United States of America: A New Foundation

Hey guys! Here’s the second part of the foundation of the United States of America!

The Thirteen colony venture had to fight for rights that the tyrannical King George III wasn’t protecting. Thus a war of independence bursted opposing the crown to the settlers. It resulting in the 13 states victory and the beginning of democracy on the American ground. To protect themselves from Europe and particularly the UK, the 13 colonies created their own constitution ✨The articles of confederation✨.

To what extent did these articles take and extend and expanded inalienable rights and democracy?

We might need to rewind a little bit before the creation of the articles of confederation... just a little bit.

Perfect!

The Treaty of Paris 1784

As freedom was received as a gust of fresh air in the midst of summer for the colonies, their story inspired them to enhance the freedom of worship and give access to suffrages.

We can find all of these rights in the Articles of Confederation aka the 1st American “Constitution”. Then, all 13 states were confederates (network of states). With the Articles of Confederation, the political system was composed of only a mono cameral legislature wired to not require an executive power and the prevent tyranny. With this first Constitution came rights of suffrage freedom of worship and freedom. However the only to have access to suffrage’s were caucasian landowners. We can already note a growing conflict in between caucasian people, and people of other ethnicities.

This political system was challenged by Daniel Shays who fought with farmers by his side for decent taxation for the people. The Shay’s rebellion was a tangible proof that even a mono cameral legislature was able to oppress the people. What before was a state issue became an issue in all the 13 confederate states so the Constitutional Convention of 1787 took place in Philadelphia. The purpose was to revise the Articles of Confederation and find a common ground in between those who believed that more rights and power needed to be given to the people and those who believed that by giving power to the people, private and public property could not be protected.

The Articles of Confederation was so thoroughly reformed that a new constitution able to manage crisis and shield competing interests was written in 1787 and ratiffied in 1788.

Did the Constitution manage to give more power to the people? What were the consequences?

The Constitution starts off with a beautiful notion of democracy: "we the people" on which its power and an enumeration of unalienable rights in the preamble are based on.

The three first articles concern the three political pillars:

-The Congress (Article 1 known as the longest article of the American Constitution),

-The president (Article 2)

-The Supreme Court

Article 5 tackles the amendments of the constitution.

It is apparent today that even if the USA have a great political system, it isn't always perfect and homogeneous.

Issues tackled by the Constitution:

-Shouldn't the people have been more directly involved in the government?

According to the delegates beliefs, there had to be a filtration for the benefit of the states. Thus an electoral college with sufficient knowledge of politics had the possibility which was also seen as a privilege.

What was to be of the national and state debates? Could the size of a state influence debates facing the smaller states?

Well, the Connecticut compromise in 1787 suggested a dual system of representation in which legislature would be represented by two houses to strike a balance between rights and duty: the house of representatives where representatives would be elected by the people (indirect democracy), and the senate with two representatives per state.

After the abuse of power witnessed under a monarch how could a president do any better? What was his nature and function?

Under the Articles of Confederation the new USA realised that the absence of an executive power; legislative power could be as treacherous as tyranny with monarchy if not worse. Hence, the 1st article of their Constitution being the longest of all times. Thereby, in order to distribute power and avoid any abuse, executive power was reinstated. The influence that these powers have upon each other is called "checks ans balances".

What does checks and balances mean?

Checks and balances is a political system in which every pillar of power influences the other through their actions. It is a tool that reinforces accountability.

In regards to the Scotus (Supreme Court) it is independent due to its function. It insures that the legislative and executive power abide by the the rules given by the constitution. Checks and balances have, somewhat been a solution to avoid abuse of power. With it, however, has merged an incessant squabble between the federalists and the antifederalists. (At that time federalists didn't represent the government but the people).

We'll get to talk about this long debate