...waiting for the doors to open to the Constitutional Convention . He was holding his notes and his hat. This man is James Madison, also known as “The Father of The Constitution”. In the months ahead, he would play a central role in developing a formal government. Madison lived during the American Revolutionary War and was involved in forming our nation. Madison took part in drafting the U.S. Constitution and giving people freedom and prosperity. He was born on March 16, 1751 in Virginia and grew up there. Madison helped draft the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, which helped us because it gave the U.S. a better government that has lasted until the present day. He also made laws that ensured the rights of the people. James Madison was also known for being the fourth President of our country....
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...The First amendment is as important to the Constitution as water is for citizens to survive. The Freedom to petition has been around for hundreds of years. It is also part of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights/Constitution. We take the Constitution and Bill of Rights very seriously. Therefore, if we didn’t have these amendments then the world would be a horrible place because there would be no ways to make sure that one person doesn’t get accused of something and then another person who did the same thing does get accused. The freedom of petition is just one part of the First Amendments. First of all, the Freedom to Petition was originally founded by the Magna Carta. The magna Carta realized that he had the right to petition the King for what he didn’t like. In addition, the king had absolute power, though, and could make the choices on whether or not he was right or wrong. The First Amendment means that we the citizens are guaranteed the freedom’s of assembly, press, religion, petition and speech. One of the main advocates of the First Amendment is James Madison. James Madison is responsible for creating the right to petition. Here is a quote from...
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...University of Phoenix Material Influences on the Constitution Table Complete each section below. Include citations for your sources. |Documents |Summary |What was its influence on the Constitution? | |Magna Carta |Magna Carta is a document that King John of England was forced |Magna Carta served to lay the foundation for the evolution of parliamentary clause | | |into signing. The document was a succession of written promises|of the United States Constitution and enforced by the Supreme Court. | | |made between the king and his subjects that he would govern | | | |England and its people in accordance with the customs of feudal| | | |law. ("History Learning Site ", 2000-2013). | | |Mayflower Compact |Mayflower Compact is one if the first governing document of |The Mayflower Compact called for equality amongst people and...
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...DBQ: How did the Constitution Guard against Tyranny? Did you know that the constitution was actually kinda written on accident? Originally 55 wealthy, white, males came together in Philadelphia in 1787 to fix and make corrections to the Articles of Confederation. They specifically needed to fix no chief executive, no court system, stronger government, and many more things. This meeting was later called the Constitutional Convention. With trying to fix all these problems, they all agreed on one thing, no tyranny. Tyranny is a cruel and oppressive government or rule. An example of this would be king George. He was not giving the colonists their unalienable rights. The Constitution guarded against tyranny in many ways. These include federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and The Great Compromise. The Constitution guarded against tyranny through federalism. Federalism is the federal principle or system of government. James Madison wrote about federalism. He wrote about it because he wanted to get people to ratify the constitution. Doc A is an excerpt from Madison’s Federalist Paper 51. Federalism guarded against tyranny because as Madison put it “Liberty requires that the three great departments should be separate and distinct” (Madison, Federalist Paper #47). The evidence says it all. We MUST have the three departments...
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...Federalist Articles James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay were the authors of the federalist papers. James Madison was the principle author for article No 10 and article No 51. The immediate purpose for publishing these papers were to obtain support for the ratification of the Constitution, they wanted a diverse republic to prevent faction but with equality to maintain unity among the states. Madison addresses that a large faction will provide better representatives, since the cause of faction has been the unequal distribution of property. Those who have property versus those who don’t, have ever had different interest in society. He saw direct democracy as a danger to individual rights and addressed for a representative democracy to protect individual liberty from majority rule. In federalist No 10 Madison discusses to guard against factions, or groups of citizens, how the passion and interest of one group could mean a danger to the government. In article No 51 the purpose is for four aspects: Layered representation which is the people that are elected directly or indirectly to represent other people, Separation of powers are the three branches that make, and enforce the law; judicial, executive, and legislative branches, Checks and balancing is the ability of each branch to check the powers of the others so the power is balance in all three branches, and Federalism which is the existence of two governments, state and federal and both governments have dominance over...
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...HISTORICAL ESSAY #1 Confederation and Constitution The Articles of Confederation was agreed to by Congress on November 15, 1777 and was ratified and in force on March 1, 1781. By the year 1787, this new government had fallen short of the expectations of the people it was intended to govern. The weaknesses in The Articles of Confederation were numerous and had, in the thinking of many prominent men of that time, failed and would lead to a state of anarchy. There was such a sense of urgency to amend it that there seemed to be an atmosphere of panic among many of our Founding Fathers. John Dickenson and fellow members of the 2nd Continental Congress, weary of monarchy rule, had created the Articles of Confederation as a listing of twelve specific Powers given Congress by which to govern. Legislation required nine votes to pass. Each state had only one vote and this was problematic to the larger states, as their problems, more often than not, were based on a larger population and it was not unusual that the smaller states didn’t understand or want to pay for the solutions. Some lesser acts did not require nine votes to pass, but simply a majority of those present. Acts of Significant Consequence did require nine votes. The trouble with all of this was that even if nine votes could be achieved, there was no enforcement of law to be implemented by Congress. Congress could make law but not enforce it. It could charge states for their share of national...
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...The Commerce Clause: Protector of Trade or Tool for Expanding Government Power? Ever since its inclusion in the Constitution, the Commerce Clause, along with the Necessary and Proper clause, has been a source of debate and contention. Indeed, there were over 1400 cases filed with the Supreme Court challenging its application before the 20th century alone. With the passage of the controversial Affordable Care Act, the Commerce Clause was brought once more to the forefront of national attention. The Obama administration, and other prominent voices on the Left, claim that the clause itself gave them broad powers of control and regulation. Those on the Right claim that the clause was put into place specifically to limit the influence of the Federal government on the power of trade between the states. The question is clear: does the Commerce Clause truly grant unlimited power to expand the Federal government through regulation, or has it been abused by those in the Federal government off and on since its inception? I will attempt to answer this question by examining first the Clause itself, the Federalist Paper written by James Madison (the father of the Commerce Clause) and then the Supreme Court cases which have called it into question. Let us begin by examining the wording of the Commerce Clause (along with the Necessary and Proper clause) itself: The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the...
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...Union will be of the utmost moment to the peace and liberty of the States as a barrier against domestic faction and insurrection.” (Hamilton, 66, Federalist No. 9) This is because a large, centralized government uses the system of the checks and balances, which prevent domestic faction and revolt. The Federalists made it clear that they opposed a mob ruling and the minorities being denied their rights. The main danger the new republic faced, they argued, was the superior force of an “interested and overbearing majority.” (Madison, 72, No. 10) The Federalists solution on how to deal with majority faction is to “extend the sphere and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens; or if such a common motive exists, it will be more difficult for all who feel it to discover their own strength and to act in unison with each other.” (Madison, 78, No. 10) While tyranny of...
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...In the early days of the new American nation, just as in the modern world, political factions split the country in two with ideology. On one side were the federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, and on the other were the democratic, or Jeffersonian, republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Federalists generally believed in a powerful, centralized national government, while the democratic republicans believe in states’ rights, and a weak federal government to prevent despotism. Alexander Hamilton mainly argued that federalism worked practically in the world because of the nature of people. He claimed that government should have the power to enforce the laws it passes when they are resisted, and only a strong federal...
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...this tiny but mighty state has played a very important role in America’s history. Starting from the earliest settlements, to the Revolutionary War, the writing of the U.S Constitution and early transportation inventions, New Jersey has a history rooted deep into the making and progression of this country. Countries that claimed new land separated the earliest colonies. The Dutch were particularly excited about their new land that ranged from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to the Delaware River. The Dutch called their new land “New Netherland” with their capital city New Amsterdam, which is now New York City. “Dutch merchants who financed this voyage were excited about the think beaver and sea otter skins the crew brought back. They knew that great wealth could be had by trading with the Indians for fur” (50). The Dutch West India Company knew this area would be a great trading spot, generating a lot of money and settlers. “New Amsterdam grew as a...
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...has increased since the ratification of the Constitution in 1791. Describe how the provisions within the Constitution pertaining to the ‘power to tax and spend’ (Art.1, sec.8, pt.1) and the ‘commerce clause’ (Art.1, sec.8, pt.3) have been used over time to expand federal power and thus the power of the President. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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” (Declaration of Independence, n.d.). Taken adapted from the scholar John Locke’s “Life Liberty and Estate” in his text the ‘Second Treatise of Government’, (Locke, J. 2005) and incorporated into the United States declaration of independence. Much has been said on the influence of Locke, on Thomas Jefferson during the drafting of the United States declaration of independence, such as was argued by McKay, (2005 pp. 44) . However, where Locke emphasized the importance of procuring and maintaining a limited government, it appears his influences on the political foundation of the United States drew to a halt here. As we are now bearing witness, to one of the most rapidly expanding government institutions in western liberal democracy. In this essay, I intend to discuss how the expansion of federal government power has increased exponentially, all the while power at the state level has diminished. I also intend to view how the head of the judicial branch of government;...
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...of labor and thought” (Hamilton). This quote shows Alexander Hamilton's task commitment and how he was devoted to everything he did. He had made and overcame many mistakes during his life, building him stronger and leading him on his path to eminence. Alexander Hamilton created America’s current financial system, used Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision to innovate ways to overcome challenges, and illuminated the...
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...wasn’t until Hamilton’s friend and fellow immigrant Lafayette convinced Washington that Hamilton was needed that Hamilton was needed on the battlefield. Hamilton and Lafayette brilliant strategical and rebellious minds is what lead to the victory at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. This battle pushed the Redcoats out of New York and eventually lead to the colonies winning. As stated by History.com, “Three days later, Cornwallis surrendered. As his men marched out to stack their guns, their bands played “The World Turned Upside Down.” In London, when Prime Minister Lord North heard the news, he cried: “Oh God, it is all over.” So it was.” Without Hamilton’s brilliant and rebellious mind, present day America would not be the same. Not only did Hamilton help win the Revolutionary War, but he continued to help shape America after the war. After the war, Hamilton went back to New York to practice law with his friend Aaron Burr at his side. Even though Hamilton was an aspiring lawyer, he still cared for the nation as if it was his...
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...Shirley Saeturen Government 1 February 17, 2015 James Bryce Question 1. How does James Bryce, writing in 1888, describe the state of federalism in the United States? What evidence suggests that the states were still the dominant actors? What evidence was there of growing national power? When James Bryce wrote this article, it was at a time where the state and federal government were separate but was still uniform to each other in a way. The Europeans overlooked the state governments because they felt like the state government did not do much, they felt that the national government did a lot of the work. Although they felt that way, the state government did a lot of the work, not that the national government didn’t do work, at that time they were more focused on foreign affairs whereas the state government had the privilege to take care of the people. By doing that each state makes their own constitution without any interference from other states or union, but this form is subject to one condition, they have to be republican (Bryce, pg. 2). By doing that, it allows them more freedom for the creation of their state. They can use that as an advantage to make it so that it will be fair for the people. But they are still on the same team because they do what is best for the people. The political parties are the same in all the states. The tenets (if any) of each party are (with some slight exceptions) the same everywhere such as their methods and leaders are the same (Bryce...
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...of these men that he called the convention “an assembly of demi-gods.” The Father of the Constitution The best prepared of the delegates was James Madison of Virginia. One delegate wrote of Madison, “In the management of every great question he evidently took the lead in the Convention.” Indeed, Madison's influence was so great that later he would be called the “Father of the...
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