Is the Constitution Still Relevant? No—What Matters is Who Has the Power to Decide What the Constitution Means The Constitution is relevant when people want it to be, and irrelevant when they do not want it to be. For instance, everyone become Continue Reading...
1787 Constitutional ConventionThe Constitutional Convention of 1787 was held in Philadelphia. It was convened for a very specific purpose, which was to revise the Articles of Confederation. These Articles were the nations first constitution, which so Continue Reading...
James MadisonPersonal BackgroundJames Madison was born on March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virginia. He grew up in a wealthy family, with his father, James Madison Sr., being the largest landowner in Orange County and a prominent planter. Madison was Continue Reading...
American Democracy The Electoral College as it currently functions is a way of getting around the "popular vote" -- as Underhill (2012) notes in "Changing Up the Electoral College?" However, Gregg (2011) puts an entirely different spin on the Electo Continue Reading...
European Federalism: Historical Analysis Fascism is considered to be a political belief and concept, which is based on the principle that social, economic and cultural and traditional beliefs of a country must be used in order to increase nationalis Continue Reading...
Anti-Federalists and the Constitution in the Development of Political Parties The Development of Political Parties The Constitution and Political Parties The Changing Ideology of Political Parties Even before the adoption of the Constitution, po Continue Reading...
It is, in one sense, a give and take relationship, but underlying it are the philosophies of Rousseau and Smith, in spite of the fact that both are full of contradictions. Rousseau, for example, states that man's "first law is to provide for his own Continue Reading...
American Mistrust of Centralized Government This is a paper written in APA style that examines the traditional preference that Americans have for local government, the traditional distrust they have of centralized government, and the reasons behind Continue Reading...
Why American Democracy Has Failed and Why the Anti Federalists were Right Introduction The Declaration of Independence, written in 1776, asserted that “all men are created equal.”[endnoteRef:2] It was an Enlightenment notion: Thomas Paine Continue Reading...
Partisan Politics At the time the U.S. Constitution was ratified, the new America of the 19th century saw its indigenes with varied political opinions. Those in favor of a powerful central government and therefore, a restraint of the powers the stat Continue Reading...
North and South The origins of the differences between the north and the south in early colonial America on up to the Civil War stem from political beliefs, economics, and social customs. The South was always more agrarian than the North. The South w Continue Reading...
The Antifederalists wanted to limit government severely in order to limit the effects of such corruption. Had the Antifederalists won the debate on the constitution, the U.S. may not be the global power it is today. Its borders may not run from oce Continue Reading...
Baltimore Advertiser, 18 Mar 1788) (2) the second class was reported as comprised by "those descriptions of men who are certainly more numerous with us than in any other part of the globe. First, those men who are so wise as to discover that their Continue Reading...
So, who was right? Well, it seems that history has taught us again and again that in certain conditions, humans do express their evil and competitive natures (e.g. fascism, genocide, etc.); but that in other situations, the species can be incredibly Continue Reading...
Federalism The history of the United States is bound up in the ongoing debate between federalism and anti-federalism; between a federal government that has a strong mandate vs. one that is relatively weak vs. The localized state governments. The ori Continue Reading...
amendments are an important part of the U.S. constitution and their effect on the legal system. Generally, the constitutional amendment process is crucial to the United States Constitution and legal system because it allows it to grow and incorpora Continue Reading...
In fact, during the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Slonim notes that the need for a bill of rights was not even a topic of discussion until Virginian delegate George Mason raised the issue just several days before the Convention was scheduled to ri Continue Reading...
45, for instance, where he argues that "the State governments may be regarded as constituent and essential parts of the federal government; whilst the latter is nowise essential to the operation or organization of the former. Without the interventio Continue Reading...
gaining their independence, what were the principal concerns Americans had about constructing a frame of government, and how were these concerns addressed in the structure of the Constitution? After Americans gained their independence from England Continue Reading...
As far as the philosophy of Montesquieu, it is crucial to note that the principle of the checks and balances of the governmental branches was also included in the Constitution. The Framers also adopted Rousseau's idea that the power of the social c Continue Reading...
CONFEDERATION & CONSTITUION Confederation & Constitution The author of this report is charged with answering several questions relating to the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. The original Constitution was hard enough to pull Continue Reading...
Federalism seeks a “well constructed Union,” as Madison (1787) put it in Federalist 10, whereas anti-federalists claim “the principles of this system are extremely pernicious, impolitic, and dangerous,” (Henry, 1788). The fede Continue Reading...
It separates the various forms of government and does not allow one to become more powerful than another, and it ensures that laws are created fairly, that justice is fair, and that the President does not gain too much power. Essentially, it is the Continue Reading...
Articles of Confederation has gone down in history and always will be known for the absolute failure that it was. In 1777, there was a need to lay a foundation or formulate a balanced government in accordance with the ideals of the American Revoluti Continue Reading...
Political Ideology My political ideology is based on my reading of the early Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers. When I read these papers I realized that the way our country works today was really shaped by events back then during the days of the Continue Reading...
Soon, anti-federalist movements emerged. The movement called Anti-Federalism thinkers revolved around the issue of government and the attribution of power. In their own view, the ideal configuration of the country would imply a decentralized system Continue Reading...
If the society puts the power to make laws in the hands of one man, then it is a monarchy. A mixed government combines forms of any of the described governments. 4. According to Locke, what is the 'social contract'? The social contract refers to t Continue Reading...
Delegates' top priorities include the following. First, the delegates set out to revise the Articles of Confederation to weaken the power of the state legislatures and increase the powers of the central government. Delegates also sought changes in Continue Reading...
Hamilton's Arguments in Favor of the Debt and the Bank Jefferson would have no position against witch to argue had not Hamilton made the argument for the national debt so eloquently and so forcefully. Essentially, Hamilton and Jefferson entirely d Continue Reading...
Northern states hoped that slavery would eventually prove unprofitable and wanted the Constitution to ban the (external) slave trade. This would not have banned slavery outright, merely banned the import of new slaves. The Constitution gave congres Continue Reading...
Thomas Jefferson's Influence On The Constitution Throughout more than two centuries of the grand experiment in democracy known as the American union, a time marked by the rise and fall of empires, the technological transition from plough horse to co Continue Reading...
2nd Continental Congress attempted to bring us through the Revolutionary War, but the members soon realized that we needed a form of central government on a permanent basis. The arguements began between Alexander Hamilton, the Federalist, and Thomas Continue Reading...
This rule is applicable to all states except North Dakota which does not require registration. Absentee ballots and mail ballot options are also available for voters who could not make it to the election booth. This is the election process in the Un Continue Reading...
Moreover, they saw religious faith as critical to promoting moral stability in the community (Breslin, 2004). Here we see how federalists adhere in the idea of liberalism by siding with sovereign nation-states where a central type of government is a Continue Reading...
.....controversy of establishing a court system at the creation of the U.S. Constitution centered on the power struggle between states and the creation of a federal, central government with its own court and ability to overrule state court decisions. Continue Reading...
CIV S-90-0520 LKK JFM P, 2009 WL 2430820 (E.D. Cal. Aug. 4, 2009). (2010). Harvard Law Review, 123(3), p.752-759. This article discusses the civil rights case Coleman v. Schwarzenegger wherein the plaintiff sued California Governor Arnold Schwarze Continue Reading...
Ellis holds that America, at its outset, was plagued by an identity crisis: Americans who asserted an essentially 'Republican' identity and revolted against Britain for certain reasons were at ends with Americans who asserted an essentially 'Federal' Continue Reading...
Conservatism in America Intellectually, it is indeed correct that post-World War II can be divided into two periods of conservatism: the period which emerged directly after the war (1945-1990) and the period from 1990 onwards. Traditionally as Ball Continue Reading...
Politics Six Questions & Discussion on American Politics Constitutional Convention During the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, two primary plans were forwarded that shaped the development and discussion at the convention that would fore Continue Reading...
Judicial review allows lawmakers to reflect changing morals and ideals when enacting legislation, but prevents them from allowing the hot-button topics of the moment to determine the laws of a nation. In fact, to really understand the success of jud Continue Reading...
