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The Birth of a Nation: 1607-1815
It has been said that the Declaration of
Independence was more democratic and for equality and the Constitution was more
for a republic that benefited only some people. The Declaration was idealistic
the Constitution realistic. That 1776 gave us liberty and 1787 gave us order.
Although as unfair as it may sound this seems to be true. After gaining liberty
this country had to establish a system that would have order.
When declaring
independence, the bulk of the people thought that would be “…to burn the last
bridge, to become traders in the eyes of the mother country.” (Garraty 110).
John Dickinson had stated, “ ‘Torn from the body to which we are united by
religion, liberty, laws, affections, relation, language and commerce, we must
bleed at every vein.’ “ (Garraty 110). The people were afraid to break away,
they pondered “ ‘Where shall we find another Britain.’ “ (Garraty 110).
Eventually independence was inevitable. There was a great mistrust towards both
Parliament and George III when the colonists heard that the British were sending
hired Hessian soldiers to fight against them in the revolution. The pamphlet
written by Thomas Paine entitled Common Sense called boldly for complete
independence. This reflected his opinions on George III, calling him a brute,
and also attacking the idea of monarchy itself. “Virtually everyone in the
colonies must have read Common Sense or heard it explained and discussed.”
(Garraty 110). John Adams dismissed it as something he had said time and time
again. “The tone of the debate changed sharply as Paine’s slashing attack took
effect.” (Garraty 110). A committee was appointed by Congress, consisting of
Thomas Jefferson,
Benjamin Franklin, and many more. “The committee had asked
Jefferson to prepare a draft” that would soon become known as the Declaration of
Independence. (Garraty 112). It consisted of two parts: an introduction which
justified the abstract right of any people to revolt and described the theory on
which the Americans based their creation of a new, republican government, and a
second part that made George III, rather than Parliament, look like the ‘bad
guy’. “…The king was the personification of the nation against which the nation
was rebelling.” (Garraty 112). “The Declaration was intended to influence
foreign opinion, but it had little immediate effect outside Great Britain, and
there it only made people angry and determined to subdue the rebels.” (Garraty
112). On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted and liberty
was granted to all the colonists.
The
Declaration of Independence gave us
our first form of government, which was known as the Articles of Confederation.
It was not until November 1777 that it was submitted to the states to be
approved and ratified. “They merely provided a legal basis for authority that
the Continental Congress had already been exercising.” (Garraty 123). The union
that was created was known as a “league of friendship”. “The Articles reflected
the colonists’ fear of a strong central government.” (Briggs/Peterson 36). This
was great because it helped give off the concept of unity and also the Land
Ordinances of 1784 and 1785, which divided the Northwest Territory into new
states. The only problem was that this form of government was too weak because
it gave too much power to the states and not enough to the federal government.
“The articles seemed more like a treaty rather than a centralized form of
government.” (Briggs/Peterson 36). Each state was like its own country, with
different currencies and different laws. They needed something much stronger and
centralized so they came up with the Constitution which provided stricter laws
and also gave more power to the federal government. It replaced the Articles of
Confederation. “The
Articles of Confederation weren’t centralizes enough to put
order in the U.S.” (Wieczerzak). A convention held in 1787, known as the
Philadelphia Convention, was called to fix the Articles of Confederation and
instead they just rewrote it and added a new set of laws, which was then named
the Constitution. The Convention was later given the name the Constitutional
Convention. It gave the new government three main branches: the executive
(Presidential and Cabinet), the legislature (Senate and House of
Representatives), and the judicial (Supreme Court). Between all three there was
a separation of power, which divided power among all three so that none of them
would gain too much power and become tyrannical, this was known as checks and
balances. This gave order to the colonies in 1787. At the beginning of the
Constitution, in the introduction, you will find what is called the Bill of
Rights. This is the First 10 Amendments to the Constitution. It justified the
people’s rights and gave them the certain privileges every citizen should have,
and how they would. It was a mixture of both the Constitution and the
Declaration of Independence, guaranteeing liberty and order at the same time. It
did much to convince doubters that the new republican government would not
become too powerful.
All three documents were ratified and put into effect.
For generations now, the same system has been in use, even until this day. All
three work with each other, agreeing, and balancing powers so that even while
its strong enough to seek justice and enforce laws, and its weak enough to allow
differences in opinions, or freedom of speech. All three have made a big
contribution to the outcome of the country’s way of life today.
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