Explain The Basic Structure Of The Us Constitution – The genius of the Constitution begins with the recognition of both the virtues and limitations of human nature. He establishes a system of government that transcends human nature for the benefit of all.

The first plan that the Freemasons tried after declaring independence was called the Articles of Confederation. The government created by the Articles failed because it was too weak to coordinate national policies between countries with different priorities. Before the government could do almost anything, the clauses required a unanimous vote of all states, which often put states in the position of voting against their own interests. The Prime Ministers saw it as unrealistic to expect the states to do so. George Washington wrote, “We probably had too good an opinion of human nature in founding our Confederacy.”

Explain The Basic Structure Of The Us Constitution

So the Primers tried again, and created a system of government that did not negate the pursuit of self-interest, but helped direct it to compromise and consensus.

The U.s. Constitution: Preamble

The Primers knew that human nature made this a difficult task. James Madison, for example, wrote that “if men were angels, no government would be necessary” and that “if angels ruled over men, there would be no need for external or internal controls on government.”

The challenge they faced was that “you must first allow the government to rule the ruled; and next, oblige it to rule itself.”

The Constitution accomplishes this by preventing too much power from reaching too few hands. The constitution divides and disperses government power, making it difficult for any individual or group to gain power without first trying to compromise and reach consensus with others. The constitution divides the power to create “check balances”

Between the three branches of the federal government and between the states and the federal government while recognizing the priority of certain individual rights and requiring broad agreement to change the “supreme law of the land”.

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The constitution divides the power of the government in different ways. Federalism divides it vertically between the state and federal governments. The state government is closer to the people and therefore should be primarily responsible for looking after the “domestic and personal interests” of the people.

Especially as the state and its population spread, the federal government would be increasingly unable to address these ongoing needs.

On the other hand, giving too much power to states will undermine efforts to address the collective interests of the state. For example, if Maine were to invade, Florida might consider that the cost of helping in resources and lives outweighed the benefits of preserving the Union. Or if each country had its own currency, trade and commerce would be almost impossible. The question was how to find the right balance between the individual interests of the states and the collective interests of the nation as a whole.

Always aware of the need to set boundaries, the framers designed the Constitution so that the states would grant specific powers to the federal government, not the other way around. Thus the Tenth Amendment says that all powers not directly vested in the federal government are “reserved to the respective states, or to the people.” In other words, the states are assumed to have powers that are not delegated, and the federal government only has the powers it receives and are enumerated, or listed, in the Constitution.

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In addition to limiting the powers given to the federal government, the Prime Ministers also divided those federal powers into three branches. The legislative branch (which itself is divided into the House of Representatives and the Senate) establishes laws, the executive branch enforces them, and the judicial branch interprets them when settling legal disputes.

Again, the framers wanted to prevent too much power from getting into too few hands, because that would endanger the liberties that government exists to secure. Madison, for example, wrote that placing legislative, executive, and judicial powers “in the same hands, whether of one, of several, or of many… may rightly be called the very definition of tyranny.”

Quoting Montesquieu, he continued that “there can be no freedom…if the judiciary is not separated from the legislative and executive powers”. After all, if one body had the power to make and enforce laws, nothing would stop it from making unjust laws. Likewise, if the same body exercises both the power to write laws and the power to decide legal disputes, nothing will prevent it from arbitrarily changing the law to suit the needs of the government. Critically, the government can change the law without regard to the will of the people.

Separating the powers of government to protect against tyranny makes sense, but why does the constitution separate them the way it does? It all comes down to timing. A large body of people like Congress works slowly and deliberately. When it comes to passing laws that will govern all residents of the country, deliberation and debate help promote compromise and agreement. But speed is necessary if the nation is under attack and a defense must be assembled. In such a case, a single president can act much faster than an assembly can. Also, when the nation needs to talk to foreign countries, one person can present a unified message that Congress cannot.

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The constitution gives the judiciary the power to interpret and apply the constitution or laws to decide individual legal disputes. Alexander Hamilton explained that this required the “judgment” of a court and not the “will” of the legislature or the “power” of the executive.

Unlike legislators or the president, federal judges have no specific terms, so they are free to judge impartially and without fear of political retribution.

The division of government power vertically through federalism and horizontally through the separation of powers is an example of the necessary “internal” control of government that Madison described. The Bill of Rights, which recognizes certain fundamental rights of the individual, is an example of “external” control.

Each of us has certain basic rights that no government can ever take away. The Declaration of Independence refers to these as “inalienable” rights. These include the freedom to practice any religion you choose, speak your mind, petition the government to change the law, be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, bear arms, have a fair trial and be free from cruelty. and unusual penalties. The Bill of Rights guarantees these rights to each and every individual, even if the government or the majority of the people may want to deny these rights to someone.

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Justice Antonin Scalia once noted that “every banana republic in the world has a bill of rights.” Most of them are just “words on paper” because the constitutions of these countries do not “prevent the concentration of power in one person or one party”.

The structure of government established by our constitution is what makes our system unique. Federalism and the separation of powers, a bicameral legislature, and a judiciary independent of both political branches combine to create a design for government that makes the Bill of Rights real and meaningful.

The US Constitution is the oldest written treaty in continuous use anywhere in the world. In the famous case of Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court in 1803 explained that the Prime Ministers wrote the Constitution for a very practical reason: so that its rules of government “would not be mistaken, or forgotten.”

When he left office, President George Washington said that because the Constitution expresses the will of the people, it is “a sacred duty upon all” until changed by “an express and authentic act of the whole people.”

Constitution Of The United States Of America

By allowing amendments, the Constitution allows people today to both continue to operate with the established rules and to change those rules if they see fit to do so. By design, amending our “Great Freedom Bill” is difficult and requires extensive discussion to ensure that the amendments reflect the opinion and will of the people being implemented. As James Madison explained in The Federalist, the revision procedure allows future generations to correct errors and make any “useful changes that experience may suggest.”

At the same time, the difficulty in the amendment process prevents the constitution from weakening or depriving it “of that admiration that time bestows on everything, and without which the wisest and freest governments would not have the required stability.”

Amendments have been proposed thousands of times since the Constitution was ratified in 1789, but the states have only ratified 27 of the 33 amendments Congress actually proposed. These included the addition of the Bill of Rights, changing the method of electing the president and vice president, abolishing slavery, preventing state governments from discriminating against any person, guaranteeing the right to vote to all citizens regardless of race and sex, giving the federal government the authority to collect income tax, while ensuring the direct election of senators, and to outlaw (in 1919) and then legalize (in 1933) the production and distribution of alcohol.

The great genius of the constitution is this: it allows the people to govern themselves by placing the power of government in their hands, by protecting them from those who would take away their power or freedom.

Order Of States In Ratification Of The Us Constitution

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