Good Example Of Essay On Historical Documents
Type of paper: Essay
Topic: Law, United States, Constitution, America, Articles Of Confederation, American Constitution, Federalist, Congress
Pages: 2
Words: 550
Published: 2020/11/23
The Constitution of the United States was created on September 17, 1787 and ratified on June 21, 1788. Before the adoption of the Constitution, all thirteen states used the Articles of Confederation as the basic law. However the federal government, operating within Articles, was too weak and didn't possess sufficient powers for resolving the conflicts arising between states. Therefore, the Convention was appointed in Philadelphia to May, 1787. In spite of the fact that initially the Convention was conceived only for correction and specification of the existing laws, during discussions participants of Convention passed to creation of the new document — Constitutions of the USA which in a result was signed as the fundamental law of the new state. For participation in Convention 74 delegates of 12 states were elected. George Washington was elected the chairman. Rhode Island became the only state which refused to send representatives. It is considered the first-ever constitution in modern understanding. Consists of seven articles, during action of the Constitution, twenty-seven amendments were adopted, which are its integral part. The principle of division of the authorities between legislative (Congress), executive (President) and judicial (the Supreme Court and inferior courts) branches is the cornerstone of the Constitution of the USA. To the states of the USA are granted the broad rights in the field of the legislation.
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union — the first constitutional document of the USA. Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Second continental congress on November 15, 1777 in York (Pennsylvania) and ratified by all thirteen states. In Articles of Confederation powers and authorities of Confederation were established. According to articles, the Confederation resolved issues of war and peace, diplomacy, the western territories, monetary circulation and the state loans while other questions remained behind states.
United States Declaration of Independence — the historical document, in which the British colonies in North America declared independence from Great Britain, was accepted unanimously by the Second Continental congress on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania). At first, the I Continental congress was called which developed the code of laws that protected interests of colonies and declared boycott to English goods up to full cancellation of discrimination acts. But as the English parliament and King George III rejected requirements of the congress, armed conflict between both parties became inevitable.
The Federalist Papers — is the collection of 85 articles in support of ratification of the Constitution of the USA. Articles appeared from October, 1787 to August, 1788 in the New York newspapers The Independent Journal and The New York Packet. The collection of all articles under the title "Federalist" was issued in 1788. "Federalist" is considered not only the most valuable source of interpretation of the Constitution of the USA, but also outstanding philosophical and political work. "Federalist" was written by a group of authors, the most famous of them are Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay.
In my opinion, all these four documents are inseparably linked among themselves. After war Declaration of Independence was proclaimed, after that Articles of Confederation were accepted. Then the State grew and developed, therefore it was necessary to change limited powers of the government. The turn came to adopt the Constitution of the USA which ratification was supported actively by authors of the articles in The Federalist Papers. And now, together with all amendments to the Constitution and other regulation acts, these documents form a foundation and a legal basis of the richest country in the world and functioning of its branches of the power.
Works cited
“Constitution of the United States”. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
“Declaration of Independence”. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
“Articles of Confederation”. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
22 February 2015. <http://www.archives.gov/philadelphia/exhibits/franklin/articles.html>
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