...States needed a framework for their government. The Articles of Confederation had already been established in 1781, however, the debate over the necessity of a Constitution was underway. The Constitutional Convention, beginning in 1781 in Philadelphia included delegates from 12 of the 13 states. During the convention, the delegates discussed issues to be resolved in their proposed Constitution. Public debates outside of the convention also emerged where the common people debated over the Constitution as well. In the late 1780s, following the Constitutional Convention, two groups, the Federalists and Anti-federalists, debated over the necessity and potential dangers of the proposed Constitution....
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...POS-301: Principles and Articles of the United States Constitution Worksheet Part I: Principles of the Constitution The constitution consists of some primary principles. Briefly explain the following principles and their significance in shaping American government. * Self-Government: Is the most important principle in the Constitution of the United States and refers to the need to have a system which would make sure that everyone has a voice in the local, state and national governments.(www.4uth.gov.ua) Separation of Powers: Each branch is responsible for their job. Separation of power establishes that one person or group of people could not control the government alone. The Constitution states the power of each branch and their functions are completely separate. No one gets too much power help things run smoothly.(www.nationalparalegal.edu) * Checks and Balances: Ensure that no people can control the government alone. Because each branch has separate power, they can check and balance each other to make sure that the best interests of all people are served, rather than only the interest of a small group. Check and balances specifically assigns power to the states, but only what has not been delegated to the federal government (PATimes, 2014). This intergovernmental relationship was created to ensure that the people’s voices would be heard through their elected representatives. Part II: Balance of...
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...ideas and views have influenced such momentous commodity such as the American constitution. Many of Locke’s ideas were used in the creation of the United States Constitution. John Locke was a British philosopher and medical researcher. Locke was born to Agnes Keene and John Locke on August 29, 1632, in Somerset, England. His father was a Puritan lawyer, who served as a Captain during the English civil war. Locke’s schooling began at Westminster School in 1647. He earned the title of King’s Scholar, which prepared him for the next phase of his education at the Christ Church in Oxford in 1652. He studied literature, physical science, medicine, politics, and natural philosophy. In 1656 he continued for his Master of Arts degree. In 1665 at Oxford, Locke encountered Lord Ashley, a notable statesman looking for medical treatment. After a friendship formed, Ashley invited Locke to join him in London as his personal physician. Locke agreed and left for London in 1667, where he lived for the next eight years. This was the beginning of Locke’s deep political interests, which was no surprised considering that Ashley was one of England’s most skilled politicians. While in London, Locke took a job in Government researching the relationship between trade possibilities and colonization. He worked closely with early settlers who left for the New World, helping with the drafting of the Fundamental Constitution. The principal writings by John Locke that are influential to the...
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...The Federalist Papers, is a compilation of 85 articles, advocating the ratification of the proposed Constitution of the United States. These series of articles were published by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay between October 1787 and May 1788. The overall intention of the Federalist Papers was to explain the advantages of the proposed Constitution over the prevailing Articles of Confederation. The Federalist Papers impacted the ratification of the Constitution by making some of their most important objections, including the significance of having a Constitution, acknowledging to the disagreements made by the Antifederalists, and defending conflicting arguments made against the attributes of the executive and judicial branch as specified in the proposed Constitution. Before the ratification of the Constitution, the central government under the Articles of Confederations was very weak and in jeopardy of falling apart. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, who were Federalists believed as well that the Articles of Confederation was too weak to maintain a powerful central government and needed to be restored by the U.S Constitution. The fundamental goal of the U.S constitution was to secure the rights of the U.S citizens and for the federal government to strive for the common good of the individuals. The Federalist Papers illustrates how the federal government is divided into three distinct, separate branches and each branch of governm...
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...advantages. • Economic liberalism is associated with negative freedom. • Social liberalism, by contrast, is modern liberalism, also sometimes known as welfare liberalism, associated with the belief that an unregulated market economy results in an unequal and unfair distribution of wealth. • The state, therefore, has important social responsibilities, especially in safeguarding individuals from the social evils that can cripple their existence: poverty, disease, unemployment etc. • Social liberalism is thus linked to a qualified form of welfarism: the desire to help people to help themselves, thus still reflecting a general liberal preference for self-reliance. • Social liberalism is associated with positive freedom. 2 Why and how have liberals supported the fragmentation of political power? • Liberals have supported the fragmentation — break up — of political power because of concerns about power itself and, in particular, about the implications of concentrated power. • In the liberal view, power tends to corrupt because humans are essentially self-seeking and so are likely to use any position...
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...governed, usually expressed through regular and competitive elections. Liberals support constitutionalism and consent because they fear that govt may become a tyranny against the individual, based on the assumption that power is inherently corrupting and concentrations of power will lead to absolute corruption. This assumption is rooted in the liberal view of human nature: as individualism implies self- interest, those with power over others are apt to abuse it for their benefit and at the expense of others. Liberal constitutionalism is expressed through support for various external and internal devices, such as codified constitutions, bills of rights, the separation of powers, federalism or devolution, and so on. Liberal support for consent is evident in support for electoral democracy in general and, more specifically, sympathy for referendums and proportional representation. 2. Distinguish between negative freedom and positive freedom, and explain the implications of each for the state. (Jun 02) Negative freedom is the absence of external constraints upon the individual, usually understood as non-interference. It is manifest in freedom of choice and consistent with privacy. Negative freedom implies rolling back the state, because the state as a compulsory and coercive body is by definition an offence against freedom. Positive freedom can be variously defined as self-mastery, linking freedom to democracy, or as personal growth and self-realisation, the achievement...
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...Initially, the chapter begins to explain how the United States government was structured by the framers of its constitution, who has power to create laws, and how police officers are to carry out justice based on the law. It explains how laws are constantly evolving and how it affects/effects the way police officers are to carry out justice. The framers of the constitution came to America to escape religious persecution from their government and because of that they structured their government to outlaw any form religious prosecution by the separation of church and state. In other words, no religion can be treated differently from one another in any form by the State, Federal, or Local government. Moreover, the framers often used the way they...
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...the Second Continental Congress then adopted the declaration. In the statement, Jefferson stated his thesis which aimed at ensuring colonists get independence. He also gave evidence on how the King of England was mistreating the American Colonies. Finally, he suggested that colonists should refrain from paying taxes and fight for their right. In such a way, the paper aims to explain the information contained in the declaration of independence. The declaration started with an introduction describing relevant information found in the document. It explained the reasons which made the colonies overthrew the government and lived as an independent nation (Thomas). Jefferson believed that all people were made equal and some substantial rights should not be interfered with by government. These rights are the rights to life and hunt for humankind. Governments are instituted among men to protect violation of these rights, and it should...
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...As president Abraham Lincoln once said that “We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” Reflecting on his 1860 presidential election win, Lincoln once made the distinction between the fundamental wrongdoing of violating the Constitution in the name of justice and violating those who sought to manipulate it. By illustrating the need for discerning whether Constitutional powers are being abused or not, Lincoln underscored one of the many reasons for needing a system of checks and balances that is also enforced by the people, both in his time, and ours today. From the top of the political hierarchy to the bottom, all officials...
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...the Constitution did not say a word about everyone being equally protected under the law. o Representation- The first issue discussed was how to set up the new Congress so that all states have an equal voice. New Jersey Plan- The proposal at the Constitutional Convention that called equal representation of each state in Congress regardless of the state’s population. Virginia Plan- The proposal at the Constitutional Convention that called for representation of each state in Congress in proportion to that state’s share of the U.S. population. • It is obvious to...
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...Senior Research Project: Is the right to bear arms ethical? Lucas Van Duyn Senior Seminar: Business Ethics Dr. Jewe July 31, 2012 Introduction to the Project: In the United States, research into firearms and violent crime is fraught with difficulties, associated with limited data on gun ownership and use, firearms markets, and aggregation of crime data. Research studies into gun violence have primarily taken one of two approaches: case-control studies and social ecology. Gun ownership is usually determined through surveys, proxy variables, and sometimes with production and import figures. In statistical analysis of homicides and other types of crime, which are rare events, these data tend to have poison distributions, which also presents methodological challenges to researchers. (Just Facts, 2010) Americans own an estimated 270 million firearms, approximately 90 guns for every 100 people. In 2009, guns took the lives of 31,347 Americans in homicides, suicides and unintentional shootings. This is the equivalent of more than 85 deaths each day and more than three deaths each hour. 66,769 Americans were treated in hospital emergency departments for non-fatal gunshot wounds in 2009. Firearms were the third-leading cause of injury-related deaths nationwide in 2009, following poisoning and motor vehicle accidents. Between 1955 and 1975, the Vietnam War killed over 58,000 American soldiers – less than the number of civilians killed with guns in the U.S. in an average...
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...democracy possible? Has it to be moral in character? Why other systems of governance tend to challenge the basic fabrics of democracy? Why democracy has turned out to be more productive than other forms of government? Then focus shifts to paradoxes entailed in self evident truth of American democracy. Is American democracy a representative of a true democracy? Does it cater the smaller factions of society? Has the democratic system fostered the rights of liberty, justice, life and pursuit of happiness to good effect for masses once challenged by terrorism, racism, poverty and recession? What good it has brought to its people? Why does America deserve to lead world community? Finally, conclusion is inquired about by addressing the question that How American dream can be pursued in its true democratic meaning? Isn’t it strange that few render democracy as the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people? On the other hand, for some, it is a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; a government after the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; the idea of freedom. Idea of democracy as rule of people traces its expression from Athens in ancient Greek. From a philosophical stand point doctrines of natural law evolved into the idea of natural rights, i.e., all people have certain rights, such as self-preservation, that cannot be taken from them. Then, why should majority rule minority? Tocqueville (1945) argues that the...
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...The Texas Constitution 1 Why the Texas Constitution Matters • The Texas Constitution is the legal framework within which the government works • Rights guaranteed in the Texas Constitution go beyond those of the U.S. Constitution • The length and detail of the Texas Constitution make the amendment process central to the political process 2 The Role of a State Constitution • State constitutions perform a number of important functions – Establish political institutions and explain the source of their power and authority – Delegate powers to particular institutions and individuals and define how they are to be used – Protect against the concentration of political power in one institution or individual – Define the limits of political power 3 The Role of a State Constitution: Influence of U.S. Constitution • Texas’s constitution is heavily influenced by the U.S. Constitution – Political power is derived from the people – Both constitutions feature a separation of powers • Legislative, executive, and judicial branches – A system of checks and balances limits the powers of each branch, as a way to protect against tyranny – Certain individual rights must not be violated 4 The Role of a State Constitution: How U.S. Constitution Is Different • The idea of federalism is also embodied in the constitutions of the U.S. and Texas • Important differences distinguish the two – Supremacy clause: the U.S. Constitution and federal laws...
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...written by our founding fathers. The Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Declaration of Rights represent the idea that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”, while our Constitution encourages a “separation of powers” that keeps the governing bodies from assuming total control over the governed. Some of these ideas are also highlighted in Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, which was written as a means to convince the citizens of the colonies to secede from the oppressive Great Britain. While we take great pride in the fact that the likes of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Mason employed these ideas in the forging of the United States, these ideas were not their own. In fact, they were utilized by men that existed long before the founding fathers were born. Men like John Locke, Charles de Montesquieu, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau held these beliefs and articulated them in many of their works, which the founders would use centuries later as references in the drafting of our founding documents. So, it’s only fair that we take an in-depth look at how these three men influenced the founders of our great country. When John Locke wrote the Second Treatise of Civil Government, a movement called the Exclusion Crisis introduced the Exclusion Bill, a document that aimed to prevent James II of England from ascending to the throne through hereditary means...
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...any academic dishonesty on my part, I may be subjected to the strictest disciplinary action at the discretion of Taylor’s University Malaysia. _______________________ NAME : TEY LI YING STUDENT NO: 0321795 NRIC NO: 970628-60-5046 DATE: 17th OCTOBER 2014 ‘Indeed, an absolute separation would in practice be counterproductive in that it would prevent the abuse of power by preventing the exercise of power. Government could not operate if this were the case.’ Neil Parpworth, Constitutional & Administrative Law, (Oxford University Press, 2008) Discuss whether this statement is true in the UK. If it is, how does UK prevent the abuse of powers if there is no strict separation of powers between the Executive, Legislative and the Judiciary? John Locke’s conception of “where-ever law ends, tyranny begins” can be linked inextricably with the ideology of separation of powers. To elaborate on that, if one were to take advantage of the authority given to him by law, oppression would be deemed unavoidable. Hence, the establishment of the political theory, separation of power, seeks to...
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