THE HISTORY SETTING OF THE CONSTITUTION

THE HISTORICAL SETTING OF THE CONSTITUTION

The 13 original colonies had people of commericial interest others were religious groups. Each had written charters setting out their form of gov. snd the rights of colonists. Democary was limited. Colonist would pay tax to Britain but weren't represented in Parliament... this led to governemt resentment "Taxation without representation is Tyranny" as Britain tightened its economic control 1770's revolt was inevitable = THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE BEGAN IN APRIL 1775

• The Declaration of Independence... "All mern are created equal" what did that men for women, black people and the poor?
• THOMAS JEFFERSON a founding father argued that we (humans) have natural rights- these are rights we enjoy solely on the basis of us being human. These are life, liberty and the persuit of happiness
• the governemnt has a duty to protect these by enforcing laws
• Articles of Confederation- the compact between the 13 states that formed the new nation in 1781... it was replaced by teh Constitution in 1789
  
• These articles set up a confederacy. A league or loose collection, of independent states in which the national government lacks significant power
• George Washington and Alexander Hamilton believed that a strong national government was essential as the states argued over currency, commerce and they began to fear the reappearance of Britian
• a small group of people attended by attendance was rubbish so they decided to hold a proper meetig in Philadelphia in which the articles were scrapped 
• May 1787, The Philadelphia Convention 55 delegates representing 12 states. 
• they wrote a new form of government a federal constitution was born in which the government was strong but also limited
• The Virginia plan = those states with larger populations should have more representation
• The New Jersy plan = each state should have 7 reps.
• this deadlock was broken by the Connecticut compromise = The Senate would have equal representation  and The House would be represented by population
• A CONSTITUTIONAL FEDERAL REPUBLIC

THE MACHINERY OF GOVERNMENT

The constitution provided 3 branches of…