Representative Democracy

More than two-hundred years ago, thirteen young nations defeated a tyrant thousands of miles away. The prize for such a victory was self-government. For the first time in human history, a nation had handed over supreme executive power to the masses. Exercising this power has become a hallmark of being an American. Even today it is thought of as one of the most patriotic acts one can undertake. The thought of a nation run by popular vote is a comfortable enough idea, but in the case of the United States, a self-governed population threatens to destroy itself and possibly the world through wasteful spending, unregulated pursuit of profits, and a blotted military budget.

The United States would lose its name and stand divided if the Constitution did not bring the thirteen colonies into one body. Within this governing body, fears arise from the difficulty of controlling power in a central government, while still trying to keep unity between the states. Understanding that the United States was formed based on the people’s irritation with the corruption of the control of power in England, the Constitution reassured the people that their freedoms were going to be kept, but it required their trust. The founders of the United States Constitution established a just government through encompassing equal representation, with the people as the foundation, and protecting the injustices that could arise with the misuse of power.

Following the affects of the weak Articles of Confederation set in place in 1777, a change in government was in order after the articles had proven their inability to control or tax the American people. The creation of The Constitution began a new era in American Government and set a new formation of laws and separation of power. The transition from the two very different systems of government was a turning point in American history and led to the type of Government we have to this day. After the Revolutionary War and America’s separation from England, it was now up to the American People to decide the kind of government they wanted. After winning the war, the last thing that they wanted, was to have another government that would abuse the

America is an incredibly vast, diverse country, and has been this way for hundreds of years. The sheer size of America, even when it was only composed of thirteen states with a total population of nearly three million people (Brutus, essay 1, p. 64), concerned many Americans in the 1780s, due to this inquiry: was America simply too large for a republican style government to work? Many anti-federalists claimed that republics could only work on a small scale, while the federalists believed that having a large republic was the only way to go and would be beneficial to the public good. Before this time, history furnished no examples of a well-functioning republic as big as America, so the federalists and anti federalists were stepping into a completely new untouched territory.

Summary: In Chapter 1, Hudson addresses the distorted views of democracy from modern-day Americans. He explains how separation of power within the government lessens the power of American citizens and ultimately alters the ideology behind a true democracy into what we have today.

The primary source is Federalist paper No. 10, which is a the first of James Madison’s contributions to the series of essays known as the Federalist Papers. This essay is a highly regarded paper among the collection. The Federalist No. 10 is merely rhetoric used to rationalize the benefits of a new system of government, explain how the new union will be constructed and most crucial to the essay, sway public opinion to support the ratification of the new constitution. This particular primary source is imperative to understanding the complexity of the United States government at the time of its birth as well as now. Madison makes an argument that the expansion of the federal government is necessary to protect liberty against the excess of democracy. The document reveals the advantages of a Republic and serves as an explanation as to why the U.S. espouses a Republican form of government and the Constitution.

After the United States declared its independence in 1776, a Congress formed to develop a new stable government and sought to build the very first constitution fulfilling early republican ideals through creating The Articles of Confederation during the midst of the American Revolution. Eventually, this lead into the creation of the Constitution- an accidental yet purposeful replacement - just a mere decade later due to the immense problem-prone regulations and irregular stipulation ranging from economic disorganization to a counterproductive legislative branch. In other words, the beginning of the republican experiment was consequently and truly an utter disaster that caused much discourse to the feeble fragmentation of the newly formed United

In the 19th century American’s were overjoyed when they gain their independence from Great Britain in 1776 and soon established a government under The Articles of Confederation. However, The Articles of Confederation were unstable and provided America with a weak central government, because of the lack authority needed to sustain a nation. Yet, many Americans opposed the idea of having a strong central government, because they feared America would shift into a dictatorship. While others felt that a strong government would sufficiently help the nation run as one. “The constitution of 1787 created a “federal’ system of dispersed and divided authority- authority divided between national and state governments, authority divided among executive,

Over the course of the Revolutionary War, the people of the colonies fought for freedom, liberty, and a fair government. They were pursuing a better society, and wanted a non-tyrannical administration. They needed their government to reflect this. The Constitution addressed and embodied the ideals and opinions of the people during the Revolutionary Era, which included a need for a representative democracy, checks and balances on the government, and a protection for the citizen’s rights.

X “[...]a pure Democracy[...] can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole...and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party[…]”. Madison argues that a Democratic government will always comply with the majority rule and therefore the minority will always be unrepresented. To most elites Shays Rebellion showed that too much democratic liberty amongst the lower classes had the potential to threaten private property. They were afraid that the state governments were being dominated by the lower class that would institute bad policies such as the debt forgiveness.

It was John Adams who noted that "men in general, in every society, who are wholly destitute of property, are also little too acquainted with public affairs for a right judgment, and too dependent upon other men to have a will of their own."1 This shared attitude guided the Founding Fathers in their establishment of what has become America's modern day political system. When today's modern day student is asked just what sort of system that was, it seems the answer is always "democracy." In reality, the House of Representatives is the nearest idea in accordance with a system of democracy that this country would ever reach.2 Washington, Adams, and Jefferson were the wealth and success of their time, and coincidentally, it was these same

What we 're going to focus on was The Articles of Confederation that are in place in the government during the Post American Revolution into the ratification of United States Constitution. A republic was essentially a government in which citizens roll thru elected representative. The people we vote for are a people. We vote for senators. We vote for our representatives in the area and they move into the government. It 's all behind the idea that government should be based on the consent of the governmental rights and the consent of the

The Constitution placed a great deal of power back into the hands of a strong, central government much like that of a monarchy. “The extraordinarily powerful national government that emerged from Philadelphia possessed far more than the additional congressional powers that were required to solve the United States’ difficulties” (Wood 151). The U.S. government was extremely revolutionary though, in the way that it viewed and handled sovereignty. “Unlike the British in relation to their House of Commons, the American people never surrendered to any political institution…their full and final sovereign power” (Wood 160). Throughout the entire American struggle to establish a suitable government, the citizens maintained their ability to influence policy in a way that the British never could.

This paper is about how The United States moved from it’s inept first attempt at self government progressing, to the Constitution, which took care of many issues prevalent in the Articles of Confederation. The revolutionary concepts exemplified in the constitution propelled The United States onto the world stage. To gain a deeper understanding of this topic, two essays and a book will be consulted concerning what people thought about the Constitution when it was first implemented and how it is perceived today. In addition, a brief history of early American government and how the Constitution came to be will be discussed. Furthermore the resulting Constitution and how it improved upon the Articles of Confederation will be discussed.

We live in this country for the land, and the for the free as Americans we rely on many attributes in this world in order for us to live our lives. Our government has supplied us with many great things for us to be proud of. Our government is “the institutions and processes though which public policies are made for society.” (Edwards, Wattenberg, and Lineberry, p. 7). With all these institutions which includes the President, Congress, the courts and all the federal administrative agencies. These are the institutions that make up public policies for us, and to shape the way we live as Americans. The way this system has been operating through all the years has been