The Principles Behind The Constitution Essay

1. Describe some of the principles behind the Constitution. Discuss how the separation of powers and checks and balances are supposed to operate. How did the Constitution arrange the power relationships between the national government and the states? There are several principles behind the United States constitution, such as popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of power, checks and balances, and federalism. Each principle has its own purpose but all work together to create a government free of tyranny. The principle of popular sovereignty is citizen voting on their government representative and hold them responsible to represent the opinion of the majority. This leads into the principle of limited government. Limited Government is citizens deciding how much power the …show more content…
Edmund Randolph of Virginia proposed the number of representatives for a state would be determined by the population and the amount of finances the state provides the federal government. This became known as the Virginia plan. The smaller state opposed the Virginia plan feeling they would be under represented and taken over by the larger states. William Paterson purposed a new plan, referred to as the New Jersey plan, suggesting each state would have equal representation regardless of size. Both sides found it hard to find compromise. Smaller states even threatened to divide the union and find alliances in other countries. On July 16 Connecticut representatives, Rodger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, proposed a compromise. Which would come to be known as The Great Compromise laid out two form of representation. The House of Representatives where the number of representatives for each state would be based on states population and the Senate where each state would have the same number of representatives. Some state still found fault with this compromise most agreed avoiding a separation of the new