When establishing a brand new form of government it is necessary for a central document to be made that establishes all the rules and regulations for that government. This document was drafted at a different time in our history, “a time when the nation was a loose confederation of states, each operating like independent countries” (The U.S. Constitution, 2009). Initially this document was known as Articles of Confederation. Written by the Constitutional Congress, the articles were successful in establishing a first draft for a constitution but failed in many other aspects. For example, under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government did not have the power to tax the states and they did not have a national army. They established
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That was their initial plan, but they ended up presenting a new document completely. Among the delegates were men like Alexander Hamilton. They were all very educated, wise men who were phenomenal writers. The sessions held to draft this document were held in secret to alleviate outside pressure from the press and other people. Through hours of debate during that summer in 1787, the delegates established three branches of government; judicial, legislative and executive. The first three articles are devoted to each branch. Each article goes into detail about the powers that each branch holds. The Framers also wrote about checks and balances in order to prevent one branch from becoming overwhelmingly powerful. For instance, the president can veto a law passed by congress but then the congress can override that veto with a vote of two thirds from both houses. The Supreme Court can check the Congress by declaring a law unconstitutional. The President then checks the powers of the Supreme Court because he or she appoints the members, and the people he or she appoints have to be approved by Congress. So in summary, not only did the Constitution set up each individual branch but it also created ways to keep one branch from becoming …show more content…
The large states wanted representation to be based on population of the states. In other words, those states wanted to have more delegates represent them because of the larger number of people. On the other hand, the small states wanted representation to be equal for each state. The larger states wanted two houses (both based on population) and the smaller states wanted one house (equally based). This was a major problem for the framers of the Constitution. They had two different plans proposed by the states; The Virginia Plan (for the large states) and the New Jersey Plan (for the smaller states). After a lot of thinking and planning about this problem, an agreement had to be made. Eventually, Richard Sherman stepped up and presented a plan. He proposed that there would be two chambers to the government; a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Senate, for example, would be and equal 2 representatives from each state thereby including the New Jersey plan. Unlike the Senate, the House of Representatives was based on the state’s population. Therefore, the more people you have the more representatives that state has. Each member of the House of Representatives was elected by the people of the state and would serve a term of two years. Members of the Senate were appointed by the state legislatures and served six year
That was their initial plan, but they ended up presenting a new document completely. Among the delegates were men like Alexander Hamilton. They were all very educated, wise men who were phenomenal writers. The sessions held to draft this document were held in secret to alleviate outside pressure from the press and other people. Through hours of debate during that summer in 1787, the delegates established three branches of government; judicial, legislative and executive. The first three articles are devoted to each branch. Each article goes into detail about the powers that each branch holds. The Framers also wrote about checks and balances in order to prevent one branch from becoming overwhelmingly powerful. For instance, the president can veto a law passed by congress but then the congress can override that veto with a vote of two thirds from both houses. The Supreme Court can check the Congress by declaring a law unconstitutional. The President then checks the powers of the Supreme Court because he or she appoints the members, and the people he or she appoints have to be approved by Congress. So in summary, not only did the Constitution set up each individual branch but it also created ways to keep one branch from becoming …show more content…
The large states wanted representation to be based on population of the states. In other words, those states wanted to have more delegates represent them because of the larger number of people. On the other hand, the small states wanted representation to be equal for each state. The larger states wanted two houses (both based on population) and the smaller states wanted one house (equally based). This was a major problem for the framers of the Constitution. They had two different plans proposed by the states; The Virginia Plan (for the large states) and the New Jersey Plan (for the smaller states). After a lot of thinking and planning about this problem, an agreement had to be made. Eventually, Richard Sherman stepped up and presented a plan. He proposed that there would be two chambers to the government; a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Senate, for example, would be and equal 2 representatives from each state thereby including the New Jersey plan. Unlike the Senate, the House of Representatives was based on the state’s population. Therefore, the more people you have the more representatives that state has. Each member of the House of Representatives was elected by the people of the state and would serve a term of two years. Members of the Senate were appointed by the state legislatures and served six year