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The Great Checks And Balances

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Niko Royer Mrs. Park US History 11 6 June 2024 Essay: Constitutional Republic The Founding Fathers studied politics, philosophy, and law. They studied all of this so that they could create a government unlike any the world had ever seen. With all of this knowledge, they were able to create a government that would remain relevant and able to function through the ages. Two concepts that were included in the writing of the Constitution of the United States of America were The Great Compromise and Checks and Balances. The first concept of government was The Great Compromise. The Great Compromise, in short, was the defining structure of how many representatives would go to each state. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the biggest debate …show more content…

By the first day of the Constitutional Convention, it was decided that the minimum age for a Senator was to be 30 and the term length was six years but this was all Senators still, a Representative was to be at least 25 years of age and there would. The burning question was still how the representation would be equal among all the states. Delegates from larger states settled with the idea of the Virginia Plan. The Virginia Plan stated that each state would receive a different number of representatives based on the state’s population. Delegates from smaller states preferred the New Jersey Plan. The New Jersey Plan stated that all states, regardless of any variables, would receive the same number of representatives. The argument for the New Jersey Plan was that all states would receive the same number of representatives, thus giving an equal representation status. Delegate Gunning Bedford, Jr. of Delaware said that perhaps small states would have to “find some foreign ally of more honor and good faith, who will take them by the hand and do them justice.” It was later decided that the United States Constitution would adopt the Virginia Plan to give equal representation based on population. The second concept of government is Checks and Balances. Checks …show more content…

The Enlightenment philosopher Baron de Montesquieu wrote of despotism as the primary threat in any government. In his famous work “The Spirit of the Laws,” Montesquieu argued that the best way to prevent this was through a separation of powers, in which different bodies of government exercised legislative, executive and judicial power, with all these bodies subject to the rule of law. Based on the ideas of Polybius, Montesquieu, William Blackstone, and John Locke, the United States settled on doing just what these philosophers said, they separated the powers into three branches. In the United States, the powers all function as different things. The Legislative Branch of the US Congress has a check and balance which allows each House of Congress to check and investigate the possibility of another House abusing their power. The Executive Branch is headed by the President and he elects federal officials, but the Senate has to approve this movement. The Congress also has the power of the purse to allow or disallow all of the decisions made by the President. But the President can also veto any bills that are introduced by Congress. Lastly, the Judicial Branch has the power to declare laws, but if it is deemed unconstitutional, Congress can take a two-thirds

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The Virginia Plan proposed getting rid of the articles all together which would give congress the power to legislate with a two house legislature and would be votes would be based off the population of the state. The New Jersey plan on the other hand wanted to tweak the articles, wanted only a one house legislature, and only allowed each state one vote. Between the two, a compromise was made known simply as the Great Compromise. The issue of representation was solved because a two house legislature was decided upon, the senate would represent the states and the house of representative would be responsible for representing the people equally. Now that the government

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It included a Bicameral Legislature and according to Document 2, “Gave representation based on population in the lower chamber and gave states equal representation in the upper chamber”. It also combined both of the Virginia Plan’s interests and New Jersey Plan’s

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constitution and it failed. Shay’s Rebellion showed the weaknesses of this document, which resulted in the revision at the constitutional convention. Representation between large states and smaller states and slavery were heavily discussed in this convention. At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, two documents called the Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan were proposed for representation, and a compromise was made. The new U.S. Constitution declares that states would be equally represented in the upper house of Congress.

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The plan proposed by Virginia otherwise known as the “large-state plan.” Which proposed “a bicameral legislature, in which the lower house would be elected proportionately and the upper house would be selected from a list of nominees sent from the state legislatures on the basis of equal representation for the states. ”(add footnote) As the smaller states feared that this plan would lose a voice in the federal government if they continued with the Virginia plan, they opposed this plan and came up with one for themselves which would be known as the “small-state plan.” The small-state plan would propose “a unicameral Congress, with equal representation for each state, with all the powers of the Confederation Congress.

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Paragraph 1 First of all, The U.S. Constitution guards against tyranny by splitting the government into three main branches. These branches are called the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. Splitting the government into different parts, so no one part of government has too much power. The U.S. Constitution states, "All

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The Constitutional Convention was arranged for the “purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation” (208). As a result, it was concluded that the power of this great nation should fall in the hands of a “direct authority” rather than within each state (209). Additionally, the national government must provide the Constitution as the representation of the people’s voice and their rights. Consequently, the New Jersey plan became in effect in which equal representation amongst the states in a “unicameral (one-house)” (210).

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The smaller states supported theNew Jersey Plan, which proposed that all the states would have an equal number of representatives. The Connecticut delegates suggested a compromise that settled the problem. Their plan provided for equal representation in the Senate, along with representation in proportion to population in the House of Representatives. This proposal became known as the Connecticut Compromise or the Great

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The United States Constitution establishes a government characterized by separate branches that share power, ensuring a system of checks and balances among the executive, legislative, and judicial sectors. These branches each have their own roles and can restrict other branches from overstepping their boundaries. This is seen in the three different powers the government possesses: the President's veto power, Congress's power to enact legislation, and the Supreme Court's power of judicial review to keep each other in check. Though these powers were meant as a way to prevent each branch from gaining too much power, these powers also allow one branch to influence the decisions of other branches. Through presidential vetoes, other branches have to consider the president's opinion on certain laws and orders, through congressional legislation, other branches are influenced through laws that restrict their power, and through judicial review, other branches are influenced as they have to worry about an action being declared as unconstitutional.

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198). This was known as the New Jersey Plan. In the text, Experience History, it states that this plan raised Congress’s power to tax and regulate trade, and kept national government a unicameral. Though it did not take long before the delegates rejected Paterson’s plan and going back to Madison’s plan. The problem with this plan was the idea of the seats being proportional to the states because some states were bigger than others (Davidson, et al., 2013, p. 198).

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Created in 1789, the Constitution was the final piece in making the United States official. Starting off with the famous “We the people”, this document protects citizens’ rights, gives the branches of government their power, and is used as a reference when creating laws. The first technical constitution of the United States was the Articles of Confederation, which was lacking in many areas and was defective. The Constitution we have now focuses on the rights of the individual, and is referred to quite often to determine if an act is constitutional or not; however, it didn’t start off that way.

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The New Jersey Plan was one option in the matter of how the United States would be spoken to. The Plan required each state to have one vote in Congress as opposed to the amount of votes being established on people. This was to secure the equalization of the states paying little regard to people size. The New Jersey Plan was familiar with the Constitutional Convention by William Paterson, a New Jersey delegate, on June 15, 1787. The Constitutional Convention was met to change the Articles of Confederation, yet it got the chance to be apparent that another governing body would ought to be made.

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The power of checks and balances The US constitution was written in 1787, not long after the States gained their independence from Great Britain. They had just defeated the tyranny of King George the third, and wanted to make sure that no one person in government would be allowed to have too much power; ergo, they created the checks and balances system which would divide the power between the three branches of government. (Anthony, et al., 2014) The United States government is divided into the legislative branch, the executive branch and the judicial branch.

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The United States' federal government's framework was founded with the writing of the Constitution in 1787. The division of powers, checks and balances, and the protection of individual rights are among the democratic tenets on which the Constitution is built. Because it set the framework for the federal government and served as the foundation for American law and

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The President holds the position of the executive branch of government and Congress is the legislative branch. Congress holds committees to make decisions whereas the President does not need to hold a meeting to make a decision however, in most cases the president needs to present his plan to congress. The president can veto a bill passed by the house, but that veto can be overturned with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses (reps/senate). The constitutional power that is delegated to Congress is: setting taxes, collecting taxes, borrowing money, the regulation of commerce, coining of money, declarations of war, the raising and support of armies, and making laws. Financial legislation originate in the House of Representatives but the Senate's

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The Executive Branch is the President of the United States. The President holds all the force for this branch of the legislature and alternate individuals report to the President. Different parts of the Executive branch incorporate the Vice President, the Executive Office of the President, and the Cabinet.

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