• In this essay, I will present 3 or more reasons, citing textual evidence that answers the essential question, “How much power should the government have,” and close with how it relates to today.

     

    First, as delegates decided, and began to draft a new government plan, disagreement arose between states. American History book, page 187, “Small states opposed to the Virginia plan, they feared that the large states could easily outvote them in Congress.” To explain why they felt the need to draft a new government plan, it all started with the Articles of Confederation.  The Articles of Confederation had its strengths, such as preventing tyranny, being able to collect money, post office, etc. However, the weaknesses quickly showed through. Such as how each of the 9 states had to approve each law, no executive branch, no trade among states, and no Judicial branch to settle various conflicts. The biggest indicator of these faults happened after the war was won. The states were greatly in debt. Their paper currency meant hardly anything without being backed up by valuables such as gold and silver. Without being able to tax, and being scared to fall back into harsh taxation, America fell into an economic depression. An economic depression is a period in which business slows, prices and wages fall, and unemployment rises.  This particularly hit farmers hard, the war made high demand for farmers, and without being able to repay for their used supplies, they had to pay loans. Many of them couldn’t repay these loans and the government seized their farms. They felt they were being treated unfairly, shown greatly in Shay’s rebellion. Daniel Shay was a Massachusetts farmer and Patriot. He organized an uprising against the government in 1786, called Shay’s Rebellion, attacking courthouses, and preventing the government from seizing farms. Though he and the other 1,000 farmers were driven off, this opened the eyes of the Founding Fathers, they needed to revise the articles before worse acts arose. To help them, they formed the constitutional convention in 1787 with all states but Rhode Island’s representatives. The group consisted of 55 delegates, 8 of whom signed the Declaration of Independence. The groups best were, of course, George Washington, the President of the Convention, Benjamin Franklin the oldest at the age of 81, Alexander Hamilton, and the father of the Constitution himself, James Madison. It was then that they realized, they needed to not only revise the articles but make a whole new Constitution for the nation. There were two main competitors in the running, the Virginia plan, and the New Jersey plan. The Virginia plan called for a strong central government with three branches, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The legislative branch passes the laws, the executive branch carries out the laws, and the Judicial branch the system of courts decides whether those laws are constitutional. There were going to be two houses in legislature, votes based on population. This plan, however, angered the smaller states, they thought it would be unfair and make their votes less important. Under this idea, they made the New Jersey plan, the New Jersey plan, like the Virginia plan had the same three branches but each state had one vote in the legislature. Before the states tore each other apart, Roger Sherman of Connecticut came up with the great compromise, he combined both ideas, making states settle their debate. It consisted of a two-house legislature, the House of Representatives, based on population, and Senators, two in each house. For the smaller states, the reassurance of two Senators was enough to settle the debate, and the larger states could be heard more with more votes. Sherman’s Compromise led to a peaceful situation one that could’ve ended in destruction.

     

    Second, to ensure that the Constitution can ameliorate and improve, the framers developed a lengthy process to apply new amendments. American History book, page 201, “They did not want people to make changes lightly, however. Thus they made the process of amending the Constitution fairly difficult.”.

    The founding fathers wrote the Constitution on great ideas; however, they weren’t entirely theirs.  The founding fathers looked up to mainly the Romans, Greeks, and even English when forming their government. The founding fathers admired the Romans substantially, they admired the ideas of their republic and thought the only reason they faltered was because of their citizens giving into tyrannical rule. They also looked into their virtuous service, taking jobs, not for the money but only for the betterment of society for the only way a government can work, is if the people can keep it. Though Britain had overpowered government, they still had some government control that the founding fathers implemented, starting with the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta contained two basic ideas one, they made it clear that even Monarchs themselves have to obey the law. The kings had to obey the Great Council (now known as the British Parliament) before raising any tax. The Magna Carta also gave English nobles the right to have such liberties as trial by jury, and the right to private property, which influenced the later free enterprise system of the Americans. The English Bill of Rights protected the citizens' rights, also granting them the right to have trial by jury, and the right to bear arms. The bill also implemented Habeas Corpus, adding to trial by jury, no person can be held in prison unless charged with a crime.  Their lasting ideas of government were through European Enlightenment, John Locke, an English writer wrote “The Two Treatises of Government” This wrote up one of the first ideas of natural rights, along with the ideas of agreement with ruler and ruled. The ruler's duty was to enforce laws and protect people, and in case of violation people had the right to rebel. With these ideas in mind, the Americans wrote their Constitution, adding their grievances helping to prevent dictatorship The Constitution, though a great document, continued to call for even more arguments among states. Federalists and Antifederalists argued how whether the Constitution calls for too much national government control. Federalists argued that the Constitution had an adequate amount of power and made the federalist papers in favor of it. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay collectively wrote a series of essays known as the Federalist Papers, defending their Constitution. Though the Antifederalists gladly elected George Washington as their president, they were skeptical that future presidents would be more tyrannical. They thought the people should have more rights spelled out so they couldn’t be overlooked in the future, which is reasonable, considering their last experiences regarding the Revolutionary War. Antifederalists further argued that, like the Declaration of Independence, they needed a document stating their rights. George Mason, of Virginia finally made the Bill of Rights in 1776. As they were all voting for the Constitution, they needed 9/13 votes, which is around 75%. Starting with Deleware, all states came together, with the reassurance of the Bill of Rights, to pass the Constitution throughout the states to finally pass the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. The framers started the Bill of Rights with 10 amendments such as trial by Jury, religious freedom, and the right to bear arms. They knew however that the Nation would find possible faults in their implemented government. Hence, they set a system where if needed, the states could agree to amend or change amendments and make new ones after voted on along with taking out ones that might not work. 

     

    Third, to ensure a safe and stable government, The Framers developed & incorporated the seven basic principles into the Constitution. Page 204, American History book, “The framers wanted to work together as a unified nation. Fortunately for us, they achieved this goal.” To explain, there are three main parts of the Constitution,  the preamble, the seven articles, and the amendments. The preamble, like the Declaration of Independence, is the opening statement, it also foreshadows the later content of the document. The preamble identifies six main goals to help states unify and feel less separate. The six goals are Justice, domestic tranquility, general welfare, liberty, prosperity, and common defense. The framers knew they needed to find a system of justice for legal disputes. They made the goal of Justice in the Constitution for all people to be treated equally, no matter race, religion, or country of origin. Domestic tranquility ensures safety and peace at home.  Such as having the government help out in disaster-struck areas or helping out in case of need. To protect their citizens under foreign attack, the framers set a system where the government can have armies, but at the same time, protect citizens’ rights by putting them under civilian or non-military control. Much like domestic tranquility, general welfare’s goal is to protect citizens’ well-being, but in this case, it’s for healthcare. Lastly, liberty which is sort of a common ground of the Constitution limits the government from arbitrary and unreasonable restraint against an individual. These six main goals are the reflection of the seven basic principles in the Constitution.  The seven basic principles are popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, republicanism, and individual rights.  All of the Rights have a connection to each other, they all have one major common factor, protecting the rights of people. For example, Checks and Balances makes sure that each branch of government has to approve each bill, even if 2 approve and one doesn’t, it can’t be made. Along with that, there is separation of powers, separating powers allows for this system of checks and balances. Separation of powers states separation of government between three branches, the Judicial, Executive, and Legislative. Popular sovereignty, like in the Declaration of Independence, states that the people have the right to alter or abolish their government, this helps people in case of bad dictatorship, to have the right to get rid of it, instead of just standing by, like how they had to do shortly before the revolutionary era. Similarly, limited government is self-explanatory, it limits government power, making government abide to their limits. The Constitution also reflects the principle of federalism, stating division of power between power of the states, and the federal government. Among the powers the Constitution gives the federal government are the power to coin money, declare war, and regulate trade between the states. States regulate trade within their own borders, make rules for state elections, and establish schools. Some powers are shared between the federal government and the states. The US is mainly a republican government, meaning the government is mostly ruled by the people abiding to laws made by elected representatives. This Republicanism is clearly stated in the Constitution. Last, but definitely not least, Individual rights, this was talked about a lot throughout this essay, because individual rights is what they have been striving for this whole time.

     

    In conclusion, government should always be limited, or else chaos will invoke. Because the founding fathers knew of this, they built a foundation admired by romans and the English, to make a new constitution, bill of rights, and declaration of independence. With this, we all live with life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, (in moderation). They implemented the core values talked about in all documents, popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, republicanism, and individual rights to better our lives. This relates to today, because without being able to have such liberties, we’d all be under some rule, Monarchy, Anarchy, Communism, Oligarchy, etc. Without the inspiration from other sources, the US wouldn’t be close to what it is today. The US is now an amazing country because of it. With these liberties, it also helped not only us, but other countries too. A substantial amount of people looks to the Constitution for such liberties that other countries took inspiration from. Now, people are free to own any business they want (in regulation), own their own property, bear arms, trial by jury etc. Free to do what their natural rights allow them, without bearing government control.