Is the constitution still appropriate for America in the 21st Century? Written in seventeen- eighty-nine, being two hundred and twenty-five years old, Today, many of us question whether or not the United States Constitution is still relevant. When our founding fathers wrote the Constitution, it was written according to their needs in the eighteenth century. According to the Bill of Rights, everyone has the right to bear arms, but in the twenty-first century what exactly does it mean to have the right to bear arms? Our meaning of the Constitution today, is different than the meaning of the Constitution two hundred and twenty-five years ago. After breaking free and declaring their independence from Great Britain, the founding fathers …show more content…
During the second constitutional convention, there were areas of agreements and disagreements between the representatives. They agreed upon human nature, political conflicts, objections of the government, and nature of the government, but when it came to equality, many disagreed. How can the constitution be relevant today when even in the eighteenth century, there were issues on what it meant to be equal or not? With arguments made between both the followers of the Virginia and New Jersey plan, came the Great Compromise. The Great compromise stated that in states with slavery, one slave would be counted as three-fifths of a person. This is written in Article one section eight, clause one of the constitution. How can the constitution still be relevant today when the topics of Slavery are still found in the constitution. Therefore, a new constitution shall be written to officially end the talk of slavery. Why is the topic of slavery found in our constitution when slavery ended one hundred and fifty-two years ago? In an article written by Paul Finkelman, a writer from The New York Times, “The convention prohibited the end of the African slave trade until 1808 (allowing for the importation of more than 60,000 more Africans), but did not require it ever be ended. It adopted two clauses that guaranteed the federal government would suppress slave insurrections and one that required the return of fugitive slaves.” How can the country go on with such a
Answer: The first compromise was called the three-fifths compromise and what was compromised was that slaves would only count for partially in representation of states. The Great compromise is the second compromise, which was between Virginia and New Jersey. This created a bicameral government where states represented equal in the upper house (senate) and lower house (house of representatives). This gave a unbalanced influence to states with small populations.
At this time it seemed that the issue of slavery was the only problem in the United States, almost as if a slave was being forced down the throats of the freesoilers (Document F). Stephen Douglas drafted the Kansas-Nebraska Acts in hopes of adding two new states: Kansas and Nebraska. Although it seemed that one would be a slave state, and the other a free state, the slavery issue would be decided by popular sovereignty. Many opposed this decision but did not know how to deal with it. The reason they did not know was because the Constitution did not mention it. William Lloyd Garrison said “the Constitution which subjects them to hopeless bondage is one that we cannot swear to support” (Document E). He was trying to say that the constitution can’t answer the question of slavery because the words “slave” and “slavery” are not in the constitution.
That clause prohibited any amendment made to the Constitution prior to 1808 that interfered with the three-fifths compromise or the clause regarding Congress’ interference with the slave trade (Dolbeare, 77). Lastly is The Fugitive Slave Clause in Article 4, Section 2 of the Constitution that permitted the extradition of runaway slaves (Dolbeare, 77). While the compromises within the constitution were necessary to ensure the formation of the United States, it is clear that the 1787 Congressional Convention did little to address the issue of slavery.
The Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia during the spring and summer of 1787, and was charged with replacing the Articles of Confederation with a more effective constitution. The Articles were widely considered an ineffective governing document. Our nation had two constitutions. Although the Articles of Confederation weakened our government, the current Constitution strengthened our central government and established our country to where we are today.
After the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the United States Government was reorganized under the Constitution. This gave the federal government far more power than did the Articles of Confederation, which invested power within the states. Basically, the Constitution created three branches of government (Executive, Judicial, and Legislative) which would work together to run the government. To make sure that there was an equal balance of power among the branches, a system of checks and balances was devised so that each branch could limit the power of the others. It is important to note that "the doctrine of separation of powers is not established by any constitutional provision [but] rather it emerges from he framers'
When the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution in 1787, the United States just had 13 states. The Founding Fathers believed that more states would want to join the Union in the future. They saw that it would be significant for new states to have the same form of government as the original states had. Since then there are now over 50 states that have similar characteristics which were developed centuries ago; although, resembling the creation of new ideas and inventions, current state government had many problems from being the way it is today, it also has many important features that benefit many people, as well as plays an important role in how American democracy and government works.
Compare the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of confederation to those of the Constitution. Which document did a better job at protecting liberties? Running a government? Explain your answer with specific examples.
By the late eighteenth century, America found itself independent from England; which was a welcomed change, but also brought with it, its own set of challenges. The newly formed National Government was acting under the Articles of Confederation, which established a “firm league of friendship” between the states, but did not give adequate power to run the country. To ensure the young nation could continue independently, Congress called for a Federal Convention to convene in Philadelphia to address the deficiencies in the Articles of Confederation. While the Congress only authorized the convention to revise and amend the Articles the delegates quickly set out to develop a whole new Constitution for the country. Unlike the Articles of
In 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the framers of the Constitution of the United States of America worked together to identify the best way to elect the President (Patterson, 2013). The ideas suggested varied and ranged from selection by members of congress chosen by lottery, to a popular vote of the people. By the end of the Convention the matter had yet to be settled as the framers fore saw that many of the suggestions were prone to corruption, error, and were very chaotic. The issue was passed down to the Committee on Postponed Matters, who in turn created the system that is used today and is commonly known as Electoral College (Kazin, 2011). The Electoral College was outlined by the Committee to up hold the views of the founding fathers, who were the framers of the Constitution.
A constitution is a written document that sets forth the fundamental rules by which a society is governed. Throughout the course of history the United States has lived under two Constitutions since the British-American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776. First in line was the Articles of Confederation (1789-1789) followed by the Constitution of United States of America (1789-present). The Articles of Confederation was the first formal written Constitution of America that specified how the national government was to operate. Unfortunately, the Articles did not last long. Under the words of the Article’s power was limited; Congress could make decisions, but had no power to enforce them. Also the articles stated
In 1787, delegates arrived in Philadelphia to begin work on revising the Articles of Confederation. Most states agreed that the Articles had not provided the country with the type of guidelines that it needed to run smoothly. There were many things missing, and many issues that needed further consideration. One of the most controversial topics at the Constitutional Convention was figuring out the country's policy towards slavery. When all was said and done, slavery was still legal after the Convention because the southern economy depended on it and because most people decided that this was an issue that should be decided by each individual state, rather than the country as a whole.
issues of all kind. The country I was born in did not guarantee freedom of
The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention, where it was held in Philadelphia. It was written by a group of people known as “Farmers,” or the “Founding Fathers,” and few of the most famous Founding Fathers were George Washington (The first president of the USA), Thomas Jefferson (The first vice president and the third president of the USA) James Madison (The fourth president of the USA), Samuel Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. The old government, the Articles of Confederation was not working as it supposed to be, it was vulnerable and cannot secure and defend the new born nation and for that reason the constitution of the united states saw the light.
In 1789 our forefathers met in Philadelphia to create the constitution of United States. The constitution was created to outline the laws of the government and to state are right of the people. The constitution acts as a contract between government and the people. The constitution was meant to replace weakness of the articles of confederation. From the beginning of the constitution until now it has changed because of the amendments. The constitution we still followed today.
The creation of the United States Constitution can be traced back to those individuals and historic events that spurred a necessary change in the specific role government should play in society. Historical study tends to myopically direct the credit of the United States Constitution to the Founding Fathers when in reality; there were