United States Constitution

“…thirteen powerful, independent, disunited States are in the habit off…refusing to obey our national Congress…I pray that we can act in time to prevent the bad things we fear may happen.” George Washington wrote this in a letter to John Jay (Doc 3). Even the man who is immediately thought of when talking about the start of our nation thought that without a new set of guidelines to run our country by, the young country would eventually break apart and the fighting of the higher powers would begin again. The reasons George thought this way was because of how week the Articles of Confederation actually were, also because all the different foreign problems that the country as a whole faced, and another big

For over two-hundred years the United States has thrived under the Constitution. It has been the backbone of this country while growing from an infant into an adult. Although, the Constitution was instrumental in the maturation of America it was not the first form of government in this country. Ten years before the Constitutional Convention, Washington’s presidency, or the three branches of government; the Articles of Confederation were created. This fledgling government, proposed in 1777, was doomed to never take flight, being replaced in 1789, when the Constitution was effected under Washington. This raises the question: Why did the United States discard The Articles of Confederation for the Constitution? Ultimately, the Articles

As our nation’s history has shown we have made mistakes in our past and been forced to learn from those mistakes. We have taken certain ideas and beaten them to death at times. The members of the constitutional convention of 1787 did the same thing as they were trying to decide what should be written in the constitution and how the government should be structured. Many plans were presented and rejected as the members argued until finally a great compromise was made and the structure our government for finally started to take shape.

The feebleness of Congress was a major weakness of the Articles of Confederation. When the Articles of Confederation were adopted in 1777, they created a “loose confederation” of states (Pageant, 181). This meant that each state was independent and sovereign, linked by Congress only to deal with common problems and foreign affairs. Congress was meant to be part of a united central power of the government, but due to the abuse suffered from the king, the states so limited the powers of the central government to the point of powerlessness.

In May 1787, the Founding Fathers, who were made up of 55 delegates from one of the 13 states besides Rhode Island, met in Philadelphia for what would come to be called the Constitutional Convention [BRE]. When they met they intended to fix the consitution that was already in place, which was called the Articles of Confederation. This document had many weaknesses which ultimatly led to its downfall: it only had a legislative branch, so it could not hold trials or enforce laws, it could not raise taxes (it was able to raise money, however to do this the legislative branch had to ask the states for funds), it could not draft an army, so the federal government would have to use state militia, it could not control interstate or foreign commmerce,

The Convention of 1787 which took place in Philadelphia, was of great significance because its major focus was to address problems with the governing of the United States of America which had formerly been operated by the Articles of Confederation. In this convention, congress called on each state to send delegates from each state so they could revise the articles. Delegates came to the conclusion that fixing the articles would be pointless and instead decided to write a new set of ground rules for an effective government. The Philadelphia Convention set out to correct weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and their five major objectives are as follows, “resolve disputes over representation in the new government, encourage public input while limiting excessive democracy, protect commerce and property, create legitimacy for the new system, and to provide a coordinated approach to international relations as well as national defense.” Out of that convention the 55 delegates decided upon a new framework for the government which was the Constitution.

During and subsequent to The American Revolutionary War, the new Country operated under The Articles of Confederation. Fearing that any central government in time would grow oppressive and tyrannical The Articles deliberately produced a weak government, which in time was destined to fail. The primary causation for the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was the failure of the Articles of Confederation. The Delegates of the Convention acknowledged that the only component that possessed the ability to inhibit the public’s freedom was their own government. Whether it was too weak and decentralized (in that it gave too much power to the states) or too centralized and powerful (similar to the British monarchy). The Constitution’s Framers did not believe in a direct democracy; they

One of the most important documents written in American history, the Articles of Confederation, was crucial to the foundation of American principles. However, there were many inherent flaws in its making, which were addressed by a few different leaders. The Articles of Confederation paved the way towards a successful country, but some of the problems would have sent the country backwards. One of these problems was that for an amendment to be made to the Articles, every state would have to agree, and Rhode Island never sent delegates to conventions to discuss these amendments. This meant that there could never be flexibility in the amendments even when necessary. This dilemma forced many elites of America to come together and completely rewrite

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 Philadelphia Convention was an important meeting when Congress invited each state to send delegates. Between May and September 1787, 55 delegates from 12 states convened in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention. Rhode Island was the only state that refused to send representatives to the Convention, because they did not want to revise or replace the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation had proven insufficient to cope with the challenges facing the young nation. The Convention discussed the debate over the size and structure of the federal government, and its result was the U.S Constitution. Though the Articles of Confederation had provided the framework for governance since the declaration of the American Revolution against Britain, many of the fledgling nation’s political leaders agreed that the creation of a stronger central government was essential to the development of the power and potential of the United States.

In the early parts of America as we know it, there was a document labeled the Articles of Confederations. This was the first written document that was made to set rules and guidelines for how the colonies shall act and be representative. The Articles of Confederation had quite a few flaws however first of which was the lack of power that was allowed for a central government. It is important to realise that America had just won an emotionally and physically draining war in which they fought to abolish the tyrannical rule. They were cautious to make sure they didn’t make a central government too overbearing, and thus ultimately lead to a weak one. Then on May 14, 1787 in Philadelphia, delegates from every original state but Rhode Island gathered in a Constitutional Convention to do their best to improve a flawed Articles of Confederation. In the end, there were three main proposals that were heavily discussed.

The Articles of Confederation was established to the Constitution of many states as a weak central government. People are believing that the weakness in the AOC give the republic subject to foreign attack and domestic affairs. Madison persuaded the states' rights advocate John Taylor to call for a meeting in the Annapolis, Maryland to address problems of commerce among the states. Madison led Virginia delegation to the Philadelphia which on May 14, 1787 and supported the cry for George Washington to act as its chair When Washington accepted the body achieved for the moral authority it needed to draft a new constitution. In the following weeks, Madison appeared as the floor leader of those leaders supporting a strong central government. A person

The delegates of 1787, gathered at a convention in Philadelphia to try and revise the existing government, but almost immediately threw out the Articles of Confederation when an entirely new document emerged. It became the known system called federalism, in which a strong national government with a clear separation of powers between executive, legislative, and judicial branches functioned alongside state governments with clearly designated responsibilities. Along with arguments about how best to ensure the rights of individual states were to be protected and how “the people” would be represented in congress were also resolved by establishing a senate with equal representation for each state, and a House of Representatives for the number of delegates was determined by population counts (Shi 2015 pg. 218). However, many of the delegates during the period of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution had widely different ideas about how each of the independent countries should be organized and run, including George Mason and Ben Franklin.

In 1787 the Articles of Confederation were introduced as the first Constitution of the United States. However, soon after the Constitution was implemented by all thirteen states, the need for ratification became imminent. James Madison crafted the Virginia Plan while Edmund Randolph presented it at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 in order to gain support. Under the Virginia Plan, James Madison made a few but necessary changes to help better the Constitution. In this paper I am going to show that even with Madison’s proposed changes, the members of the Philadelphia Convention improved on his initial proposal.

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.