...The subject of the United State’s Constitution is a very controversial topic. When researching points in the Constitution, it is nearly impossible to find any aspect of this great document that everyone agrees on. There are numerous amendments that are constantly debated upon whether or not they are still necessary in today’s day and age. Jefferson’s ideas of the Constitution are still thought of today and debated upon as well. The variaty of opinions on the constitution is something that I believe will never end. In the first amendment, we, as United States citizens, are given the freedom of religion, press, assembly, petition, and speech. The freedom of speech simply means that people are able to speak freely. In an article by the Washington Post, the idea of a hate speech exception does not exist. Hateful...
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...In recent events, the delegates and I found the existing document, the Articles of Confederation, very problematic. With no executive or judicial branch, the Articles of Confederation is proving to be extraordinarily restrictive. In addition, the Articles of Confederation is preventing us from taxing and regulating interstate as well as foreign commerce. Moreover, we need nine out of thirteen states to enact laws and thirteen out of thirteen votes to make amendments to the Articles. The problems with the Articles and with our ongoing controversies between states force us into many difficult situations and we delegates have come to a mutual agreement. One thing all thirteen of us share in common is our need for change. Slavery, slave trading,...
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...The Iroquois constitution was written years before the US. Constitution. It is older than the document itself and its amendments. Many believe our constitution incorporated many ideas of democratic government from the Iroquois constitution because of the various similarities found in both documents, such as the basic structure of the documents, designation of a person in charge, the power of veto, impeachment and the division of government. There is also historical evidence that some of the founding fathers were in direct contact with the Iroquois people. Freedom of speech, religion and press have been controversial issues for many years. That is why a preamble was part of both constitutions. The inclusion of a preamble is vital in both documents. The Iroquois used symbolism,” Five bound arrows symbolize our complete union. ... We have tied ourselves together in one head, body, one spirit and one soul to settle all matters as one” both preambles highlight the importance of unity and liberty. Antifederalists were concerned with protecting individual’s rights and fought for the inclusion of a Bill of rights to our constitution. That is why our constitution reads; “We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America...
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...1. Why is the idea of amending a definition of marriage into the Constitution so controversial? Do you think the controversy is over the issue itself (i.e., same-sex marriage), or the fact that the Constitution is being used to address this issue? Explain. The controversy surrounding same-sex marriage is due to the Constitution being used to address the issue. Some factions would argue that marriage is more of a religious, social and moral issue than a political one. The Constitution was written to protect the people’s political freedom and also limit the powers of the government, hence a political document and not a moral one. Though the Bill of Rights was drafted to define basic liberties such as freedom of religion, speech, and press and guarantee defendant’s rights (Edwards, Wattenberg and Lineberry, Page 56); it does not specifically mention marriage as a right or liberty. Others would argue that through interpretation of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has established that marriage is a civil right and an amendment would limit the rights of individuals to the “pursuit of happiness” as included in the Bill of Rights. References: Edwards, George. C; Wattenberg, Martin. P and Lineberry, Robert. L. Government in America. People, Politics, and Policy. 2012 Election Edition. 2. Which of the groups that you examined above opposed the amendment, and why? Which ones supported the amendment, and why? National Organization for Marriage (NOM) supported the amendment...
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...Articles of Confederation. Describe what they were and how they came about and what they were designed to address in the new American government. Why did they require replacement? Was the process of their replacement controversial? Was it necessary that the Articles were replace? The Articles of Confederation served as the first constitution of the US, it written on November 15, 1777 and formally ratified in 1781. The articles created a platform for a new government without an association between 13 states, this original constitution did not have a central government to oversee the workings of the states as a whole and instead operated on a “firm league of friendship”. The articles were known as a confederation since the system gave...
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...have a living Constitution and should we have a living Constitution? A living Constitution is one that changes with times; one that is continuously evolving and adapting to new ways of life and circumstances without being formally amended and changed. On one side of the argument, the answer to the question must be yes: a living Constitution seems like the only realistic option, as every generation faces different issues that must be politically dealt with in ways that are modern and efficient. Our Constitution, the document that was created around 230 years ago and currently resides under a glass bubble at the National Archives, can be amended and changed with the times, however, the amendment process is long, exhausting and most of the times unsuccessful....
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...HIS/301 United States Constitution On May 25, 1787 one of the world’s most important documents was written, the United States Constitution. This Constitution has stood the test of time, in fact it is the oldest written Constitution still being used by a nation in the world. This proves that it was well thought out and planned. The 55 delegates who created the Constitution wanted it to be the heart of the body of law for the country. They put in place checks and balance to protect the tilt of power from becoming out of balance and created it to evolve with the country and the people it protected. One way they accomplished this major undertaking was to create three distinct Government branches. The government of the United States is divided into three groups, the legislative, judicial, and presidential branches. Our forefathers were concerned that the government could become under rule of a totalitarian regime. One person would obtain so much power that he or she would become sole ruler, or dictator. Our forefathers believed that they could create a government with checks and balances, which would help prevent too much power going into one person or groups hands. “Our forefathers created a governing system that had really yet not existed” (Why, 2011). This was new, something the world had never seen before. “Democratic governments already were in existence yet, our forefathers, wanted to create a government unlike other democracies” (Why, 2011). The idea of...
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...The government funds all public school across the country, meaning their ownership over these schools must follow what America stands for based on what's said in the Constitution. In the First Amendment, the clause on Freedom of Religion states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (The 1st Amendment). This secures that all students in school have the right to their own beliefs and practices. This becomes very controversial when multiple ides start to cross paths. Influence or persuasion in any form...
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...British Constitution: some problems’, 2008. One must understand that most of the countries now have a written and a codified Constitution, such as the United States of the America, Malaysia, India, Australia and etc. As we know these countries are under the British colonies before getting their independence. Hence now there are only three states in the world which lacks a written constitution, namely Britain, New Zealand, and Israel. A constitution is a set of rules which defines the structures and functions of a state, particularly, will define the principle of institutions, the legislature, the executive, judiciary and the nature and the scope of their powers. Moreover, Bradley and Ewing have defined a constitution as ‘ a document having special legal sanctity which sets out the framework and the principle functions of the organs of government within the state and declares the principles by which those organs must operate’. (A Bradley and K Ewing, Constitutional and Administrative Law (14th edn, Pearson/Longman, 2007), p.4) [1]In the introduction of a state’s constitution, there will be a discovery of a preamble, for example, in the USA the preamble states that: ‘We the people...do ordain and establish this Constitution’. (Article 2 of the 1936 Soviet Constitution.)[2] This shows the society as a sovereign power. An important question that often rises is “Should Britain adopts a written constitution”? This has always been the topic of debate and thus very controversial. Many...
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...APUSH Study Guide 8 A weak Confederacy and the Constitution, 1776-1790 Themes/Constructs: The federal Constitution represented a moderately conservative reaction against the democratilizing effects of the Revolution and the Articles of Confederation. The American Revolution was not a radical transformation like the French or Russian revolutions, but it produced political innovations and some social change in the direction of greater equality and democracy. The American Revolution did not overturn the social order, but it did produce substantial changes in social customs, political institutions, and ideas about society and government. Among the changes were the separation of church and state in some places, the abolition of slavery in the North, written political constitutions, and a shift in political power from the eastern seaboard toward the frontier. The first weak government, the Articles of Confederation, was unable to exercise real authority, although it did successfully deal with the western lands issue. The Confederation’s weakness in handling foreign policy, commerce and the Shays Rebellion spurred the movement to alter the Articles. Instead of revising the Articles, the well-off delegates to the Constitutional Convention created a charter for a whole new government. In a series of compromises, the convention produced a plan that provided for a vigorous central government, a strong executive, the protection for property, while still upholding republican...
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...Instructor A New Government Why it was necessary to create a new government? A new country meant a new government. It was important to learn from previous mistakes, while also representing and reflecting on the colonial and revolutionary experience that led to the reason the country had just fought, a freedom movement; hence, the framework for the Constitution of the United States of America. The Colonist had already written a foreword to the Constitution in 1777, the Articles of Confederation. In fact, the Articles of Confederation became an important part of the Constitution of the United States of America. Sectors of the Articles of Confederation had to be included in the Constitution because of the importance of separate yet united form of government, demonstrated by central government giving individual states abilities to regulate and make laws (Kierner, 2003). Meaning, individual states had independent power while still under a central government. An important document of its time, the Articles of Confederation unified the states and eased tensions over the possibility of absolute rule (Kierner, 2003). Additionally, it created a bond with the states and discouraged each state from seceding from the colonies (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, NARA, 2013). However, there were issues written in the Articles of Confederation that needed improvement or were severely weak, mostly because it was more of a friendship agreement between...
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...world”. Lewin expressed this in 1983, and still today’s society has failed to reach this goal. Feminism has transformed into the second “F” word, where society labels feminism as a harmful, extremist movement. The feminist movement has become synonymous with man – hating, bra – burning, lesbians who engage in radical protests to ultimately eliminate men from society and become a female dominated world. Which, is why this world needs a continued women’s rights movement to eradicate the ideology that fighting for the equality of women is obscene or unnatural. Feminism eventually inspired the term “Herstory”, which emerged in the 1960s, a very exciting time in American history full of social change. Herstory aims to look at history through a women’s perspective, emphasizing women’s triumphs and struggles they have experienced throughout time. Herstory is especially important when discussing first wave feminism, which refers to the European and North American mobilization to gain voting and other citizenship rights for women during the 19th and 20th century. This time was filled with controversy and strong women who...
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...Second Amendment: Still Valid after 200 years Jeremiah A. Dozier ITT Technical Institute The subject of this research paper is on a particular subject that has spurred an ongoing debate for many years, the Second Amendment. To this day many Americans have raised the question is the Second Amendment still valid after 200 years? The answer to that question is YES! When the founding fathers signed the Constitution in this document there are many Articles and the First ten are known as the bill rights and the first one is the right to free speech, most everyone is in agreement that is one of the most important rights as citizens. Now the Second Amendment which states, “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”. In this paper it is the authors’ intension to show why this Amendment is important today and in the future. The Second Amendment has been a part of this country since the very beginning of our great nation. Fast forward to the present, they are now people saying the Second Amendment is no longer valid or needed. How can that be we not need this right or it no longer applies to the present day? One of the main reasons most people say we don’t need this fundamental right is because of the recent waves of shootings around this country. The only response is to put a ban on firearms or limit how many rounds a weapons magazine can hold. The Second Amendment is in place as...
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...The American Revolution is a controversial war that caused a chain reaction of revolutions because it was the first revolution of its kind. The American Revolution is believed to be a war that caused a worldly transformation. In reality, the American Revolution was not truly revolutionary. The war did not have any true revolutionary results until years after the war ended. After the American Revolution, America remained as it was before the Revolutionary War in the aspects of social, economic and political issues. The American Revolution was said to have caused equality for the new Americans, but who was truly considered to be an American (Document B)? Being an American was not a birth right, being an American was based off of economic status. Only white men that owned a significant amount of land could vote. In fact, all women, slaves, and poor white men were left without a political voice. Before the...
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...amendment was inevitable because of the abolition of the 5th and 7th amendments by the Court. However, the Parliamentary Committee that was set up to deal with the Court's rulings extended its terms of reference beyond the rulings and delved into issues and areas that had already divided the nation, for instance the issue of the caretaker government. Interestingly, the day before the Committee placed the draft of the 15th amendment before Parliament; its Co-Chairman stated in the media that it would not make any recommendation on the CG. Lo and behold, the abolition of the CG was the number one recommendation of the Committee that did not enhance its credibility to the public. The 15th amendment has also created controversy with regard to the people of our hill districts. Recently, on the occasion of World Indigenous People's Day, a few comments of the leaders of our hill tribes attracted my attention. One of them said on TV that the people of the hill tracts should be "grateful" to those who drafted the 15th amendment for "upgrading" their status from an "upajati" (sub-nation) to full "jati" (nation) by legally making them Bangalis from their hitherto status as Chakmas and members of other hill tribes of the country. The tone of sarcasm and sadness in his words did not escape viewers' attention. Another tribal leader who was interviewed on the same issue said that regrettably when the Parliamentary Committee was making such fundamental changes in the Constitution affecting...
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