The United States Constitution

In 1787, our founding fathers came up with a few principles that would establish what we now know as the United States of America. These principles were put on paper to serve as a guideline for how the United States would be operated and structured. This historical piece paper became known as the Constitution of the United States. In the Constitution, a Preamble is implemented at the beginning that essentially tells what the founding fathers set out to do.

75 years ago, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. For a brief history lesson, during World War II, tension was high and people in the US were both angry and scared. Fresh off the attack on Pearl Harbor, citizens and the government had a major fear of more homeland attacks from the Japanese as well as spies living among them. Influenced by many members of his cabinet, FDR signed the Executive Order, along with Executive Order 9102, which caused over 100,000 people of Japanese origin (over 70,000 of which were American citizens) along with several thousand German and Italian immigrants, to be put in internment camps for the duration of the war.

Provide the class with the details of the project (location, acres restored, methods used, species benefited if available, etc.). Be sure to integrate what you find with what you are learning in your text and other readings and supplement it with additional research.

When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in 1942, he effectively gave the order to displace over 120,000 Japanese-Americans -- forcing them to leave their old lives behind and attempt to find solace in internment camps across the nation. This was a huge blow towards racial equality in the name of ‘national security’. While critics may argue that the American government was justified in their actions due to the fear cultivated through the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, rounding up every citizen of Japanese descent -- even those born on American soil -- was not only a violation of the Japanese-American citizens most basic individual rights, but also an infringement on how the justice system in America operated as well.

Topic #2. Explain the major points of contention in the writing of the U. S. Constitution.

The US Constitution is made up of three branches, The Legislative, The Executive and The Judicial, each having a part in the US Constitution. The Legislative Branch makes the law and consists of two houses that are the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Executive Branch enforces the law while the Judicial Branch interprets the laws. All branches were given important powers but not enough for one branch to dominate the other branches and the government, which can be supported, by the first three articles of the US Constitution.

To begin, these camps were built for “national security” after the bombing at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack by the Japanese. This event caused the USS Arizona to sink, the USS Tennessee damage, and the USS West Virginia was severely damaged. 2402 were killed and 1282 were injured during Pearl Harbor. Because of the attack, the Japanese that lived in America lost respect, were thought of as inscrutable and untrustworthy, and caused an uproar of racism. In order for the public to feel safe, Roosevelt issued the Executive Order 9066. This order was aimed at the Japanese Americans to be relocated returning “national security” to the people. Executive Order 9066 was established about two months after Pearl Harbor.

The president at this time, Franklin D. Roosevelt, felt it necessary to separate those of Japanese lineage from all other Americans. In 1942 Roosevelt wrote the Executive Order 9066, which enabled the use of Japanese interment camps. Roosevelt stated in his order, “Whereas, the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material” (Roosevelt). President Roosevelt's order became one of the more historic decisions ever made by an American president. In regards to having Japanese removed from civilization, Gov Culbert L. Olsen said, “Because of the extreme difficulty in distinguishing between loyal Japanese-Americans, and there are many who are loyal to this country, and those other Japanese whose loyalty is to the Mikado. I believe in the wholesale evacuation of the Japanese people from coastal California” (Olsen).

In the 1700s when the United States had detached itself from British rule it was then seen as a plutocracy. The U.S established as a democracy; a government of the people and by the people. However, this establishment was in favor of the rich, educated, and powerful and anyone who was categorized or known as elites and it has remained in favor of these people ever since. Yes we can say we have witnessed variations and seen a semi-democratic rise in the past two centuries, but we have remained a plutocracy hidden behind the word that people use to cover its true identity, democracy. Those like the framers, the public opinion role, interest groups, and money all portray our hidden plutocracy.

When the Constitution of the United States was penned, the phrase “We the People of the United States… do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States,” did not actually mean the ‘people’ were establishing the Constitution; rather, the white men of the country were creating the standards for the country. As the country has evolved, voting rights have progressed past borders such as race or gender discrimination. However, less than a century ago, women were not permitted to vote. The time since the ratification of the 19th amendment, which gave women the legal right to vote, and the length of time spent fighting for that right are almost equal. The passing of the 19th amendment was a hard-earned step in the long road to gender equality; it took many years of harsh battling on both male and female accounts to have women suffrage to be included in the Constitution, overstepping the bounds of ignorance to explicitly include women as one of the previously implicitly excluded, “We the People.”

The Constitution of the United States of America was presented in 1787, pertaining to a newly formed government and how the former colonists of England projected to run a new country. The Constitution was drafted in Philadelphia by the brilliant and later 4th President of the United States, James Madison. This document was presented to ameliorate the Articles of Confederation, written in 1777, that contained a weak central government and no chief executive or court system. Another intention of the Constitution was to frame, or establish, a government with no tyranny, the absolute control of one person or a specific group of people. As problems usually arise, solutions can also be forged to solve these issues. The work of Madison and many others helped extinguish the dilemma of tyranny, but specifically “how did the Constitution of the United States guard against, or protect the country from, tyranny?” Explicitly, the Constitution of the United States protects the people against tyranny by federalism, the separation of government powers, checks and balances, as well as the the big states versus the small states.

The question that is often brought up is how an 18th century document can possibly deal with the Modern issues today. The initial problem faced by the framers of the United States Constitution was that it was impossible to list all the powers of government. There were just too many, and they wanted to build a government that would last and stand the test of time. Section 8 of Article one in the Constitution specifies in great detail the powers are limited to those listed and those that are allowed to carry them out. They added a rule near the end of the document, which states: 'Congress has the power to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or any Department or Officer thereof.” (U.S Const. art. 1, sec. 8) This clause, known as the “Necessary and Proper Clause” enlarges legislative power by enabling Congress to use any means it thinks reasonable to put these powers into action. It also authorizes Congress to enact legislation necessary to carry out the powers of the other branches.

The Constitution of the United States is seen by Western Democratic countries as a document that perfectly exemplifies the idea of a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” History has said that the framers of The Constitution were heavily influenced by the great thinkers of the Enlightenment era and the democratic philosophies that were exercised in Ancient Greece. However, history has buried the fact that the ideas that were most influential in The Constitution were not of European origin, rather they originated in the North American continent. The Great Law of Peace, was the constitution the Iroquois League developed and its primary notions were; freedom, democracy, and a confederation where one federal government controlled the states. Beyond the apparent similarities between The Great Law of Peace and The Constitution, there were many differences in terms of history, philosophy and application that set both constitutions apart.

In our society today, we have many rights that are guaranteed to us by the Constitution. In the setting of the book 1984 written by George Orwell most if not all of an individual’s rights have been taken away by the government. Without the rights that we are guaranteed by the Constitution, the people cannot have individual freedom or any freedom at all. The lack of freedom also makes a functional democracy impossible.

The Constitution is a document that was created by the American people as a basic guide line for the country to follow. The Constitution is made up of twenty-seven amendments. These amendments are laws that everyone in the United States of America must follow. The Constitution is often viewed as a “living document”. The Constitution is thought of it in such a way because of its ability to be amended whenever it is needed to be amended. When the Constitution is amended, it will sometimes have documents that repeal each other. When an amendment is repealed, it basically means that if any previous amendment that was created contradicts the new amendment, the old amendment is not followed anymore. The amendment that this paper will cover is the twenty-sixth amendment. The twenty-sixth amendment gives any United States citizen that is eighteen years or older the right to vote, and shall not be denied the right to vote on federal, state, or local level (“Harrison” et al.). This paper will cover various information on the twenty-sixth amendment such as its background, reasons for it being added to the Constitution, and how it was controversial.