Premium Essay

The Constitution Is Our Way Forward

In:

Submitted By bolofson1988
Words 3788
Pages 16
Ever since the birth of man, tyranny has existed in some way, and so has mans desire to be free from it. Our forefathers in this country fought and died and risked everything they had in this world just to create a place where we could truly, at least for a time, be free of tyranny. They repelled the greatest empire the world had ever known based on their belief that if they could be free they could change the world for the better. We created more wealth, more art, more innovation, more technology than any other nation in history with our freedom. Our freedoms were protected by a document called the Constitution, a document that provided a very specific rules that the federal government could not violate. In recent years however the constitution has been being worked around, and most recently almost entirely ignored. We are in an out of control financial crisis., and out government is working as hard as it can to find ways to violate our basic fundamental freedoms so it can have more control. We are in so many countries with our army that it’s getting hard to count. We are becoming the very empire we fought so hard to escape. If only we would follow our constitution more closely, we wouldn’t be in this mess.

The Constitution ensures that the government has a very limited and specific duty: To provide for the common defense of the nation as a whole, and to provide mechanisms to allow trade between the states, and to other countries. The state governments were given powers above that of the federal government, and they could control their states as they saw fit to. The constitution was meant to be a very strict set of rules to cripple the federal government so that a centralist tyranny could not emerge in our government. Most importantly it granted the people the protections of the bill of rights. These were 10 major rules that could never be broken by the federal

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Bill of Rights Paper

...301 / United States Constitution Joseph Richardson As Americans we are given certain “freedoms” that other countries are not entitled to have. In 1787 the United States Constitution went to effect and included the Bill of Rights that provides us with our freedoms. Each of these amendments is very important to the way we live in today’s society and play an important role in our lives. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights is the foundation for our country and the Amendments it includes gives our citizens their individual rights. The Constitution is what separates us from any other country. Certain Amendments were able to pave the way for all groups of individuals to have equal rights. The Constitution is a living document and was created that way to keep growing and changing to evolve with the American people. Our founding fathers understood that times would change the United States would grow and have different issues then our forefathers had. Because they understood this when they created the Constitution of the United States which included article V. Article V of the United States Constitution states that whenever two thirds of both houses decides an amendment is necessary they can propose it. A proposed amendment becomes part of the Constitution after it is ratified by three fourths of the 50 states. An amendment means a change, addition, correction or alteration to the current Constitution. The reason our Constitution has amendments is because our country is constantly...

Words: 1620 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

The FBI Should NOT Have Access To People's Phones

...your privacy violated and your basic constitutional rights taken away. Well just recently there was a mass shooting in California and the FBI tried to look inside the phone of the murderer to gain some info but needed the help of tech giant Apple but Apple would not help the FBI. The FBI should not have access to people’s phones because this violates the constitution and the basic rights of the people and opens the door for the rest of the world to act us such. The FBI can not have this power as what would stop foreign countries from using it and most importantly goes against one the most important things in the United States, The Constitution. For example ‘If the court case had gone forward and the FBI had won, it would have set a new standard for...

Words: 451 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

James Madison: Political Visionary

...James Madison: Political Visionary Shameron Doak Ahiers The newly formed United States of America was struggling to find its foot in democracy. The Continental Congress was struggling to find the right balance of government that would work under the principles and ideology of this fledgling nation. From the basics of freedom provided for in the Articles of Confederation grew the seeds of what would become the Constitution. It has long been maintained that James Madison was the “Father of the Constitution”, he himself would say that the constitution was not the “offspring of a single brain” but “the work of many heads and many hands” Granted the Constitution was a work of many but the ideas that outline the way our great nation are governed to this very day are attributed to the astute mind and forward thinking nature of James Madison. He came up with the Virginia Plan which was the blueprint that would eventually lead to the ratification of the Constitution. When the delegates convened between May and September of 1787 there was much distrust amongst them. They all feared a government with the potential for concentrated power. They had a fear of being overly regulated and felt the states themselves, should have say in the governing of the nation. The delegates had a tough road ahead of them to create a government of the people, governed by the people for the people. In the Articles of Confederation Congress was the lone institution while the states basically self...

Words: 841 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Voting Rights In America

...(Jones) To change this country and move it forward in a positive manner, the United States cannot continue to allow those over 65 to vote. As stated by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, a professor at Harvard University with a doctorate in history, supporting that change is necessary, “A first-year student at a California university told me that to make history, people need to do the unexpected” (Bullock, Daly Goggin, and Weinberg 660). As the United States grows, the Millennial generation is coming to outnumber the baby boomer generation by nearly half a million. (Fry) The Millennials show themselves to be a more open-minded and accepting generation as well as a generation that sees the need for change to preserve the world as a whole. As can be shown by Gallup Polls from 2014, 48% of people over...

Words: 1595 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Redistricting Reform: A Rhetorical Analysis

...“Land of the free, home of the Brave”. In 1776, the United States officially became a country. 11 years later, the constitution was formed. The constitution breaks the powers of government up into three different branches: the legislative that makes the laws (the President and the Cabinet), the executive branch that executes the laws (the Senate and House of Representatives), and the judicial branch that interprets the laws (the Supreme Court). It also sets up a system of checks and balances (ensuring no branch has too much power), divides power between states and the federal government, and most importantly- puts power in the hands of the people. All three branches are elected by the people, which is the main point of a democracy. There are...

Words: 778 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Barack Obama Rhetorical Analysis Essay

...constructed. He gains their attention when he gives his understanding using the help of allusion when he talks about the care of the constitution and its laws that gave the people equal rights because of the past of tyranny and oppression of its people. He states to the people in the auditorium that “the laws that gave the people equal rights that because of the constitution, have not always worked that way for every race and gender”. The words in that constitution was not enough to help slaves or men and women of every color their full rights as a citizen. It was effective because it reminded us as the citizens of the United States what this country was built on at its core was equal rights and independence of self and what we as people should continue to fight for no matter the race or gender in order to become the country we inspire to be. The strategy of parallelism used by Barack Obama when he say’s “through protests and struggles on the streets and in the courts through a civil war and civil disobedience, we will continue to improve our country”. His strategy affected the people because we as people know the only way to move forward is to fight against oppression and for generations that succeeds us to know to never be complacent and to always fight for what you as a citizen of the United States were promised and deserve because it define the future of our country. Despite the country’s past this election gave you a glimpse of what has yet to happen, but is destined to take...

Words: 1139 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Thomas Paine's Common Sense Themes

...Title: Common Sense Themes Thesis: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense manipulated and motivated the Americans to stand against English rule in a way so unprecedented that it will change America forever. I. Intro: A. Thesis: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense manipulated and motivated the Americans to stand against English rule in a way so unprecedented that it will change America forever. II. How was Common Sense different? A. It basically rebelled against England, which had previously been looked upon as the main way to run America. Americans realized the scam like way of this government well as the English Constitution which protected the monarchy. B. It wanted Americans to leave the British system and...

Words: 317 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

The Cherokee Nation

...The Cherokee Nation: Individualism, Collectivism, Power, and Quality of Life Individualism/Collectivism “In the beginning there was no land; just water and the sky. The animals lived above the solid rock vault that formed the sky, but they were very crowded”(Perdue, 2007). This is the introduction of the Cherokee people’s birth and come to being on this earth. Like our tale of Adam and Eve, the Cherokee also had their version of it and their people were named Kana’ti and Selu. They had both lived in a paradise that was created for them, but had a flaw of wanting more and thus were cast out of their own Garden of Eden. When the original Cherokee people were cast out of their paradise they found themselves having to hunt and harvest their food. They developed methods to help kill the bigger animals and trounce on the smaller ones with little to no regard for their lives. The story goes on to tell that the Cherokee people began to get sick from the animals they were eating and their harvest were not growing the way they intended either. The animals were punishing the humans for not respecting their right to live along side with them. The Cherokee soon realized that they must perform rituals to avoid the diseases, give thanks to the animals and land for what they used, and that is when they began to understand the importance of respect for all living things and not dominion over them (Perdue, 2007). Cherokee’s today believe that they are one with their environment...

Words: 1066 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

What Is Federalism

...El-Yacoubi POL 110 5 November 2013 In the beginning federalism was brought up by the framers. They wanted it to be a way of organizing the nation so that two or more ways of government can have a type of authority over the same people. The power is shared between the units of government. Federalism has held much tension over who should control policies, individual states or national government as a whole. To the framers, federalism was important in the design of the constitution. Federalism would foster custom-made laws that would fit the special needs of particular communities; they would do this by ensuring that all the activities of the public life would directly affect the people taking place within the states and their local governments. Also the people of the states would remain involved in the process of making laws at the local and state levels. They thought that if they kept the government close to the people, they would be more comfortable with it. One change that Hickok pointed out is that “Today the national government dominates the American political system.” (Hickok 1991) Another change that federalism has gone through is that the states and the national government’s relationship has actually changed because of the clashing of political interests, rather than changing by the political principles that are contained within the constitution. Another change that federalism has gone through is that these days congress can spend money for pretty much anything...

Words: 1171 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Will Duty to Save Environment Ever End? Law as Integrity

...hesitation, wastage of natural resources cruelly, enemy behavior with the animals, beasts and other dependant pieces are glaring examples of greedy and selfish tendency of the prudent lives of the universe. These inhuman activities are obliging morally some conscious people to think about its protection. As a result, if any pre-emptive measure for maintaining peace and tranquility is taken all over the world, respecting human rights and humanity is considered as prime concern in such exceptional circumstances. Constitution, national laws and international conventions have accommodated few rights emphatically. ‘Right to life’ is that types of rights. In addition, non-complying with many other rights originated from nature is essential; otherwise, enjoyment of ‘right to life’ would be impossible. Safe environment is one of those significant rights which facilitate us to ensure ‘right to life’. Judiciary, legal instrument of national and international arena and Constitution of many countries have contributed significantly to consider safe environment as sine qua non to ‘right to life’. We would try to see how much judiciary, national or international legal documents feel obliged in ethical perspective to emphasize on the importance of safe environment to ensure ‘right to life’ from jurisprudential...

Words: 7832 - Pages: 32

Premium Essay

Amedments to the Constitution

...Amendments to the Constitution Since the Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787 there have only been twenty seven amendments ratified. The process to ratifying an amendment is not an easy one, so the need to adopt these changes has to be great to pass through this process. Each of the amendments that have been passed have effected this society greatly, some of the most fundamental changes to the society have come through the ratification of the thirteenth through fifteenth amendments. The process of passing an amendment to the Constitution is a lengthy and complex process. The first step is to have a proposal written for the future amendment. There are two ways this proposal can begin, the first way is for two-thirds of both houses of Congress to vote to amend the constitution. The other way a proposal can move forward is that two-thirds of the state legislatures can formally ask Congress to call a constitutional convention to propose an amendment. After the proposal has been accepted, the process of ratification begins. The process to ratify an amendment is not any easier. Three fourths of the state legislatures must approve the amendment or each states ratification conventions must accept the amendment. There is one stipulation on this process, the Supreme Court has ruled that the ratification process must be completed within a reasonable time after the proposal. Although there has not been any official time frame, the longest amendment process was seven years...

Words: 937 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

American Constitution Fulfillment

...US constitution, Fulfillment or Betrayal of the ideal of the American Revolution The American Revolution is often portrayed as something that it is not. For example it did little to almost nothing when it came to social matters, like the topic of slavery or women’s rights. What the colonist wanted in the beginning of this revolution was simple, they asked for the restoration of English liberty, equal representation, and equal English values that English men had in Great Britain. The idea of breaking away from the crown started to emerge in the 1770’s. After the French and Indian war, Great Britain started to tax the colonist heavily, and in 1772 Samuel Adams wrote The Rights of the Colonist which move the colonist towards a more Lockean way...

Words: 1728 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Twenty-7 Amendment Research Paper

...Social Policy Enactment using the Constitution of the United States of America Introduction. For this research paper, we were tasked with an assignment to review the twenty-seven amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America. We were then instructed to write a one or two page paper that identified amendments, other than those that were in the Bill of Rights, that were used to achieve social policy. My objective is to identify several hot-button social policies that are routine topics of debate in our country, such as: social welfare, gun control, and voter's rights. Body. The U. S. The constitution states in Article I, section 8: The people of the states empower the Congress to expend money (for the enumerated purposes listed in Article I, section 8), provided it is done in a way that benefits the general welfare of the whole people (Social Welfare). Thomas Jefferson stated that the intent of the Amendment was to limit the...

Words: 612 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

President Jefferson's Role In The 1803 Purchase

...we believe in, what our deeply-rooted fundamentals are, especially as Citizens of the United States of America. Many great presidents have had the tremendous task of doing what’s right for our country through such a powerful tool--decision, but none so tremendous as that of the one made by U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson. Many factors played a role in the 1803 purchase of the fifteen full and partial states; but overall, it is right to say President Jefferson was justified in his purchasing of the Louisiana Territories due to powers Alexander Hamilton expressed to be-- implied. To paint a very simple image, the U.S., after April of 1803, doubled in size. In fact, we acquired about 828,000 square miles of land...

Words: 500 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Lampasas High School Leadership Essay Examples

...At Lampasas High School I show leadership in many ways, like volunteering to answer questions or be the example in class, being part of the National Honor Society, and being a student athlete. I am also in the Gear Up Leadership program at Lampasas High School, where I am pushed to set the best example for others, I am challenged to promote a college and career oriented future. I believe being a good role model is one of the best ways to show leadership. This past year I was chosen by staff at my school for demonstrating leadership, citizenship, and character in my school and my community, to attend American Legion Auxiliary Bluebonnet Girls State. It was such an honor to be able to attend Bluebonnet Girls State where only 500 hundred girls...

Words: 805 - Pages: 4