Regarding the constitution James Madison and his fellow delegates had a challenge to write a strong constitution to hold the people and the states together The Constitution guards against tyranny by creating Separation of Powers and Small and large States. Furthermore the separation of powers is guarded by the constitution . The three
In the summer of 1787, the new government of the United States of America realized that there was a problem with their current government. Many parts of the constitution guards against tyranny because the new constitution has checks and balances, the separation of powers and federalism. The original problem that was called to the attention of the old government was the articles of confederation were very weak, and they needed to create a strong central government. According to document A, a quote by James Madison states, “The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will controlled by itself.” The central and state government will work together, which shows federalism.
In 1787, the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution to establish a new, stronger government for the United States. During George Washington’s presidency in the 1790s, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson argued over the role of the government as dictated by the Constitution. As a result, a two party system consisting of the Hamiltonian Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans emerged. To some extent, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson reflected the policies and beliefs of the Federalist Hamilton.
While writing the constitution congress separated government into legislative, executive, and judicial branches in federal and state governments. According to Article 1 the legislative branch would create laws, the executive branch would enforce the laws, and the judicial branch would interpret laws. The goal of this was to ensure that the government of America did not have too much control over the people which is what Great Britain did to them in the revolutionary war. Including a system of checks and balances would ensure this to the people of America. In Federalist Paper #47 James Madison talks about how too much power would be bad.
“The accumulation of all powers… in the same hands, whether one, a few, or many… may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny. ”-James Madison. Fifty-five delegates, from the thirteen states, met in Philadelphia in May of 1787 to discuss and revise the Articles of Confederation. The chief executive and the representatives worked to create a frame for what is now our Constitution. The Constitution guarded against tyranny in four ways; Federalism that creates a State and Federal government, Separation of Powers that gives equal power to the three branches, Checks and Balances that create balance in the three branches by checking each other and being checked and the Small States vs the Big States ensures an equal voice for all states no matter what their size.
Hamilton responded to this concern in the essays by saying the unity of the states were at risk of falling apart without a national government to hold everything together, and that by implementing a judicial branch and the Presidential veto, there was a series of checks and balances that would prevent the Congress from becoming too powerful. In addition, the members of the House of Representatives were elected by the people, which would prevent them from acting against the people’s best interests. By taking each section of the document separately the three writers were able to discuss benefits of the Constitution, like improving the economy, supporting a Navy and defense, and just generally what specific powers, and limits on powers, were given to the various branches of the newly proposed government. Hamilton also pointed out that if this new form of government turned out to have hiccups, it was not set in stone, and amendments could be proposed to modify and improve the
1. How did the limited central government created by the Articles of Confederation reflect the issues behind the Revolution and fears for individual liberties? The people of the still ¨virgin¨ United States of America, this also including congress, and other heads of state, all were reluctant to give more power to any one branch of government, out of fear that this branch would unjustly restrict freedoms of those meant to be free. They also had fears that they had fought for freedom only to allow a dictatorial regime to rise within the nation and oppress the people.
Back when the united states of america were free from England, they needed a government the founding fathers were scared of making a government with too much power so they wrote the Articles of confederation with some flaws . The “ Articles “ were too weak and created many problems which led to a way stronger government. Two weaknesses of the Articles of confederation are that the states had way too much power. Another problem from the Article of confederation is that 9/13 must approve a law also another one is that each state has it's own currency. And two important decision were the Checks and Balances and the Great compromise.
The debate over the Constitution created much tension throughout the new country. From problems with the Articles of Confederation, western expansion, Shay’s rebellion, problem’s at the Constitutional Convention, slave trade, and the start of the War of 1812 all created tensions over the Constitution but nothing that the greats minds of the time couldn’t handle. Initially, the Articles of Confederation were the first written constitution of the United States, drafted in 1777 and ratified four years later by Congress (Lecture). The Articles of Confederation provided for a government by a national legislature but left the crucial power of monies, as well as all final power to make and execute laws, entirely to the states (US: A Narrative History,
Constitution, there was the first form of government the colonist created, the Articles of Confederation, which focused on a weak central government and power in the states. The problem with this type of government was the states where too powerful, it was to the point where it was one state for itself. If there was a situation where a decision of one state benefited itself but could potentially hurt another, that one state would rather choose to help itself. After seeing this glitch, the framers came up with a compromise, the small and large state compromise. The Virginia compromise and New Jersey compromise where two plans that where the foundation of the overall idea of how each state had representation.
The article of confederations had many weaknesses, congress did not have enough power under the articles, the states had more power than national government, and the fear many people held of the national government having too much power. The constitution of 1787 was an attempt to resolve the weakness of the articles of confederation. James Madison was an important political thinker. He questioned sovereignty and limiting power. Madison’s answer was that power at all levels of government, was decided upon by the people, therefor the federal government and state government were both sovereign ( Brinkley, 165).
that having a strong national government would be ideal to protect those areas (Federalist Party).Hamilton strongly believed in this concept and fought for a strong national government that would make the country, as a whole, stronger than if the individual states had all the power. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were the leaders of the Democratic-Republican party. They believed that the states should stay independent because they did not want to go back into a government they had when they were ruled by the British. The Articles of Confederation was the first “Constitution”. While the Articles of Confederation were in effect, all the “states were independent and they remained sovereign” (Articles of Confederation).
From the histories written by Plutarch, Polybius, and Demosthenes the founders learned of the Macedonian and Roman conquest of the Greek republics, this history taught them “the importance of a strong central government to bind the American states together in a powerful union”(85). They wanted to avoid the Greeks downfall who ended up losing their liberty due to incessant domestic bickering which “left them vulnerable to foreign invaders”(85). Their inability to unite left the Greeks open to invasion and was ultimately their downfall. The founding fathers want to avoid this and cited the Greeks flaw during the constitutional convention arguing with a strong central government that the united states would be subject to the same
The Constitution united the states in a more structured and governed body, while allowing the states to have some individually, and protected all rights of people specified in the Bill of Rights. The main fear in the constitution was that the central governing power in federal government would create a tyrant, something the colonists feared from their experience as being part of the British empire. Because of this, the founding fathers divided all the powers in the federal government into branches: the executive, legislative, and judicial. Each branch is in check with the others, and makes it extremely hard for the country to fall into
The Founding Fathers’ hard work and devotion catalyzed the establishment of a stable United States government. Following the adoption of the Constitution, there were a slew of issues facing the country. Foremost, the United States was deep in debt from the war. In addition, they sought to build a new form of government, democracy. Alexander Hamilton and George Washington made major contributions to solidifying the United States government by executing a practical financial plan and cultivating a strong democracy, respectively.
