*The following is a DBQ on the U.S. Constitution in which I had to discuss how the constitution was both (a) a product of it's time, and (b) a document that has had enough flexiblity to meet the challenges of the future. Let me know what you think please.*
It was during the May of 1787 when delegates from all over the country met in Philadelphia. Under the cover of revising the Articles of Confederation, the 55 officials set out on their secret journey to creating a new constitution for the country. This time, the constitution was successful. Perhaps the biggest reason the U.S. Constitution is still around today is that it is adaptable and able to be changed from the attitude of it’s time period to the attitude of modern time.
It is clear that the U.S. Constitution was a product of it’s own time. For example, in Article I, Section 2 of the constitution, it states that slaves would be counted as 3/5 of a person. In that time, slavery was still legal. When the issue of how slaves would be counted arose, there were conflicting opinions. What resulted was one of the most famous compromises of our time, The Great Compromise. For both taxation and representation, slaves were to be counted as 3/5 of a person. In modern times, this would not have happened, as African Americans are citizens of the U.S. and count as 5/5 of a person.
James Madison says in The Federalist that, “The accumulation of all powers… may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” To halt the progress of tyranny, the system of checks and balances was put into place when the constitution was written. The Articles of Confederation, as well as the U.S. Constitution, was written after America had gained it’s independence from Great Britain. During Britain’s rule, the thirteen colonies were oppressed and used for the benefit of their mother-country. Because of the strong central government of Britain, framers of the Articles of Confederation were afraid to make their own government that way. Unfortunately, their weak central government failed, causing the need to write the new constitution. The only way this could have worked is by splitting the government into three branches, each one keeping the other branch’s power in check. If the two constitutions of America had been written before the rule of Britain, our country may have turned out completely different, in that there may not have been a need for a second constitution and there may not have been a system of checks and balances.
If the U.S. Constitution has the ability to change with the times and adapt with changing standards in society, it must also beg the question, “How does the Constitution change?” to be asked. One of the ways this can happen is by the Amendment Process. An amendment is a change or an addition to the constitution. The Constitution presently contains 27 amendments. The table in document II takes one issue and shows the amendments that deal with that issue. Voting rights have changed multiple times over the years, and the three main amendments that deal with voting policies are the 15th, 19th, and 26th. The 15th gives the right to vote to all citizens of the country regardless of race. The 19th ends female suffrage. The 26th deals with the age of a voter, and gives the right to vote to citizens over the age of 18. Throughout the history of our country, we have come to accept more and more people as citizens and therefore give more and more people the right to vote. These amendments reflect the way our society has accepted more diversity. The map in Document VI shows that Congress has the ability to make laws dealing with things like slavery. While some states are open to slavery, others are not. Our constitution can be changed in such a way that a difficult situation can be dealt with in the best possible way, whether that situation is on the topic of slavery, or suffrage.
Another way the U.S. Constitution can be changed to fit society at any given point in time is also one way that the Supreme Court can exercise it’s power. Judicial Review is the power of the Supreme Court to interpret the constitution and decide if a given act is or is not constitutional. According to the case of Marbury v. Madison, the court must determine which of the conflicting forces governs a given case. The need to determine if something is constitutional or not comes when there are conflicting views of how the constitution should be read. For example, some may read the constitution and interpret it tightly, or word for word. Others may read the same words and loosely interpret the document, thinking that some things are implied in the constitution but not actually written. The Supreme Court has the power to decide what the constitution means and what it does not, and therefore, with changing presidents belonging to different parties, different people will fill Supreme Court seats, therefore changing with the times.
The U.S. Constitution is arguably one of the greatest documents ever written. It’s flexibility through things like Judicial Review, the Elastic Clause, and the Amendment process make the document a living, never ending piece of work that took 55 people to write. Without it’s ability to adapt to meet challenges of the things that the original framers of the work couldn’t have foreseen, it may not still be around today.
It is clear that the U.S. Constitution was a product of it’s own time. For example, in Article I, Section 2 of the constitution, it states that slaves would be counted as 3/5 of a person. In that time, slavery was still legal. When the issue of how slaves would be counted arose, there were conflicting opinions. What resulted was one of the most famous compromises of our time, The Great Compromise. For both taxation and representation, slaves were to be counted as 3/5 of a person. In modern times, this would not have happened, as African Americans are citizens of the U.S. and count as 5/5 of a person.
James Madison says in The Federalist that, “The accumulation of all powers… may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” To halt the progress of tyranny, the system of checks and balances was put into place when the constitution was written. The Articles of Confederation, as well as the U.S. Constitution, was written after America had gained it’s independence from Great Britain. During Britain’s rule, the thirteen colonies were oppressed and used for the benefit of their mother-country. Because of the strong central government of Britain, framers of the Articles of Confederation were afraid to make their own government that way. Unfortunately, their weak central government failed, causing the need to write the new constitution. The only way this could have worked is by splitting the government into three branches, each one keeping the other branch’s power in check. If the two constitutions of America had been written before the rule of Britain, our country may have turned out completely different, in that there may not have been a need for a second constitution and there may not have been a system of checks and balances.
If the U.S. Constitution has the ability to change with the times and adapt with changing standards in society, it must also beg the question, “How does the Constitution change?” to be asked. One of the ways this can happen is by the Amendment Process. An amendment is a change or an addition to the constitution. The Constitution presently contains 27 amendments. The table in document II takes one issue and shows the amendments that deal with that issue. Voting rights have changed multiple times over the years, and the three main amendments that deal with voting policies are the 15th, 19th, and 26th. The 15th gives the right to vote to all citizens of the country regardless of race. The 19th ends female suffrage. The 26th deals with the age of a voter, and gives the right to vote to citizens over the age of 18. Throughout the history of our country, we have come to accept more and more people as citizens and therefore give more and more people the right to vote. These amendments reflect the way our society has accepted more diversity. The map in Document VI shows that Congress has the ability to make laws dealing with things like slavery. While some states are open to slavery, others are not. Our constitution can be changed in such a way that a difficult situation can be dealt with in the best possible way, whether that situation is on the topic of slavery, or suffrage.
Another way the U.S. Constitution can be changed to fit society at any given point in time is also one way that the Supreme Court can exercise it’s power. Judicial Review is the power of the Supreme Court to interpret the constitution and decide if a given act is or is not constitutional. According to the case of Marbury v. Madison, the court must determine which of the conflicting forces governs a given case. The need to determine if something is constitutional or not comes when there are conflicting views of how the constitution should be read. For example, some may read the constitution and interpret it tightly, or word for word. Others may read the same words and loosely interpret the document, thinking that some things are implied in the constitution but not actually written. The Supreme Court has the power to decide what the constitution means and what it does not, and therefore, with changing presidents belonging to different parties, different people will fill Supreme Court seats, therefore changing with the times.
The U.S. Constitution is arguably one of the greatest documents ever written. It’s flexibility through things like Judicial Review, the Elastic Clause, and the Amendment process make the document a living, never ending piece of work that took 55 people to write. Without it’s ability to adapt to meet challenges of the things that the original framers of the work couldn’t have foreseen, it may not still be around today.
3 comments:
James,
Tori and I have just read your DBQ. It is probably better than what anyone else wrote in your class (besides Molly). Two points of interest:
African Americans are now 5/5 a person? You could consider re-phrasing that hahaha.
Also..Judicial Review is not in the Constitution.
Just my thoughts!
Molly is actually not in my class. She's a senior. Fool.
But my DBQ was probably still better.
Fool.
Post a Comment