians of important documents, pamphlets, and slogans spread the basis for Revolutionary ideals and defined what is known as the “Spirit of ‘76”.

Read More
918 Words | 4 Pages

Slavery in the U.S. Constitution After the Unites States declared Independence from Great Britain in 1776, they greatly feared a strong national government that would be like a monarchy like the one Great Britain had. To prevent this tyrannical government from happening in the U.S., a convention of delegates from all thirteen states were brought together to create the U.S.’s first written constitution: the Articles of Confederation. This convention was called the Continental Congress. The Articles of Confederation focused on having a federal government, or a loose alliance of the states.

Read More
494 Words | 2 Pages

The Articles of Confederation were a document seen as the “first” constitution of the United States. This document granted the new national government power to control the military, declare war, and create treaties between the states. However, the Articles had holes in it considering the government did not have the power to tax, create laws without at least nine states’ approval, or change the Articles of Confederation without a unanimous vote. This means that the country soon fell into debt and petty arguments between state, the new government had no control. It was time for a change.

Read More
444 Words | 2 Pages

One of the defining revolutionary contributions to the idea of Constitution was, firstly, the necessity to codify it in writing, but also to organize its structuring and framing so that it “operates as supreme fundamental law,” since it embodies and is instituted by popular sovereignty (Rakove 104). Another revolutionary contribution stems from the Massachusetts Constitution. It separates the writing of the constitution from the typical legislature to a separate body, wherein “framing by a special convention and ratification by the people” frames a Constitution in order to capture “the people as a constituent power,” as Professor Dowd argued (Rakove 106). This influenced the understanding that the Constitution would, therefore, be the “supreme

Read More

More about How To Treat The Constitution Revolutionary

Related Topics

Open Document