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Summary Of How Democratic Is The American Constitution By Robert Dahl

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On the ground from which the constitution was conceived, does such a system which we operate from in modern America remain within the bounds of constitutional morality (in other words, the morality of the constitution)? In Robert Dahl's How democratic is the American constitution?, the reader as well as the larger audience that is contemporary society, is challenged to change the sacred light in which most Americans view our beloved constitution. In the beginning of chapter 1, Dahl begins with posing a provocative and simple question which begs for an incredibly complex answer, why should we uphold our constitution? In his answer he states that the legitimacy of the constitution should only be based on the grounds such that “utility as an
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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

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“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

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The Democratic-Republicans followed a strict interpretation of the constitution, where Federalists believed that the document was up for interpretation, and followed a loose construction. The Federalists believed that there should be a strong central government and that elected officials should not be directly influenced by the people. Essentially, they believed that the people would make poor decisions, if left to their own devices. They represented the elite and well off of society. The Democratic-Republicans thought that there should be a small central government, meaning that the power stayed with the states.

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Dahl begins his book by defining his intent, to “suggest changes in the way we think about our constitution” (Dahl 2003). He then goes into explaining the historical contexts of the Constitutional Convention during the summer of 1787. The author initiates a central question; “why should we feel bound today by a document produced more than two centuries age by

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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).

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How do you convince some newly independent citizens of the benefits of ratifying a constitution? According to Alexander Hamilton, through writing, and lots of it. In 1787, Hamilton, along with James Madison and John Jay, published a series of documents, addressing concerns the people might have about the Constitution drafted by the Congressional delegates. The Constitution was being sent to the states for ratification, but in New York, many were opposed to the ideas put forth. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote eighty-five documents which would later be named The Federalist Papers, as they voiced the common opinion of the Federalist party, which was in favor of ratification.

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On an observation paper about the Constitution, Mercy Otis Warren wrote that “There is no security in the system either for the rights of conscience or the liberty of the press.” (Document 2) Which in simpler terms meant that there was no protection for the people’s rights. And in even simpler terms, he was saying that the Constitution was worse than modern art. Not only did he state this in the article, he also said that the executive and the legislative branch were “so dangerously blended that they give just a cause for alarm.”

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The campaign for the Constitution was a long one and during it Hamilton, along with John Jay and James Madison, took up the pseudonym “Publius” and wrote essays to newspapers across the nation, encouraging the public to vote in favor of ratifying the Constitution. In all, there were eighty-five essays that came to be known as “The Federalist Papers.” John Jay wrote two, Madison wrote thirty-two, and Hamilton wrote all of the remaining fifty-one. The most well known essay of the collection was Federalist No. 84, written by Hamilton, which first proposed the addition of the Bill of Rights to the Constitution in ensure the rights of the states were honored (Foner Web; Witten Web; Hamilton Print). After the Constitution was ratified in 1787 and George Washington was elected as President in 1789, Hamilton was appointed as his Secretary of the Treasury, making him the first to hold the position.

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Imagine a world where one person has all the power and you have to obey their every command; this is why we have a constitution to protect us from tyranny. After being under the dictatorial rule of Britain for seven years, the Colonies broke away and decided to create the Constitution to manage the government. This was an uber challenge for the delegates tasked with writing the Constitution—they wanted to create a strong government without having a despot. In multiple ways, the Constitution protects American citizens from tyranny. Tyranny is when one person or group has too much power.

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Mustafa Tambawalla, 1st Hour The Constitution: A Minority Document, Charles A. Beard Thesis: The Constitution is a document which enacted social and political changes on American Society; Furthermore, it established a series of checks and balances to regulate the allocation of power in congress. The document also conferred powers onto the federal government, and enacted a variety of restrictions on state governments.

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In the year 1831, a Frenchman travelled to the newly established United States of America to research ideas that make America what it is. This man, Alexis de Tocqueville, made his journey in America over 9 months covering 7,000 miles of land. In Tocqueville’s book published in 1835, Democracy in America, the observations he made would help to define what people think America represents. From his finds, the political and cultural atmosphere surrounding America’s great sense of democracy is the primary source of identity for what makes America special.

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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.

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The United States of America is not truly a democracy. America’s government is all over the place and pretty much a mixture of everything, it never has been just democracy. The characteristics of a democracy are where the majority wins but that never really happens. For example the president election majority does not elect the president. The United States of America is not a democracy for many reasons; Rule by law, we are more a republic than a democracy, and the founders of a nation didn 't want a democracy.

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Established on September 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution established America’s national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed rights for its citizens. The Constitution also represents the value and principles of democracy and republicanism that the United States of American stands by. This means that the Constitution regards to the American citizen as something that is held to deserve meaning the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. It also means its citizens come first in order of importance. The Constitution represents the value and principles of democracy and republicanism by stressing liberty and inalienable rights as central values, making the people as a whole sovereign, rejecting inherited political power, expecting citizens to be independent in their performance of civic duties, and vilifies corruption.

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In regards to second hand smoking, many gain negative health related effects like severe asthma and even lead to lung cancer. In addition, therefore as a country there must be more specific regulations on smoking nearby others that don’t smoke themselves or don’t pressure others to smoke with them. Taking action is what needs to happen in order to protect younger children from developing these harmful effects. This position on second hand smoking is being taken because there are many that have been affected by asthma or other health defects that slim down what you can do in life. “On a national level, several laws restricting smoking in public places have passed...Some states have passed laws regulating smoking in multiunit housing and cars.

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