Rooh-Allah Hasani

Word Count: 1848 words

The creation of the United States Constitution was a deeply human experience. It was the apex of human reason and thought brought together to create the basis for a government that still stands today. The story of the United States is the story of people banding together to stand up for their rights even at the cost of their own lives. It is a story of a flawed past in hopes for a more perfect future. It is the story of the American Experiment.

Thomas Jefferson proclaimed in The Declaration of Independence (1776), “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.” This proclamation to the British Empire after almost two hundred years of being subservient to them was a declaration for independence from the unfair taxes imposed on the colonies for the wars Britain was engaged in, which also included the usurpation of the colonist’s rights as these wars went on.

The Declaration of Independence, “put forth three radical principles, First, it held that all men are created equal with natural rights given to them by nature, or God, second, it proposed that all government must be based on the consent of the people they serve, and finally, it stated that if a government is not protecting the rights of the people, then the people have the duty to abolish it and create a new government” (pg. 38). This became the focal point for the colonists to rally around. It was agreed around the same time of the Declaration that each colony was to establish a state government, independent of Great Britain. These colonies created their own constitutions by following the principles laid down by the Declaration of Independence.

To establish a more effective government without destroying liberty, there was an emphasis on the idea that government was by the consent of the people and that there was to be a system of checks and balances. “State governments included three governing bodies-the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The prevailing view of people of the time was that the legislature offered the best prospects for representative government that would ensure popular sovereignty and protection of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (pg. 39). This would help prevent the government infringing on individual rights as the British had done during their governance.

As state constitutions became the new governing law of the land for the individual colonies,  the members of the Second Continental Congress began to deliberate on how to create a central government that respected each state’s sovereignty but made it possible for them to engage in international trade, foreign affairs, and defense. The Articles of Confederation was drafted and submitted in 1777 but would not go into effect until 1781 after 13 states ratified it.

            The Articles of Confederation created one governing body in the national government which was a congress. This made it certain that the central government would not have too much power over the states without gaining approval from nine of the thirteen states when approving policies and ratifying treaties. The founders wanted to avoid any sort of system of government that could lead to tyranny and thus gave Congress limited authority. The central government was not able to levy and collect taxes to increase revenue, but it was able to coin money and approve policies related to foreign affairs and defense.

Although the Articles of Confederation unified the colonies into a union of independent states, there were some substantial weaknesses. The state government succeeded in retaining their sovereignty by ensuring its’ rights over day-to-day life, commerce, and currency but that meant no centralized economic policy. This meant that each state had their own individual policies when it came to goods coming into the state. Since Congress lacked the authority to collect taxes and the power to compel the states to subscribe to the policies at the national level, this led to a nation of divided states even though they were technically unified under the Articles of Confederation. A glaring example of this is that some states issued their own currency and required the use of that currency to do business with them. Another issue at the national level was the war debt accumulated from the Revolutionary War. There were veterans still waiting for their pay, at the same time, farmers began to struggle financially because of a lack of infrastructure to do business and how each state had different economic policies.

A nation is only so great as their economy and as it were, because of the differing policies of the states, the economy was crippled and people, especially farmers, were negatively affected and their voices went unheard because of the lack of power the central government had. The farmers made up most of the economic wealth as America was a predominantly agrarian society. As protesting became more and more apparent, Congress voted to establish a national army to maintain order and requested each state to provide the necessary funds, but only one state agreed to send the funds. As time went on, Congress was unable to pay the costs of governing and the protests became more and more violent. The defects of the federal government became detrimental to its cause of unifying the states and a convention was called to address the Articles of Confederation.

The delegates of the convention agreed there had to be a stronger national government, but the main issue was how much power should be granted to it. There was already a prevalent distrust among the citizens for a stronger central government because of their experience under British rule. In response, the framers set out to imitate the checks and balances that were in the state constitutions to address these concerns. In order to have a more effective government without destroying liberty, “the delegates views coalesced around the principle of distributing the basic governing functions among three branches of the national government, each with capabilities to monitor the other branches.” (pg. 42) The new government also had to maintain existing state sovereignty.

The framers created a new governing system called dual sovereignty, in which ultimate governing authority is divided between the central government and state governments. This is the essence of federalism. This allowed for both the central government and state governments to have authority over different policy matters. Article I of the Constitution designates the responsibilities of regulating interstate and foreign commerce, coining money, raising and funding an army, and declaring war to the national legislature (or Congress). Article I also prevent state governments from any involvement in certain activities such as negotiating treaties. It is also important to note that nowhere in the first three articles of the Constitution does it list specific states’ powers and responsibilities.

In Article IV, the framers included a supremacy clause, which “states that Constitution and the treaties and laws created by the national government in compliance with the Constitution are the supreme law of the land.” (pg. 43) This was a little problematic to many citizens because they were still concerned of a strong central government but in response, the framers separated the primary governing functions of the central government among three branches of government which is referred to as the separation of powers. This reassured citizens that no group of government officials could control all the functions of government at the same time. “Under the terms of the separation of powers, each branch of the government has specific powers and responsibilities that allow it to operate independently of the other branches: the legislative branch has authority to formulate policy; the executive branch has authority to implement policy; and the judicial branch has authority to resolve conflicts over the law.” (pg. 43) These separations of powers formed a checks and balance system for the government to abide by. If one branch tried to move beyond its governing authority this ensured that the other branches could step in to prevent such tyranny.

The last major issue that was most significant to the populace was the inclusion of a Bill of Rights in the constitution. There was much chatter among the Anti-Federalists that, “without a bill of rights, there was no way of truly limiting the actions the national government might take to achieve its goals, actions that might threaten states’ rights (sovereignty) and the liberties and rights of the people.” (pg. 54) Alexander Hamilton, who was for the constitution as it was, reasoned against this idea because he believed if we were to list out the rights then it would not be all-inclusive and would cause issues in the future regarding rights not presently thought of and those rights would thus be unprotected. In response to this, Thomas Jefferson said, “half a loaf is better than no bread; if we cannot secure all our rights, let us secure what we can.”[1] In 1788, the new U.S. Constitution was ratified but with the condition that a need for a Bill of Rights would be considered during the (newly constituted) Congress first assembly. In March 1789, James Madison, a Virginian congressman introduced a bill of rights that comprised of 12 amendments. These rights were a compromise and solution to the concerns of the populace regarding their fears of government infringing on their individual and state rights.

In 1791, the states ratified 10 of the 12 amendments and thus the Bill of Rights was officially added to the Constitution. “The first eight amendments in the Bill of Rights establish the government’s legal obligation to protect several specific liberties to which the Declaration of Independence referred when it stated that men “were endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.” (pg. 55) The ninth amendment reflected the solution to the debate between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson by stating that the “first eight amendments were not exhaustive and therefore shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” (pg. 55) Finally the tenth amendment preserved state rights by granting any powers not specifically given to the national government (or prohibited to the states) were to be reserved for the states’ and/or given to the people.

            The Constitution is not perfect by any means and the authors understood this. It is the reason why they considered the constitution as a living, evolving document. The fundamental principle of the Declaration of Independence still holds its place in the Constitution and is part of the reason why “the Constitution is replete with vague and ambiguous phrases, which the framers expected would be reviewed and revised through both formal and amendment of the Constitution and judicial interpretation.” (pg. 56) In conclusion, what is most significant about the American Experiment is that it exists today. It’s system of checks and balances and granting of sovereignty to both states and the individual is the reason why it is the longest lasting Constitution in the world.

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Reference List

Harrison, B. C., Harris, J., & Deardorff, M.D. (2019). American Democracy Now.

New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

[1] Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison on the Bill of Rights debate, March 15, 1789.