Term Paper on "U.S. Constitution the United States of America"

Term Paper 10 pages (4248 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

U.S. Constitution

The United States of America is the land of the free spirit, a land where the brave and the worthy can lead lives of their choice, free and unfettered. The government that rules this country is based on the U.S. Constitution and this is one of the oldest written constitutions ever. The U.S. Constitution was written in the year 1787 in the state of Philadelphia. The Continental Congress of the New American Republic was responsible for its creation and USA was able to adapt to the Constitution in the year 1789. The primary objective behind the creation of a written Constitution was to lay down the foundations for a strong and well disciplined central government to counter the effects of the years of unrest and chaos that had been caused by the 'Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union' that had been serving as the means of governing the number of independent colonies of the U.S.A. from the year 1778 onwards. (U.S. Constitution: Americans.Net) the U.S. Constitution has been serving as the model upon which several other governments all over the world have based their own constitutions. (Encyclopedia: American constitution)

The Articles of Confederation were in fact the very first written government documentation of the United States of America. (Encyclopedia: Articles of Confederation) it was during the period after the American Revolutionary War or what is also known as the American War of Independence elsewhere in the world, that this document was created so that the several colonies that had been involved in the War could be brought or bound together. The War was fought from the years 1775 to 1783 between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the thirteen British colonies that existed in North America and their allies France and Spain. (American Revolutionary War) This Revolutionary War resulted in the overthrowing of the British rule and the establishment of the new United States of America. (Encyclopedia: American Revolutionary War)

The thirteen colonies that had been under the rule of Great Britain also signed a document 'The Declaration of Independence' in the year 1776 and the Continental Congress later ratified this on July 4th 1776, which, to this day, is celebrated as the American Independence Day all over the U.S.A. (Encyclopedia: 13 Colonies) Great Britain formally recognized the independence of all the American colonies through a declaration entitled the 'Treaty of Paris' in the year 1783. Some background about the events of this period and the various Wars that led to the formal signing of the Declaration of Independence are necessary in order to understand the conditions of the U.S.A. At that time. (Encyclopedia: United States Declaration of Independence)

It was during the 1760's that the Seven years War that had been fought between the years 1756 to 1763 came to an end and France ceded Canada to Great Britain; King George III had in the meanwhile ascended the throne of Greta Britain in the year 1760. There was great unrest however, and the government came under a lot of severe criticism from all quarters, especially from people like John Wilkes, and this unrest began to spread to the British American colonies. (Encyclopedia: 1760's) During the 1770's the unrest grew and relations between Great Britain and the thirteen North American colonies within America were becoming increasingly strained. In the year 1775, things became so severely strained that the eventuality of a War breaking out between the various factions became a reality, and there was fighting in Lexington and Concord in North America, and this heralded the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. Independence that up until then was only a vague concept became a necessity after the reading of the publication 'Common Sense' by Thomas Paine, who advocated not partial but 'full' independence.

In 1776, Independence was formally declared, and this declaration was referred to as the 'Lee resolution' named so after the reading of this document by Richard Henry Lee of the state of Virginia on June 7, 1776. The document was presented to the Continental Congress, which was the original federal legislature of the thirteen colonies, and which later became the legislature of the independent United States of America from the years 1774 to 1789, during which time the American Revolutionary War had taken place. There were, in fact, two Continental Congresses. (Encyclopedia: Continental Congress)

The so-called 'Intolerable Acts' passed by the British in the year 1774 to stem the growing unrest in American British colonies acted as the reason for the American Revolution to have taken place, and this in turn led to the creation of the first Continental Congress. These severe punitive Acts include, among others, the Quartering Act, the Quebec Act, the Currency Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, etc. (Encyclopedia: Intolerable Acts) in addition, there was the Stamp Act that had led to the formation of the Stamp Congress, and there was widespread dissatisfaction and unrest following this act. The several colonies became united against the British and the need was for independence. This led to the bonding of the colonies and as sympathy for them grew, there was a need for the different governments to keep in touch with one another, united against the British rule. The First Continental Congress was thus formed in the year 1774, though it was extremely short lived.

However, the First Continental Congress was able to accomplish the drafting of the 'Articles of Association', which was actually a petition of complaints and grievances of the thirteen colonies against the British rule, and stated that certain economic sanctions would be imposed so that some sort of resolution would be arrived at. It is widely supposed that this very important document had the result of hastening the start of the American Revolution. (Encyclopedia: Articles of Association) the idea behind the Articles of Association was that all British goods would be boycotted, and exports of goods to Great Britain would be stopped, unless the Intolerable Acts were repealed. Though the boycott proved to be a success, but the directive of altering the Intolerable Acts could not be implemented since there was an outbreak of open fighting at this time. The Second Continental congress was formed in the year 1775 and functioned until the year 1789.

By 1775, the Congress had changed its policy to openly support rebellions, and the Continental Army was formed to serve the function of providing a single command post for the thirteen colonies that were fighting the British rule. George Washington was nominated as Commander in Chief. Quite a few Battles in support of the thirteen colonies and the rebellion against the British were fought by the Continental Army under George Washington, some of the more important ones being the Siege of Boston, the Battles of long Island and Trenton and Princeton and Saratoga and Yorktown. (Encyclopedia: Continental Army) the Siege of Boston was one of the more important battles fought from the years 1775 to 1776. Though the siege was not as successful as it was hoped to be, the actual result was that the Continental Army became a real force for the British to reckon with, and also united the colonies into a single force against the tyranny of the British rule. (Encyclopedia: Siege of Boston)

The document entitled 'Declaration of Independence' led to the declaration of Independence in 1776, during which time the Declaration began to be used as a tool for the purpose of propaganda, in which the several colonies under British rule in America tried to get those colonies that were still reluctant to join in the fight for independence to join them, as well as to elicit such foreign aid as may be possible in this fight for a worthy cause, that of independence. Members of the Continental congress became united in this fight, though they were very well aware that the Revolution could fail, in which case they would all lose their lives. Therefore, the Revolution had to succeed. The concepts of 'natural law' and that of self-determination' were strongly recommended in the Declaration. Some of the outside influences on the Declaration of Independence were those of the 'Act of Abjuration' from the Dutch Republic, and the writings of Algernon Sydney as well as those of John Locke. In addition, several principles of the founding fathers' ideas were also included in the Declaration, and these served to be the foundation for the writing of the Constitution of the United States of America that came not being later. The same model has been used by several other countries in the world in their declaration of independence, like for example, those of Vietnam and Rhodesia. (United States Declaration of Independence)

It is a mistaken concept that American forefathers were in fact wholly responsible for the creation of the Constitution of the United States of America and the 'democracy' that contemporary America is able to enjoy today. However, this is a mistake, since it has been proven that these forefathers did not actually desire to create a democracy, all they wanted to… READ MORE

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