The main purpose of this chapter is to determine the Founding Fathers’ motives for creating the Constitution by analyzing a secondary source by Woody Holton, and several primary sources. Frist, I will begin with the secondary source, “Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution” by Woody Holton. Mr. Holton’s main purpose was to locate the motivation behind the Constitution in developments in the states (page 90). Mr. Holton addressed several grievances for possible motives of the Founding Fathers’. First, the excessive democracy that acerbated many Americans, the runaway inflation caused by the farmers who were allowed to satisfy their debt to creditors with property and good instead of hard currency, and the Revolutionary War that
“The Second Founding: How The Civil War And Reconstruction Remade The Constitution '' by Eric Forner is about how the American Civil War and the period of Reconstruction converted the Constitution and the country itself. In the book Eric Forner analyzes many different struggles that the United States went through during the era of Reconstruction. Despite Eric Forner analyzing different struggles, two of the struggles that are mentioned a lot in the book are the political and social struggles of the Reconstruction era. Despite there being many different points Eric Forner makes throughout the book, the main argument that Eric Forner argues is how the Reconstruction era after the Civil war was a crucial transformative moment in United States history. Impact was most noticeable in the constitution being adjusted and a lot more comprehensive which made a
In Paul Finkelman’s article “How the Civil War Changed the Constitution” shows how the Civil War affected the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment. One of the main reasons for the Civil War was slavery. The constitution however, did not use the word slavery in their constitution. I found that to be very interesting because its almost like Americans were ashamed of their behavior. Why were the Northern’s more against using the word slavery than southerners?
David E. Vandercoy’s 1994 article, “The History of the Second Amendment,” appeared originally as 28 Val. L. Rev. 1007-1039 in Valparaiso University Law Review. Long overlooked, the Second Amendment has become the entity of some study and much discussion. The United States is the first country of its kind because of strong minded men and women who fought against all odds David E. Vandercoy (1994) addresses the history of the Second Amendment and attempt to define its original intent; not suggesting it is controlling. He quotes George Washington about how in order to preserve the rest of liberty, depending on the situation and circumstance, individuals entering into society must give up a share of it.
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).
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
The Constitution guarded against tyranny in several ways in which were federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and big vs. small state compromises. What Madison is saying is that there are many kinds of tyranny. You can have a tyranny of one supreme ruler who takes all the power for himself or herself. You can also have a tyranny of several generals and religious leaders that seize control. The challenge was to write a Constitution that was strong enough to hold the states and the people together without letting any person or group, or branch, or level of government gain too much control.
The Federal Budget has always been a hot topic of debate; whether funds are being allocated properly or not, but what can not be debated is currently America is in a deficit and in debt. In A More Perfect Constitution by Larry Sabato, Sabato proposes adding an amendment that would require federal expenditures in any given fiscal year to not exceed federal revenues in that same year; unless three-fifths of both houses of the Legislative branch waived the balanced budget requirement. The only other exception would be during recession or war, declared or undeclared, a simple majority in both the Senate and the House could circumvent the balanced budget requirement. The amendment would require any surplus to be spent on repaying the federal debt.
Framing this new nation was an extreme procedure. There were a few unique thoughts. In the wake of understanding that the nation was excessively feeble under the Articles of Confederation. In result, there came another thought; which was to endorse the Constitution. The strategies for confirming the new Constitution were as questionable as its substance.
Because of this, the entire fourth year of each president’s term ends up devoted to reelection, instead of helping the country. Sabato continues to explain that reelection takes far more than a single year, rather taking up nearly half of a president’s term. Sabato shows how this drains the president’s willingness to do things for their governmental wisdom, instead sticking to policy choices that will cause reelection. Additionally, Sabato talks about the two-term limit and how until Roosevelt, all presidents followed the example of George Washington by sticking to only serving two terms. After the twenty-second amendment, all presidents were limited to only two terms.
If the President did not have to run for reelection, then the President would save an average of 514 days to deal with issues affecting the nation. Within 500 days, there may be issuing of policies, statutes, and regulations and passed for the benefit of the country. Sabato’s plan of removing the reelection process would and could increase the prosperity of the country and an increasing number of lost voices in the government, instead of an institution running things. The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion has discovered that 12 out of 19 Americans would like to abolish the Electoral College. With this new six-year term, people will feel a need to vote, the President can worry about the country rather than reelection, and with the new confirmation election, the population will gain knowledge from the media that will help persuade public opinion of the
The Constitutional Defyer The horror of Racism and thousands of deaths. Imagine this being a president of the US. In reality this would be Andrew Jackson the Defyer. These attributes are the description of a disgusting monster.
The Constitution is a counter-transformation on the grounds that the Constitutional Convention was a meeting to totally update the Articles of Confederation, and that record fundamentally illustrated the administration at that period in time. Since an insurgency is a move towards a changed government, that would make the Constitution an unrest, and it is countering the disappointments of the Articles of Confederation. It is additionally a counter-transformation since a few provisions were placed in it to counteract uprisings, for example, that of Daniel (Shays ' Rebellion). Counter-transformation, in that sense, implied the Constitution was attempting to anticipate future upheavals. The Constitutional Convention additionally settled a legislature
Have You Ever Wondered How The Constitution Guarded Against Tyranny? Have you ever wondered how the constitution guarded against tyranny? This was the main question facing the 55 delegates at the constitutional convention held in philadelphia in 1787. Their job was to “frame a government that was strong enough to serve the needs of the new nation, and yet did not create any kind of tyranny.” , (Background Essay).
The Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics video titled “Key Constitutional Concepts” explores the history of the creation of the United States Constitution in addition to key concepts crucial to the document. Two central themes explored in the video include the protection of personal rights and importance of checks and balances. The video strives to explain these concepts through Supreme Court cases Gideon v. Wainwright and Youngstown v. Sawyer. To begin, the video retraces the steps leading up to the Constitutional Convention in Virginia in 1787. It opens by explaining the conflict that led to the Revolutionary War and the fragility of the new nation.
