Constitution of the United States
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The Constitution of the United States is one of the most significant documents ever written by our Founding Fathers. The Constitution is the blueprint for which our government was established. The article was drafted into reality in Philadelphia 1787, and is widely used within present day society. Throughout its time in existence very little has been changed to the document itself. There have only been twenty-seven amendments since it was signed in 1789, over two hundred years ago. This is a major accomplishment for a document that has been around for so long in a nation that is ever changing and ever growing.
I believe that the statement made by Patrick Henry, “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests” tells us why very little has changed with the Constitution. This power statement is what led many of our ancestors to flee their homelands and come to America. Our ancestors did not want to live in a dictator style government that is all powerful and places constraints on personal and societal views.
The first ten amendments to the Constitution are collectively called The Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights details our individual rights and place limitations on federal government involvement. If it were not for the promise of the first ten amendments, the Constitution would not have been ratified. Although the Bill of Rights limited the power of the federal government, it did not limit the power of the state governments.
The Constitution guaranteed the right to all, but the freedoms specified would not be extended to black slaves for many decades later. This was done primarily to make sure that both the north and south ratified the new document during the establishment of our new government. Without the united support of either, unification of our nation would not have been possible.
The United States Constitution created a description of democracy based on two important principles, the division of powers and federalism, in which government authority are shared by national and state governments. The system of government established by the U.S. Constitution incorporates a system of checks and balances which allows each branch to partially check the powers of the others.
The three branches of government established were: Congress (Legislative branch), President (Executive branch), and the Supreme Court (judicial branch). On a normal day to day operation the three branches had to cooperatively in order to get laws written, approved, and enforced, to further enhance our nation future. At times the branches would feel like they were playing a game of tug-of-war to sway votes in their favor, however during periods of crisis, one branch could become temporarily more powerful as was evident during the Civil War. During this conflict the states choose to retain the powers not specifically given to the federal government.
We have a competitive and dominating culture which places emphasis on individual rights and an inherent animosity between the people and the government. People will always mistrust big government as evidenced by our Founding Fathers whom stated themselves the people are innately corrupt, thus drafting the Constitution which would provide an effective government, yet protect individual rights.
The Founding Fathers constructed the Constitution with vague language referred to as “elastic”- meaning its intent could be stretched as needed. Due to the elastic language of the Constitution the job of interpreting its meaning fell to the Supreme Court. Originally this job was not specifically granted to the Supreme Court but it was more implied. As a result by design, the federal courts inherited the power to make policy. Each time a judge extend their reach of an existing law or the courts reinterpret a law or the Constitution in a significant way, the judge is acting in an administrative and/or legislative way, thus the Supreme Court is translating the language of the Constitution. Some of the landmark cases that helped define the role of the Judicial Branch and interpreting the Constitution included but not limited to,