Chapter 9 Reading Guide the Confederation and the Constitution

The Constitution of the United States established America'due south national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed sure basic rights for its citizens.

Information technology was signed on September 17, 1787, by delegates to the Ramble Convention in Philadelphia. Under America'southward start governing document, the Articles of Confederation, the national government was weak and states operated like independent countries. At the 1787 convention, delegates devised a plan for a stronger federal regime with 3 branches—executive, legislative and judicial—along with a system of checks and balances to ensure no single branch would take as well much power.

READ More: How the Constitution Has Inverse and Expanded Since 1787

The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution

The Preamble outlines the Constitution'due south purpose and guiding principles. It reads:

"Nosotros the People of the United States, in Order to grade a more perfect Union, plant Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the mutual defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and institute this Constitution for the United States of America."

The Neb of Rights were 10 amendments guaranteeing basic private protections, such as freedom of speech and religion, that became part of the Constitution in 1791. To date, there are 27 constitutional amendments.

READ More than: Why Does the Constitution Include the Bill of Rights?

Articles of Confederation

America's get-go constitution, the Articles of Confederation, was ratified in 1781, a time when the nation was a loose confederation of states, each operating like independent countries. The national government was comprised of a single legislature, the Congress of the Confederation; in that location was no president or judicial branch.

The Articles of Confederation gave Congress the ability to govern foreign affairs, comport war and regulate currency; however, in reality these powers were sharply limited considering Congress had no authority to enforce its requests to united states for money or troops.

Presently after America won its independence from United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland with its 1783 victory in the American Revolution, information technology became increasingly evident that the young republic needed a stronger cardinal government in order to remain stable.

In 1786, Alexander Hamilton, a lawyer and politician from New York, called for a constitutional convention to discuss the matter. The Confederation Congress, which in Feb 1787 endorsed the idea, invited all xiii states to send delegates to a meeting in Philadelphia.

Forming a More Perfect Wedlock

On May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence had been adopted xi years before. At that place were 55 delegates in attendance, representing all thirteen states except Rhode Island, which refused to ship representatives considering it did not want a powerful central government interfering in its economic business organization. George Washington, who'd become a national hero subsequently leading the Continental Regular army to victory during the American Revolution, was selected every bit president of the convention past unanimous vote.

The delegates (who too became known every bit the "framers" of the Constitution) were a well-educated group that included merchants, farmers, bankers and lawyers. Many had served in the Continental Ground forces, colonial legislatures or the Continental Congress (known as the Congress of the Confederation equally of 1781). In terms of religious affiliation, about were Protestants. Eight delegates were signers of the Declaration of Independence, while six had signed the Manufactures of Confederation.

At age 81, Pennsylvania's Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) was the oldest consul, while the majority of the delegates were in their 30s and 40s. Political leaders not in attendance at the convention included Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and John Adams (1735-1826), who were serving as U.S. ambassadors in Europe. John Jay (1745-1829), Samuel Adams (1722-1803) and John Hancock (1737-93) were also absent from the convention. Virginia's Patrick Henry (1736-99) was chosen to exist a consul just refused to attend the convention because he didn't want to give the central regime more than power, fearing information technology would endanger the rights of states and individuals.

Reporters and other visitors were barred from the convention sessions, which were held in hush-hush to avert outside pressures. However, Virginia's James Madison (1751-1836) kept a detailed business relationship of what transpired backside closed doors. (In 1837, Madison'southward widow Dolley sold some of his papers, including his notes from the convention debates, to the federal government for $xxx,000.)

Debating the Constitution

The delegates had been tasked past Congress with amending the Manufactures of Confederation; nevertheless, they presently began deliberating proposals for an entirely new form of government. After intensive argue, which continued throughout the summer of 1787 and at times threatened to derail the proceedings, they adult a plan that established three branches of national government–executive, legislative and judicial. A system of checks and balances was put into place so that no unmarried branch would have too much potency. The specific powers and responsibilities of each branch were also laid out.

Among the more contentious problems was the question of country representation in the national legislature. Delegates from larger states wanted population to determine how many representatives a state could send to Congress, while small states chosen for equal representation. The effect was resolved by the Connecticut Compromise, which proposed a bicameral legislature with proportional representation of the states in the lower firm (House of Representatives) and equal representation in the upper house (Senate).

Another controversial topic was slavery. Although some northern states had already started to outlaw the practise, they went along with the southern states' insistence that slavery was an issue for individual states to decide and should be kept out of the Constitution. Many northern delegates believed that without agreeing to this, the South wouldn't join the Matrimony. For the purposes of taxation and determining how many representatives a state could send to Congress, it was decided that enslaved people would exist counted as three-fifths of a person. Additionally, it was agreed that Congress wouldn't be allowed to prohibit the slave trade before 1808, and states were required to return avoiding enslaved people to their owners.

READ MORE: 7 Things You May Not Know Well-nigh the Constitutional Convention

Ratifying the Constitution

By September 1787, the convention's five-fellow member Committee of Manner (Hamilton, Madison, William Samuel Johnson of Connecticut, Gouverneur Morris of New York, Rufus King of Massachusetts) had drafted the final text of the Constitution, which consisted of some 4,200 words. On September 17, George Washington was the first to sign the certificate. Of the 55 delegates, a total of 39 signed; some had already left Philadelphia, and three–George Mason (1725-92) and Edmund Randolph (1753-1813) of Virginia, and Elbridge Gerry (1744-1813) of Massachusetts–refused to corroborate the document. In club for the Constitution to become constabulary, it then had to be ratified past nine of the 13 states.

James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, with aid from John Jay, wrote a series of essays to persuade people to ratify the Constitution. The 85 essays, known collectively as "The Federalist" (or "The Federalist Papers"), detailed how the new government would work, and were published under the pseudonym Publius (Latin for "public") in newspapers beyond the states starting in the autumn of 1787. (People who supported the Constitution became known as Federalists, while those opposed it because they thought it gave too much power to the national government were called Anti-Federalists.)

Outset on December 7, 1787, v states–Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia and Connecticut–ratified the Constitution in quick succession. Withal, other states, especially Massachusetts, opposed the document, every bit it failed to reserve un-delegated powers to united states of america and lacked constitutional protection of bones political rights, such as liberty of speech, religion and the press.

In February 1788, a compromise was reached under which Massachusetts and other states would agree to ratify the certificate with the balls that amendments would be immediately proposed. The Constitution was thus narrowly ratified in Massachusetts, followed by Maryland and South Carolina. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth country to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that regime under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. George Washington was inaugurated as America's first president on April thirty, 1789. In June of that same yr, Virginia ratified the Constitution, and New York followed in July. On February 2, 1790, the U.Due south. Supreme Court held its first session, marking the date when the government was fully operative.

Rhode Isle, the last holdout of the original thirteen states, finally ratified the Constitution on May 29, 1790.

The Pecker of Rights

In 1789, Madison, so a member of the newly established U.South. House of Representatives, introduced nineteen amendments to the Constitution. On September 25, 1789, Congress adopted 12 of the amendments and sent them to the states for ratification. X of these amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, were ratified and became part of the Constitution on Dec 10, 1791. The Bill of Rights guarantees individuals sure basic protections as citizens, including liberty of oral communication, religion and the press; the right to bear and go on arms; the correct to peaceably gather; protection from unreasonable search and seizure; and the right to a speedy and public trial past an impartial jury. For his contributions to the drafting of the Constitution, also as its ratification, Madison became known as "Begetter of the Constitution."

To date, there have been thousands of proposed amendments to the Constitution. However, only 17 amendments take been ratified in addition to the Bill of Rights because the process isn't easy–subsequently a proposed amendment makes it through Congress, it must be ratified past three-fourths of the states. The most contempo amendment to the Constitution, Article XXVII, which deals with congressional pay raises, was proposed in 1789 and ratified in 1992.

READ More than: viii Things You Should Know Nearly the Bill of Rights

The Constitution Today

In the more than 200 years since the Constitution was created, America has stretched beyond an entire continent and its population and economic system have expanded more than the certificate's framers probable ever could accept envisioned. Through all the changes, the Constitution has endured and adapted.

The framers knew it wasn't a perfect document. However, every bit Benjamin Franklin said on the closing day of the convention in 1787: "I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such, considering I think a primal regime is necessary for usa… I incertitude too whether any other Convention we can obtain may be able to make a meliorate Constitution." Today, the original Constitution is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Constitution Day is observed on September 17, to commemorate the date the document was signed.

morrisoncarold.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/constitution

Share this post