American Creativity Thesis

Instead, they decided that it would be better to draft a new document that would establish a new type of government. Many agreed to this new government, especially James Madison, author of the Virginia Plan and the Federalist Papers. To Madison, as addressed in Federalist No. 51 (Document I) the new government must give more power to the federal level, but also be able to check its “ambitions”. From this came the system of checks and balances, and a separation of powers. This new government was described in the Constitution of the United States of America. The federal government had three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Nevertheless, they still gave some power to the states. The Framers also added a Bill of Rights to dissuade Antifederalists that the new government gave too much power to the national government. This Bill of Rights protected American many civil liberties such as freedom of speech and assembly; right to bear arms and a fair trial; as well as freedom of religion. Pre-Revolution, England had imposed its religion on the colonies, however, after the war, states began to guarantee freedom of worship as evidenced by the “Statutes at Large of Virginia, 1786” (Document D). Therefore, the American Revolution fundamentally changed American politics by eliminating monarchy and embracing democracy.

The Articles of Confederation established the first national government of the United States after it declared independence from England. The American Revolution heavily influenced this document, as the American people refused to have another tyrant rule their country. From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an ineffective government because of its lack of power to tax, raise an army, or regulate trade; however, it redeemed itself with the creation of the land ordinances of 1785 and 1787, and keeping the states united after the American Revolution.

Shortly after the Declaration of Independence was written and signed America had only one problem at the time that did not involve England. America had no form of government to fill the hole that was made when the separated from Parliament. This led to America creating the first republic ever seen in the whole world. Why did the not just follow in the footsteps of the Europeans country and have a monarchy? Because they did not want the new fund nation to collapse within itself like what was happening at the time and also to try and fix problems that were obvious with Parliament. This lead them to the Articles of Confederation. This document had 13 articles which gave the young America its government. The Articles of Confederation promoted state

After America gained their independence from the British, the founding fathers would create a new form of government named the Articles of Confederation. They had met in Philadelphia to adopt this first official constitution in September of 1777, however, it was not ratified until March of 1781. There were two main purposes of the Articles of Confederation. The first one had been to create unity amongst the colonies, while the second purpose was to prove to the French, along with other foreign countries, that America had a structured government. They needed to win over allies and set their borders. The Articles of Confederation were effective in solving some of the new nation’s problems to an extent. It had been effective in securing American independence and settling disputes over land.

To achieve this they ratified the Articles of the Confederation. The ideas that made up the Articles of the Confederation ended up turning the dream of a functioning government into somewhat of a nightmare. The state and federal governments had no authority to tax citizens, and no concept of an executive branch. These flaws caused many issues which are explained in a letter written by Abigail Adams to Thomas Jefferson in 1787 (Doc. G). The letter stated that there was serious civil unrest within many areas of the United States, and that the government may not have been strong enough to suppress rebellions, and guarantee stability.

The people who had moved to America, moved there to get away from the oppressing government in England. There they had to deal with religious persecution and having no say in the laws that were formed. Because of this, the people were now wary of any central government at all believing that they did not need one to be successful. This fear comes through in many areas of the Constitution as they were very careful to make sure one person would not be able to have ultimate power over everything. This can also be seen in Article one, Section nine where it says “No Title of Nobility shall be granted.

They did this by adopting the Articles of Confederation, which did not have a national executive branch. However, later the people realized that a more centralized government was needed. During the time, the federalist papers, by Alexander Hamilton, were being written. In one paper James Madison writes, “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition” (Document I). This portrays that the concept of checks and balances that could keep the national government controlled. The Constitution was similar but different from Britain’s government as it included a more involved checks and balanced system. In addition, it was expressed that no person should be forced to support and religion and after the Revolution, many started to advocate for a separation of the church and state (Document D), which showed the political life started changing and started to solely include politics and not

The states had many concerns with a strong centralized government. Many feared this type of government because they believed it would give power to the states that had a large population, which would than make smaller states have a slim chance of having any say in government matters. The colonist also didn’t want any type of government similar to a monarchy. Before they gained independence, the colonies where ruled by the British monarchy and had little say when it came to government decisions. The people were also being affected by the political and economic crisis; therefore this led them to be leery towards any type of change in government. The colonist’s fears were also justified due to the power of influential man, such as Madison, Hamilton, and Jefferson. These men had slightly different views than one another about how the government should be throughout the nation. Instead of seeing these men as those who had America’s best interest, they might of saw them as another king, which they did not want.

After the winning the American Independence against British the 13 colonies became states to work together, a league was made to work as a group to create a new system of government called “The Articles of Confederation” in which the the state government had mostly all of the power, the national government became weak due to this problem. Therefore, The Founding Fathers developed a new system to make the national government stronger that divided both governments to share their power. Federalists wanted a national government which included the same value of money for every state. They also wanted to have the power to declare war, raise and support military, admit new states, stablish post office and regulate interstate commerce. Moreover, the

After declaring independence from the British monarchy, the colonist believed they should set the new form of government on paper. With the failure of the first constitution, Articles of Confederation brought together James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and many more to contribute to the new form in which the new country would operate. The founding fathers understood that if they had too much nation government it could lead to the same form of government the British had

The Declaration of Independence and the brand new government that had to be formed in the wake of the Revolutionary War was formulated with logical, scientific thought. The Founding Fathers applied this method of thinking to the documents which founded our country, such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. These founding documents laid down a government that is based on a rational system, that was designed from the ground up to be fair to all. The Declaration of Independence was laid out like a mathematical proof, complete with a given, causation, and solution. The Articles of Confederation failed at achieving the goal of creating an active, stable government, but Congress and the American people did not shy away from improving it and creating a better revision: the Constitution. The Constitution laid down the foundations of a governmental formula that is still in use today, and has the capability to be changed. It was created with the intent to adapt with the people. The American government was created scientifically; It was refined through experimentation, and founds itself on the principles of the scientific method and the mindset of many of the day 's innovators.

The Constitution placed a great deal of power back into the hands of a strong, central government much like that of a monarchy. “The extraordinarily powerful national government that emerged from Philadelphia possessed far more than the additional congressional powers that were required to solve the United States’ difficulties” (Wood 151). The U.S. government was extremely revolutionary though, in the way that it viewed and handled sovereignty. “Unlike the British in relation to their House of Commons, the American people never surrendered to any political institution…their full and final sovereign power” (Wood 160). Throughout the entire American struggle to establish a suitable government, the citizens maintained their ability to influence policy in a way that the British never could.

In the 1770’s, as America’s great thinkers and writers were declaring their desire for independence; they also established a committee to lay the foundation for the American form of government. These brilliant writers and philosophers hesitantly began designing the national level of government for use in America and named their final draft the Articles of Confederation . Out of their utter distrust of a centralized government, due to their association with the English monarchial system, the drafters deliberately established these articles as a loose confederation of states, rather than a firmly united nation. Life under the Articles of Confederation was filled with hardships and uncertainty, and the

After the Revolutionary War, the newly formed United States still had a major task ahead of them. They had to form a new government that would satisfy the demands of the people and ensure the success of their nation. The Articles of Confederation was the first system of government that was proposed and put into effect. This attempt at creating a system that protected the people form a strong central government ultimately failed but was an important step in the development of the current government system. The weaknesses presented by the Articles of Confederation helped lead to reforms that made the Constitution successful. Both the Articles and the Constitution demonstrate the struggles that the colonists went through with the British and

Leading up to the ratification of the Constitution, the United States was greatly divided. The preeminent debate between centralized and state governments was a major issue in America. On one side of the spectrum were individuals including Madison and Hamilton, who were heavily influenced by philosophers like Thomas Hobbes, and desired a powerful central government. Contrastingly, others such as Thomas Jefferson strived to carry out ideals founded by individuals who opposed the strong control of the King in England, including Thomas Paine. Although these two groups desired opposing outcomes for the United States Government, each side was able to incorporate aspects of their ideals to shape the government we have today.