Compare And Contrast The Ideals Of Representative Government Between 1776 And 1790s

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LEQ Between 1776 and 1790, the United States was developing their own government system as a new, independent nation. The colonies had just seceded from Britain because many believed they had outgrown English domination. The leaders of the colonies wrote a constitution to represent a fundamental law. After the revolution, the states showed the ideals of representative government by forming a federal government where states had representation and there was no king. However, women and slaves were not included in representation and the formation of this government. Therefore, the true ideals of representative government and liberty were not fully exhibited. The ideals of a representative government can easily be seen by looking at the representation of the different states. The larger states in the colonies believed that a state’s representation should be based on the size of their population. The smaller states, however, believed all states should have equal representation. The Great Compromise found a middle ground to allow all states to be fairly represented. The lower house, the house of representatives, had representation that was proportional to a state’s population size. The upper house, the senate, had all state’s representation weighted equally, with two representatives per state. All of the states were formed …show more content…

In 1791, the Bill of Rights was passed to control the amount of power given to the central government; protecting the ideals of a representative government. However, slavery was not abolished until 1865 and African American men were not able to vote until 1870. Women were not able to vote and have full representation in government until much later, in 1920. The ideals of representative government and liberty can be seen through state representation, but are not nearly as evident when looking at the rights of women and