The Constitution of the United States: A Landmark in American History

The Constitution of the united states of America was a landmark move during that time (Wilson). The source of the Constitution was from the religious belief and European thought process. The paper aims to examine the Constitution of the United States and its overall impact on society. The following section of the paper will first address the events that lead to the formation of the US Constitution and will present the primary arguments against the Consitution. The effect of the argument is explored on the Constitution and differences will be drawn between the Constitution and the article of confederation. Lastly, the paper focuses on the long term effect of the Constitution on the nation. The Constitution of the United States is a powerful document which revolutionized and impacted society.

The research will aim at examining the different aspects of the US Constitution and its overall impact on the societal structure.

The federal-state Constitution formed the national government of America along with the fundamental law and assured some rights for the citizen of the state. A group of delegates signed The Constitution in 1787 (Way). the articles of confederation which were the first governing document of America the national government was not up to the mark; in fact, weak and many regions operated like independent countries (Ginsburg and Melton). Therefore the delegates came up with a plan in 1787 for a robust government which will comprise of three branches namely executive, judicial and legislature.

The Constitution also one of a kind as it introduced the concept of check and balances to ensure that no single branch has more power than the other. The article of confederation was the first Constitution of America which was ratified in 1781. This was a time when the nation was fragmented, and each was operating independently, and there was no single central power to unify the nation. There was only a single legislature in the national government, and no president or judicial branch was present in the confederation. The article only equipped the congress to govern the foreign affairs and deal with war-related issues however it must be noted these powers were limited in reality, and congress did not possess any authority to instruct the state about any military or monetary assistance.

After Great Britain lost and America won independence with its revolutionized victory of 1783, it was evident that the young republic was in urgent need for the government, which was stronger so that the state can remain stable. A politician and lawyer named Alexander Hamilton who hailed from New York, in 1786 asked a constitutional convention so that the matter could be discussed (Versteeg and Zackin). In February 1787 the confederation of congress endorsed the idea. As a result, all 13 states were asked to send delegates for a meeting which was to be conducted in Philadelphia.

Quality Of Information

In the present independence hall which was previously known as the Pennsylvania statehouse, the constitutional convention was opened . in totality there were 55 delegates which represented all the 13  states except Rhode Island who refused to participate as they oppose central government interfering in their commercial business. The national hero after the American revolution named George Washington was selected as the president unanimously (Moniz).

The framers of the Constitution selected were well educated and hailed from a different section of the society, namely merchants, lawyers and bankers. In terms of religious philosophy, most of them are protestants, and six people signed the article of confederation while eight signed the declaration of independence. Delegates like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams attended the convention (Witte and Nicholas). However, reporters, as well as visitors, were restricted to maintain the secrecy of the meeting though James Madison of Virginia kept a detailed account of the event.

The delegates though tasked by the government to amend the articles of confederation they began doing their things and altogether proposed a new form of government. Throughout the summer of 1787 heated debate prevailed and derailed the proceeding a plan was developed to establish the three branches of the government namely executive, legislature and judicial. A system of check and balance was also ensured. The responsibilities and the power of each branch were strictly specified. The most heated issue was the question of state representation in the central legislature.

While the small states wanted equal representation in the state delegates of larger states wanted the population to determine the representation. After a lot of debate, the issue was resolved with the Connecticut Compromise which proposed a bicameral legislature which would ensure proportional representation of lower house in the name of the house of representative and equal representation in the name of the upper house which was later called as the senate (Fishkin and Forbath). Another controversial topic was the issue of slavery. The southern state and the northern state togetherly put forwarded their view regarding slavery and claimed that this issue was the state for to decide and the nation should not interfere in the situation, and the Constitution should not be involved in this.

After much discussion, it was decided that the congress was not permitted to outlaw slavery and especially the slave trade before 1808, and the state should return the fugitive slave to their owners. The final draft of the Constitution had 4200 words and all the states include the Rhode Island ratified the Constitution in 1790. The bill of rights was introduced in the Constitution in 1791 which guarantees the fundamental right to the citizen, right of the speedy trial by the jury and many more.

Support Of Thesis

The impact of the Constitution of America was different from the article of confederation as both of them codified the law differently (Brinks and Gauri). The first document establishes the unicameral legislature as opposed to the bicameral legislature. In the article of confederation, each state had one vote while the Constitution allowed for a single vote. The Constitution established the executive branch of the government, and it had accountable public scrutiny. The Constitution aimed for a centralized authority under a single political entity while the article of confederation relied on a lax union.

The Constitution is very significant as it provides the basic structure of the US government. It is the cornerstone of the political institution (Levinson and William). However, it must be noted that the society of the state has changed dramatically since the enforcement of the Constitution. The centralized power of the executive branches has especially transformed resulting in a more powerful federal government. After all these changes also the core of the US democracy lies in the Constitution only (Mestad). The key navigating point to resolve all the political dispute is the Constitution. The Constitution acts as a federal government which gives the government the ultimate legitimacy to issue the political dispute and conflict. It not only serves as a purpose for the government; it also guides the citizen of the US and have been extensively used by the judicial branch to address issues.

Conclusion 

Therefore from the above discussion, it can be concluded that the Constitution of the united states of America was a landmark in the history of America. It can be seen in the above discussion that there was much debate which surrounded in the formation of the Constitution. The Constitution proved to be a product of circumstances as evident from the discussion.  After the article of confederation, the Constitution finally came into effect which ensured a strong unified central government with three branches namely executive, legislative and judiciary with proper check and balances in the Constitution to ensure transparency and proper functioning. The impact of the US constitution is majorly influencing in society.  

Brinks, Daniel M., and Varun Gauri. "The law’s majestic equality? The distributive impact of judicializing social and economic rights." Perspectives on Politics 12.2 (2014): 375-393.

Fishkin, Joseph, and William E. Forbath. "The anti-oligarchy constitution." BUL Rev. 94 (2014): 669.

Ginsburg, Tom, and James Melton. "Does the constitutional amendment rule matter at all? Amendment cultures and the challenges of measuring amendment difficulty." International Journal of Constitutional Law 13.3 (2015): 686-713.

Levinson, Sanford, and William D. Blake. "When Americans Think About Constitutional Reform: Some Data and Reflections." Ohio St. LJ 77 (2016): 211.

Mestad, Ola. "The Impact of the US Constitution on the Norwegian Constitution and on Emigration to America." Norwegian-American Essays (2017): 27-44.

Moniz, Amanda B. From Empire to humanity: the American Revolution and the origins of humanitarianism. Oxford University Press, 2016.

Versteeg, Mila, and Emily Zackin. "American Constitutional Exceptionalism Revisited." The University of Chicago Law Review (2014): 1641-1707.

Way, Jennifer. What is the Constitution?. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc, 2015.

Wilson, Woodrow. Constitutional government in the United States. Routledge, 2017.

Witte, John, and Joel A. Nichols. Religion and the American constitutional experiment. Oxford University Press, 2016.