Essay On Building The Constitution

“While the authors of the United States Constitution are frequently portrayed as noble and idealistic statesmen who drafted a document based upon their conception of good government, reality is that the constitution reflects the politics of the drafting and ratification process. Unfortunately, the result is a document that is designed to produce an ineffective government, rather than a government that can respond to issues in a timely fashion.” In support of this conclusion, the issues of slavery, The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, and the civil rights struggle keenly demonstrate the ways in which our constitution hinders the expediency and effectiveness of America’s government. The constitution’s provisions towards voting eligibility and

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.

The US Constitution states “We The People of the United states in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for more common defense, promote the General Welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” The main purpose of the U.S Constitution is to establish the basic rights of all American Citizens. This follows that every United States Citizens have equal rights. Belonging to a minority group because of culture, religion or race does not assert that one is unconstitutional. In times of war, evacuation of minority groups only in NOT constitutional; however, evacuation of ALL United

The end of the Civil War produced many short-term and long-term effects. After the Civil War through 1896, the North and South tried to reunite the United States to avoid being attacked by other countries. While the government tried to solve the problems with rebuilding the nation, their solutions were short term and failed to address the problem. There were many disagreements about Reconstruction that lead to conflict in the government and in the South. There were many plans that the government created to give African Americans rights that failed. Rebuilding the Nation, the battle over Reconstruction, and finally the end of Reconstruction led to several short and long term effects.

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.

On January 31, 1865 the thirteenth amendment legally abolished slavery “Except as a punishment granted Congress the ‘power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation’” (TAY, Chap 15 Sec II). Towards the end of the year things were improving. Most of the states were favoring the amendment. Around four million blacks were free from slavery (TAY, Chap 15 Sec II). Lincoln ended setting the pace for millions of African Americans. Being in the Union was important for the African Americans to become unified so that way they would feel equal. There had been mobbed violence against blacks of the south that leaded to them wanting a better system. There needed to be a better method for southern states to be reinstated to the Union (TAY Chap 15 Sec II). Soon after, came the Civil Rights Act of 1866. This act essentially said that all American born warranted all the rights that everyone else got. The Fourteenth Amendment went right along with the Civil Rights Act. The fourteenth amendment really was an enforcer for authority. So all the work that Lincoln was trying to accomplish was soon enough going to be shot down. President Johnson opposed both the

After the Civil War, between 1865 and 1877, was a period known as Reconstruction which was a time of rebuilding the United States. Reconstruction was a failure for three main reasons, segregation became more prominent, slaves were still unprotected, and economical obstacles became a substantial problem. Reconstruction was meant to be a time period of rebuilding and unifying the North and South into one undivided nation of compromise. There were many goals of this period such as reorganizing the Southern states, readmitting them into the Union, and setting rules against slavery so blacks and whites could live in an equal society.

In the 1860s the United States was a nation that had been ripped apart by the Civil War and left in torn pieces. The war left many white southerners stripped of their slaves, land, and in destroyed towns with little to eat. The only people worse off than the white southerners at this point in history were the black southerners who had nothing to their names but the freedom they had recently been granted which left them penniless and searching for a place to go. In hopes of a resolution president Abraham Lincoln took charge in by announcing a reconstruction plan in hopes of bringing the country back together.

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'

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

The Civil War was a brutal war that broke out in 1861 and lasted another four years in America between the North and the South or the Union against the Confederate. The war was almost inevitable because of issues such as slavery that spurred the secession of the North and the South. The Civil War broke out because of sectionalism which is loyalty to one’s own state or region rather than the country as a whole. Tensions on the debate of slavery caused economic and political problems between the North and South. As the war approached, the South leaned more towards independence by seceding from the Union.

The Civil War was fought for several reasons, but one was much more prevalent than the others. Slavery. The Confederate States wanted to secede from the Union and create a new nation. They would keep slavery and maintain their way of life. The Union opinion was just the opposite. They wanted to abolish slavery, and keep the Confederate states a part of the Union. In the end, a Union victory ended slavery and kept the United States united.

issues of all kind. The country I was born in did not guarantee freedom of

In the Civil War the North had many advantages over the South. The South was outnumbered, out supplied, and pushed into a corner using military tactics. Many things changed because of the Civil War. The military tactics used by the North changed how war was fought from then on. Many changes were made politically; some were only temporary, while others were permanent. After the war was over, the country was reunited and the image of the soul and duty of our country redefined.

Professor Larry Sabato is the founder of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia presents 23 proposals to revitalize our Constitution and Make America a Fairer Country. His book provides insight for a hard fought debate. Whether you like his suggestions or not or you agree with him or not, you have to respect anyone that can outwardly state that the United States Constitution as it has been handed down is “outdated.” This quest for reform I’m sure would anger many political conservatives who believe that the Constitution that we know today, is not in need of any reform, and is just the true document that is has always been and should remain.