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History of the United States Constitution

            In 1787, the most respected and well-known people of the new nation of the United States came together to resolve problems of the first constitution, the Articles of Confederation. The Articles served as a written constitution for the people to put down their ideas during the years 1781 to 1789 but was plagued by numerous complications. The Articles gave the states sovereignty, freedom, and power to govern themselves but must limit power of the national government. This included the inability of the Confederation Congress to tax leading to the strenuous battle in alleviating the national debt and paying the United States' own soldiers. They were losing credibility as a nation because they couldn't pay back the other nations who had helped them in the Revolutionary War. They were being pushed around into treaties like the Jay-Gardoqui Treaty. They had the inability to raise an army to defend against Native American attacks and attacks from other nations. Civic virtue could no longer help rule the states into helping each other as was shown by the disunity in voting and Shay's Rebellion. These problems were found to be impossible to resolve without completely scrapping the Articles to create a whole new Constitution. During the Constitutional Convention, delegates agreed on created fundamental changes but conflicting interests of the states led to compromises which when presented to the states, a Federalist-Antifederalist battle for ratification ensued.
             The principles of this new nation begin from the fundamental changes of federalism, separation of powers, and a system of checks and balances. Federalism is a form of government in which power is shared between the federal and state governments. This was instated to still give the states their power in ensuring the interests of their people whilst giving the federal government enough power to protect the liberty of the people through restraint.


Essays Related to History of the United States Constitution

1. Understanding the Electoral College

... votes to the candidates who win the popular vote. At the end of the Presidential race, the candidates who earn at least 270 electoral votes will be named the winners of the election. In the case that no team of candidates earn 270 total electoral votes, the United States House of Representatives will be given the sole duty of naming the next President and Vice President of the United States. In the history of the United States, only two Presidential races have been decided by the House of Representatives. These ... the college was created in the late 18th century, the United States was ...

  • Word Count: 439
  • Approx Pages: 2
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2. My View on the U.S. Constitution

... proportion and meaning should be easily attainable, understood and explained. "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the 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." This is how the U.S. Constitution begins. These things written above, I do not believe have been ... preparing a document that is supposed to be the foundation for the United States, th...

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3. U.S. Constitution

... 's hard to have an exact definition. According to Magruders American Government book a constitution is "the body of fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures, and processes of a government." I believe the creation of the United States Constitution was made based upon our founding fathers ideas at the point in history. The reason I say that is because who knows if with the technology and world problems and conflicts that we are facing now our founding fathers would ... 's hard to have an exact definition. According to Magruders American Government book a constitution is "the ...

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4. U.S. Constitution

... 's hard to have an exact definition. According to Magruders American Government book a constitution is "the body of fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures, and processes of a government." I believe the creation of the United States Constitution was made based upon our founding fathers ideas at the point in history. The reason I say that is because who knows if with the technology and world problems and conflicts that we are facing now our founding fathers would ... 's hard to have an exact definition. According to Magruders American Government book a constitution is "the ...

  • Word Count: 1917
  • Approx Pages: 8

5. U.S. Constitution

... 's hard to have an exact definition. According to Magruders American Government book a constitution is "the body of fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures, and processes of a government." I believe the creation of the United States Constitution was made based upon our founding fathers ideas at the point in history. The reason I say that is because who knows if with the technology and world problems and conflicts that we are facing now our founding fathers would ... 's hard to have an exact definition. According to Magruders American Government book a constitution is "the ...

  • Word Count: 1917
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6. The Founding Fathers: A Reform Caucus in Action

... the proposed constitution. The Federalist Papers are described as "a collection of essays written in favor of the new constitution." Most people believe that some of the authors include James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. These men were influential in the history of the United States. James Madison was the main author of the Constitution and the fourth president of the United States. Alexander Hamilton was the first U.S Secretary of the Treasury. John Jay was the former president of the Continental Congress and later became the first Chief of Justice of the United States. The...

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7. Ensuring the Right to Vote in the United States

... left to the power of the states. The states have a long history of discrimination and, while people can dream about a perfect world, this bigotry does still exist in the world today. On the federal level, it is much harder for a politician to ignore the needs of a group or discriminate against them. For this reason alone an amendment should be added to the constitution to ensure the right to vote. In addition, being a true democracy, the United States is ... a prime example to the ... ...

  • Word Count: 2017
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Three Period History of the Supreme Court

... the members of the court. The greatest of these opinions during his term would come in 1803 in what has been considered one of the most monumental court cases in the history of the United States-Marbury v. Madison. This decision developed a clearer understanding of the strength of the Court over the union when Marshall ordered Marbury to look elsewhere (due to the aspect of the Court's original jurisdiction) for redress of his desired and deserved commission to be a Justice of the Peace in the District of ... of the country's fusion in his dissent stating that the Constitution itself wa...

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9. American Exceptionalism in the Cold War (1947-1961)

... is further evidenced from a survey conducted in 2010. In this survey 80% of Americans agreed with the statement "the United States has a unique character because of its history and Constitution that sets it apart from other nations as the greatest in the world."12 Clearly here the statement is a fairly loaded one, yet interestingly it is the reference to the constitution which is placed to persuade Americans that they are exceptional. Interestingly ... the first scholarly mention of the term American exceptionalism actually comes from a man called Max Lerner ... ...

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10. 1987 AP United States History DBQ

"By the 1850's the Constitution, originally framed as an instrument of national unity, had become a source of sectional discord and tension and ultimately contributed to the failure of the union it had created". Because of the lack of information in the Constitution, the United States lost its sense of unity. The Constitution contributed to the failure of the union it created by lacking information on slavery and secession. Slavery was a major issue that the states could not agree on. When the issue of slavery came up, the North had a completely different opinion than the South. They were unab...

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