The Constitution Of The United States - 1632 Words

Emily Alexander Pima Community College March 9, 2015 The Constitution of the United States After gaining independence from Britain, America was faced with the challenge of creating a new government for the people of the American colonies. The Founding Fathers first created the Articles of Confederation but after much criticism the Founding Fathers met again and created the Constitution of the United States. The Founding Fathers wanted to form a government that was unlike the British government they broke away from. They set up a government that had checks and balances so that one government branch would not grow too powerful and take over. A federal government and state governments were establish to satisfy the needs†¦show more content†¦The Founding Fathers had no right to draft the Constitution. They were delegates that were sent to revise the Articles of confederation. â€Å"Though authorized only to propose amendments to the article, the convention resolved to scrap them entirely and propose a brand new constitution† (Currie, 1). The Constitution should not have had the effect that it did. It is now the document that the entire United States runs on. The constitution should have been looked at as a political philosophy, an idea of what a government should look like. Had the situation been different the constitution would have been seen as just a philosophy but because the United States had just gained its independence from Britain and was in desperate need of some form of government the constitution took over. The constitution was not created without much debate. Founding Father faced the debate of how much power the national government had and how much power the state government had. The Federalist wanted a strong national government but the Anti-Federalist wanted the states to have power. An agreement was reached and the federal government was given the sole power of foreign affairs and coining money. Today states are able to make laws based off of what their citizens and representatives see fit; for example some states such as in Arizona allow for the death penalty whereas other states have ruled it to be illegal. The United States government was formed in a way that