The Constitution was a revolutionary document that limited the people’s power. It was created to restrain the newly formed democracy in America. Patrick Henry feared that the Constitution would be a conservative document restraining the “democracy” unleashed by the Revolution. This is not what happened, however. Instead, it was a revolutionary document that placed limits on the power of the people. The Framers of the Constitution were not conservatives; they were revolutionaries who wanted to change things. They were trying to create something better than what they had before: an actual democracy with power vested in citizens instead of kings and aristocrats. In its time, the Constitution was quite radical. It established a new form of government that opposed the old monarchy and aristocracy system. The Constitution also created a national regime with authority to regulate commerce and tax, which had never been seen before in America; this was a direct challenge to state sovereignty.
The Constitution was revolutionary because it sought to restrain democracy. The framers of the Constitution wanted to ensure that popular democracy did not get out of hand, so they created a system of checks and balances that would limit the power and prevent one branch from having too much control over another. The framers also created a system of representation in which each state had an equal number of representatives in Congress, which meant that even if a state had more people than another, they could not vote more than once. It established a new system of government and, in doing so, created a strong central power that would be able to regulate trade and commerce. Before the Constitution was ratified, there was no national government with this sort of power; each state had its system of law and trade regulations that differed from state to state.
The Constitution also established a system of checks and balances between the three distinct departments of government: the judicial branch, the executive branch (represented by the President), and the legislative branch (represented by Congress) (Supreme Court). Each branch has certain powers that are exclusive to it (Bodenhamer, p.30-41). The President may veto laws approved by Congress; Congress may override vetoes with a two-thirds majority of votes; Supreme Court justices can declare laws unconstitutional—but they also share some powers: each branch can impeach members of the branch must approve appointments made by another branch. This structure ensures that no individual or organization can exercise excessive influence over others without first getting approval from a different branch of government.
Moreover, it can be argued that this was also a conservative document. It limited the powers of Congress and other branches of government so that no one could become too powerful and abuse their power. Moreover, it preserved some of the existing structure from state governments under the Articles of Confederation. This included incorporating ideas from state constitutions into federal ones (such as Jefferson’s notion that “all men are created equal”(Collier, p.19-28). It gave many powers to institutions other than Congress and gave citizens only a few rights. For instance, under the Constitution’s Article I, Section 8, Congress has only thirty-one powers listed, while states have seventeen powers listed. In addition, Article VI Section 2 states, “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” This implies that there cannot be any religious restrictions on running for office in America. Even though there were no religious requirements for holding office at this time, religion still played an essential role in politics.
In summary, some Founders may have thought it restrained democracy; others who were more familiar with history knew better. The Constitution was designed to maintain American freedom while defending our rights from abuse by those in positions of authority. The Constitution was a compromise between these two groups: it provided for both democratic elections and limited government power. Additionally, it is safeguarded against domestic and foreign authorities violating a person’s freedom of expression and religion.
Works Cited
Bodenhamer, David J. The US Constitution: a concise introduction. Vol. 566. Oxford University Press, 2018.
Collier, Jarvis L. A Perfect Union. Page Publishing Inc, 2022.
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