United States Government – The Constitution

A few hundred years ago, a large group of men gathered in one big room to establish a Constitution that would lay down the basic set up of the United States of America. This new constitution covered everything from government to the rights of all the citizens of America. Thomas Jefferson, who was not part of the creation of the Constitution, said that all the good that is in the new Constitution was accomplished by amending the Articles of Confederation. Shortly after the Articles of Confederation was created, the creators of the document realized that the newly found country was running as smoothly as planned.

The Articles did not cover everything necessary to ensure a well balanced country. With thirteen states independent, rebellion started to break out. So when they got together to write the Constitution, they had to look at the faults in the Articles and determine what needed to change. Whether it was giving Congress more power, establishing a military, or having the states only hold enough power to deal with local matter, if this country wanted to prosper, the Articles of Confederation had to be amended.

The writers of the Constitution didn’t want too much power to go to a single group in the government, so they set up a three branch system to ensure that not one branch had to much power. After the Articles were written, states were using their power to try to gain more and the balance was broken, so by amending the Articles, the balance could be restored. The first branch was the Legislative branch, which was made of of the Congress. The problem was that congress had been set up with proportional representation and the smaller states weren’t happy about that.

So it was decided that Congress be split into two branches, House of Representatives (which was based on proportion) and the Senate (which every state had representatives in) and this satisfied all the states, big and small. The reason that all these compromises had to be made was because the Articles did not give everyone equal share so the states were not happy and therefore they rebelled. With the Constitution being written to help every state equally, a well balanced government was put into play.

The second branch of the government that they set up was the Executive ranch, which was made up of the newly founded President and Vice President. This was different from the Articles because originally there was no figurehead in government, but the Constitution out in play the role of a man who would control one branch of the government and balance out the shaky governmental issues. The role of the President is to veto laws made by the legislative branch of the government, he appoints other positions in the government and also deals with foreign treaties. This was an amendment to the Articles that would not strike rebellion or unsettle the states.

The final branch of government that was set up by the constitution was the Judicial branch. This was the branch that interprets the law upon those in the country who break them. It was a court system set up by smaller courts that dealt with minor or local crimes and then the supreme court that dealt with crimes to the government, or serious affairs. The reason that this was a good thing to change from the Articles, was now that there are laws set, there is also a system in which to punish those who feel the need to break them.

With this three branch system, the government would be very strong, and would not anger the United States. The writers of the Constitution knew that, like the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution would not be a perfect document and that problem with the way it is set up might appear in the future so they wrote it very loosely. The Constitution was set up so that amendments could be made, the same way they were made to the Articles. If something in the constitution needed to be amended, the Legislative branch would create the amendment, then if the Executive branch didn’t agree, they would veto it.

If all went well then the amendment would be made and the Judicial branch would interpret the amendment to the country. The Constitution was well thought out when being written. The last thing that was added to the constitution was the Bill of Rights, which ten of the most important rights given to Americans. Whether it was the freedoms of speech, press, or religion, the writers of the Constitution wanted all men to have their rights to living in freedom. Giving set rights of Americans was never established in the original Articles of Confederation.

The Articles of Confederation were created very loosely and with many flaws. It was not well thought out and had many issues that would bring the citizens of America to unrest. When writing the Constitution, the writers had to look back on the Articles of Confederation and review the problems in the construction of the document, and assessed the issues in it. The Constitution was such a success because it amended the unsuccessful Articles of Confederation.