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The Constitution Pros And Cons Essay

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The people made the Constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their own will, and lives only by their will.
- Chief Justice John Marshall [19 U.S. 64]
THE COMMON PERCEPTION is that the Constitution has endured essentially un-changed for more than 220 years and should remain that way except for an occa¬sional, narrowly-defined amendment. For that matter, neither the Congress, nor the presidency, nor the Supreme Court has changed much pro forma. The limited number and scope of formal amendments demonstrates this. Aside from the Bill of Rights—Amendments I through X plus XXVII—which were more or less concur¬rent with the original Constitution, and disregarding Amendments XVIII and XXI, the number of remaining amendments …show more content…

The sixteenth (in-come tax) and seventeenth (direct election of senators) were both ratified in 1913. But after that, no amendment imposed a fundamental change. The eighteenth and twenty-first have already been mentioned. The nineteenth, twenty-third, twenty-fourth, and twenty-sixth all extended the franchise but that was not a fundamental change. Lastly, the twentieth, twenty-second, and the twenty-fifth addressed prob¬lems with election mechanics, term limits for the presidency, and succession of office. But this does not mean that fundamental changes to Constitutional law ended. On the contrary they continued full tilt to the point where formal amend¬ments were bypassed. This refers to the paradigm shift in the way the country operated, necessitated by the Great Depression followed by the exigencies of World War II. And it all came under the leadership of a person with unabashed political charm. At first, Roosevelt was countered by the Supreme Court at almost every turn. Then he attempted to foist his infamous court-packing plan on the nation. The outcome was a pronounced tactical defeat followed by a strategic victory. This victory was marked by the equally famous commentary with respect to Justice Owen Roberts, who suddenly changed his jurisprudential perspective: “The switch in time that saved

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The First Congress of the United States, in 1789 proposed to state legislatures 12 amendments to the constitution that where the most frequently discussed issues. So only Articles 3 through 12 where ratified in 1791, by three fourths of the state legislatures. These are what we now know as the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution. (www.ourdocuments.gov) Summary #2- {March 14,

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The anti-federalist wanted to add the bill of Rights to the constitution to ensure their personal freedoms would be secure from the large national government that was being proposed. The Bill of Rights contained ten guaranteed rights, most important was the freedom of speech, freedom of press, and freedom of religion. Other important amendments included the 13th, 14th, 15th,18th,19th, and 21st. The thirteenth amendment states that, “ neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” This amendment was put into place after the civil war in order to abolish slavery.

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1. Personally, I believe the constitution was the better document because it had more power. The articles of confederation gave the states more power than congress had, and because of this states either did was it said or did not. Because of the states having more power over Congress, the states did not focus on the needs of the whole country but only cared for their own state and what is best for their people. The constitution is better because it was easier to make changes and amendments to it.

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1. The Constitution originally lacked a Bill of Rights. George Mason from Virginia presented a proposal to add a bill of rights to the document. But his offer was voted down.

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The young nation, barely three years old, was dying. Ten years after the Declaration of Independence, America was struggling to hold itself together. The Articles of Confederation, designed during the Revolution, demolished even the inkling of monarchy by forcing the national government to abide by the whim of the states. During the Revolutionary War the states held together out of necessity, but after the war, the states became hostile to their neighbors. It quickly became evident that a serious crisis has settled upon the United States.

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The three amendments that led to the belief of “America’s Second Founding” created a new, more humane, and progressive nation that would become the united nation that we know it as today. The United States was completely changed after the end of the Civil War when the Union and the Confederacy finally joined back together as one nation, but also solely due to the profound changes in the Constitution with the addition of these amendments. The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments had very profound effects on the United State by abolishing slavery, developing rights of the citizens, and creating voting equality. Although these amendments may have not been immediately accepted or put to use like they were supposed to, but this was a giant and influential step in the development of the country after the Civil

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Addressing the secession of many southern states, Lincoln said “It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination.” The U.S. could not be legally broken up. The Constitution does not allow for such a form of divide. The U.S. already tried operating as separate states in the form of the Articles of Confederation. An attempt like that has already been made, with little success.

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As a result of delegates to the state conventions wishing that the liberty of people would be secured, the first Congress realized that various changes would be required to reduce any pressure of needing a second constitutional convention, which could have potentially depleted and modified the recently settled federal government. Out of the hundreds of drafted amendments, 4th President of the United States James Madison introduced twenty of his amendments. Congress approved twelve, and ten were ratified by the states. In November of 1791, the first ten amendments to the Constitution entered into force.

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After each side had made a compromise more amendments had been added for good by the congress. On September 25, 1789 the First congress had finally proposed the twelve amendments to the constitution. The congress had passed the twelve amendments and provided the first original ten amendments to the constitution. The first ten amendments were referred as Bill of rights and

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e Constitution, there are several rules and regulations that are clearly stated that allow the government to know exactly how to rule the country. However, the creators of the Constitution also left somethings out so that future leaders could determine and interpret laws in a way where they were not really restricted to doing something one specific way. This helps a lot when it comes to the changing of times because the time during in which the Constitution was drafted and ratified, the environment of the nation was much different from what it currently is today. The Constitution, from then to now, has barely been changed which truly shows how well thought out it was compared to say the earlier government called the Articles of Confederation,

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The Constitution DBQ The Constitution of United States is regarded by many as an important document, for it gave the common people the power to form a government the way they want. Yet, despite all the benefits that it brought to the American people at the time, people also had some concerns about the Constitution such as: it is creating a Central government that is too powerful, only white men that owns property are allowed to vote, not everyone in the nation are treated equally, etc. When the Constitution was first being drafted, Representatives from each state hoped to add terms that would benefit their own states—this lead to a heated debate on how the Constitution should be formed.

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The houses of Congress requires a ⅔ vote and the states require a ¾ vote. As of today, Congress have only ratified 17 amendments and each amendment has impacted the American society economically, socially, and politically. The 14th amendment was adopted on July 9, 1868, which is one year after the civil war ended. The purpose of the civil war was to end slavery and at the end of the war when the slaves were free, Congress implemented an amendment that helped the African American slaves become citizens of the united states.

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Furthermore, the American Constitution that came after the revolutionary war is also considered to be a document that created and inspired changes that had not been done before. It’s incorporation of checks and balances in a federal republic and its values in American people’s rights ensured that a new liberated governing system was established. Another thing that made the constitution distinctively different was that it was open to being adaptable to changes that could be made over time with amendments. By establishing adaptability within the Constitution, the government could truly become a

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Since their passing, seventeen additional amendments have been added. For example. the fourteenth amendment provides Americans with equal protection under the law and due process. This amendment is as relevant in today's society as it was in years directly following the Civil War. Right after the ending of the war, the fourteenth amendment granted citizenship to former slaves, and protected their individual rights.

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