The Constitution
Governing a country after independence was a harsh and
tremendous task for the fathers of the American Independence. The Constitution,
one of the most symbolic, and important American documents, written by James
Madison, a member of the convention when the constitution was signed is said to
be the father of the constitution. During the convention of 1787, all the
representatives did not leave Philadelphia until the new set of rules was
written for the new emerging country. Although it seems that there were no
commotions on agreeing for the constitution, there were. Most Americans believed
during this time period that having a constitution was going back to the origin
of the war for independence, being bound to harsh laws and conditions. At the
end there was logical reasoning by those who did not see the constitution right
ended up believing that it was. After 1787, in 1788, George Washington, and
John Adams were chosen as President, and vice president. Now the United States
had their first head of state.
James
Madison, one of the most influential men at the convention during which the
Constitution was signed, was known as the Father of the Constitution. During the
convention with the 55 men, he was relatively a young man. Besides being a well-educated
man, he had the broader comprehension on what a government should be like. He spent
evening after evening reading books of government figuring out what the new
government was to be like. Although Madison though about the new government,
the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was a debate for abolishing or not the
Articles of Confederation. Yet everyone agreed on the need for a stronger
national government. The Virginia Plan
became a focus of discussion, it consist of a bicameral, or two houses,
national legislature. Each state would send representatives in proportion to
number of its citizens. A state with large population would have more
representatives then a state with low population. The proposed form of
government would also have an executive branch and judicial bran as well as the
right to tax its citizens. They would also have the power to veto any act of state legislature. Yet there
were opponents to the Virginia Plan, they were the smaller states, due to the
thought that they would not have much power, so they came up with the New Jersey Plan (N.J. Plan), like the
Virginia Plan, this plan would give Congress the power to tax and would create
and judicial and executive branches. The N.J. Plan also kept some of the
articles of confederation, which was that every state would continue to have an
equal vote in a unicameral Congress.
The legislative branch would be made
up by two houses, the House of Representatives, which would mean that every
state would have a number of representatives that corresponded to congress,
then the other house would be the Senate, every state would have an equal
number of representatives; this is known as the Great Compromise. Although these actions were taken people wondered
about the enslaved population, thus making the Southern States more powerful in
the House of Representatives, so they decided to add the enslaved population
and multiply it by three-fifths, this was known as the Three-Fifths Compromise. Although there seemed to be stability in
the forms of government, there had to be equality among the three branches, therefore
the constitution call for a separation
of powers, which would have the executive, legislative, and judicial
branches be able to check, or stop, the others in a certain way, this was known
as the system of checks and balances.
Another important thing to resolve in the emerging government was how to elect
the president, so voters were to choose electors to do their electing for them.
Each state would have as many electors voting as the same number of members of
congress. Whoever received the majority of votes would become President; this
was known as the Electoral College.
Those who supported the Constitution
where known as Federalist, they were
in favor of a strong federalist government, they were all Nationalist. Since the country was so big, Madison wrote in
The Federalist Number Ten, no one faction, what we call today a “Special
interest group” would be able to control the government. There were opponents
for the constitution, the Anti-Federalist,
were certain that mew government would be the death of American liberty. They were
led by older revolutionary figures, such as Patrick Henry of Virginia, and
widespread support in the areas that less commerce, particularly the lands
distant from the Atlantic Ocean and major rivers. For the constitution to
replace the Articles of Confederation, nine states had to ratify, or approve, it. Yet the states did adopt the Constitution-
but the voting was close, any they might easily have rejected it. Yet if it weren't
by Hamilton and Madison’s skills of persuasion and the Federalist offering to
adopt immediately several changes in the Constitution. Then congress during September
1789 proposed to change the constitution, and in December 1791, the resulting
ten amendments became part of the document known today as the Bill of Rights.
After George Washington was elected
President of the United States in New York City on April 30, 1789, Washington
began to commission officials, including the cabinet, the heads of the major departments of the executive
branch. Although George Washington had assigned Thomas Jefferson as secretary,
someone had to be Treasure Secretary, this was Alexander Hamilton, relatively young, and brilliant, he had at the
early age of 20 a political carrier writing political pamphlets and seeking
power. Hamilton was entitled to help pay the large debt of the Independence
war. Washington’s administration, or
term in office, the government was preoccupied since it had to deal with huge
and small responsibilities. President George Washington and his officials were
doing things that no one else had done before.
After the complications that the
Washington’s administration had to face, and all the things that Congress had
to work on to achieve an equal government it all gave results. A country that
was to sail into a world were empires and nations had been established long ago
would now have a new competitor on the street. This was the United States of
America. After achieving the Virginia and N.J. Plans to have equality in
Congress and concluding in the ten amendments for the People of America, the
new country would start to flourish. Washington was to deposit all of his
confidence in Jefferson as Secretary of State, and Hamilton and Treasure
Secretary. They would help out to make
the United States a progressive country.
Checks and Balances
No comments:
Post a Comment