The Founding of American Democracy

Sometimes, we see media reports about new laws; other times, we hear about the courts making decisions. A few times a year, the president gives an important speech. Do you ever wonder why the government works the way it does?

Today, the United States government is a lot like the one that was created in 1787. The Founding Fathers had many reasons for writing the U.S. Constitution the way they did. Those choices are still a big part of how the American government works today.

COLONIZATION AND REVOLUTION

Europeans sailed to the Americas in the late 1400s. These continents were new to Europeans, although they had been occupied by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. The Europeans sought to explore and conquer. Spain invaded South and Central America in the 1500s seeking gold. Then, in the 1600s, British colonists created settlements and gained a foothold in North America. 

The British quickly became a strong influence in North America, and by 1732, all thirteen colonies fell under British rule. For a while, these colonists enjoyed being part of a powerful kingdom. It meant that they would be protected by a strong government. Then, in the middle of the 1700s, that changed. The colonists became increasingly agitated with how much power the king possessed.

The biggest problem the colonists had was how much money they paid in taxes. They sent the British a lot of money, but they didn’t get to be an active part of the government. That meant they could not choose how their taxes were spent. Colonists started using the phrase “taxation without representation” to talk about this problem. It caught on and helped start the American Revolution. In 1776, the colonists wrote the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration informed the king that the colonies did not want to be part of Great Britain anymore. Instead, they would become independent states.

The British tried to stop this by sending an army to end the rebellion. By 1783, the Americans won the American Revolutionary War, and the British soldiers returned to Great Britain. The states were completely free from Great Britain’s rule, but that was only the beginning.

NOW WHAT?

Following the war, the American leaders had to decide how to run the country. They remembered what life was like under Great Britain’s rule and wanted to share political power between the people and those who governed.

In order to do that, the Founding Fathers wrote the Articles of Confederation. This was a document that explained the duties of the states’ governments. It also determined the limits of what the central government could do. The central government would have the power to start a war, but it wasn’t allowed to assemble an army. The central government would also be prohibited from collecting taxes. There wasn’t even a president! Instead, those jobs were handled by individual states, and each state was allowed to decide how to complete them. At the time, the Founding Fathers felt their rights would be safer if the states had the most power.

Unfortunately, this system caused a lot of problems. In Massachusetts, farmers, upset by what they considered to be unfair taxation, started Shays’ Rebellion. It was a serious conflict, and the central government couldn’t do anything to help. They didn’t have any power in the state. Another problem was trade and debts, which could not be handled for the whole country at once. Making separate agreements state by state was not working well. These kinds of problems continued for years.

Many Founding Fathers realized that they were going to have to make a change. In 1786, Alexander Hamilton called for a meeting to fix the Articles of Confederation. Leaders met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to talk about how they would solve this.

A CONVENTION OF COMPROMISES

The meeting of the Founding Fathers in May 1787 was called the Constitutional Convention. The meeting took all summer, for many of the delegates disagreed on what needed to be done. Some wanted to alter the Articles; others wanted to start from scratch. In the end, everyone had to make compromises.

The Great Compromise

One of the biggest arguments was about representatives. It was important to decide how many delegates each state would have in Congress, which is the law-making body of the government. The bigger states wanted the number of representatives to be based on each state’s population. The smaller states worried that this would be unfair. They wanted every state to have the same number of delegates. In the end, they agreed on the Great Compromise. Congress would be split into two parts. The House of Representatives would be based on population. The Senate would have an equal number of representatives from each state.

The Three-Fifths Compromise

Before and after the official founding of the United States, many people were taken from Africa to the Americas against their will and forced into slavery. States with large populations of enslaved people thought they should count as part of their overall populations. A high total population meant that these states could have more delegates in the House of Representatives — and therefore more power. States with fewer enslaved persons were against this. 

Eventually, the states came to an agreement. Only three-fifths of each state’s population of enslaved people counted toward the state’s total population. Despite contributing to a state population and therefore the number of state representatives, enslaved people were not considered citizens and therefore had no voice in the country where they lived and that their forced labor helped build. This rule remained a part of the U.S. Constitution until after the American Civil War.

THE CONTENTS OF THE CONSTITUTION

The meeting ended on September 17, 1787. The result was a document called the Constitution of the United States of America. It had only seven articles and was the shortest constitution in the world. It wasn’t long, but it covered what the Founding Fathers believed to be the most important parts of government.

Separation of Powers

The Founding Fathers remembered the problems they experienced under Great Britain’s rule. They were determined to preserve their rights. At the same time, the Articles of Confederation taught them that the central government needed to have some power.

They decided to split the government into three sections. The legislative branch, or Congress, makes the laws. The executive branch, or the president, makes sure the laws are followed and handles relationships with other countries. The judicial branch interprets the laws and makes decisions on legal cases. The judicial branch is made up of the Supreme Court and all federal courts.

Giving each branch different responsibilities ensures no branch has too much power. This then makes it harder to take away the rights of the people.

Checks and Balances

Beyond organizing the government in branches, the Founding Fathers made it so each branch could stop another from making certain decisions or gaining too much power. This is called a system of checks and balances.

For example, Congress writes the laws, but it’s up to the president to approve them. The Supreme Court can reverse new laws if they deem them unconstitutional.

Federalism

The Founding Fathers also wanted to make sure the states maintained some authority. The balance of power between the central government and all of the state governments is called federalism.

One example of this balance is the Senate. Every state has two representatives, no matter how big it is, making the states equally powerful in the Senate. Another example is the presidential election. Each state holds its own election. The results are counted later as part of the Electoral College.

CONSTITUTIONAL DISAGREEMENTS

The U.S. Constitution was carefully written to share power between the states and the central government. However, not every one of the Founding Fathers thought it was good enough. The first two-party system, consisting of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists, was formed. The Anti-Federalists feared the central government would have too much power.

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay all wrote essays supporting the new constitution. These were called the Federalist Papers. They argued in favor of a small but strong central government. The papers worked, and by 1790, all 13 colonies ratified the U.S Constitution.

THE BILL OF RIGHTS

The Founding Fathers’ job was still not done. Many states requested that Congress also add a Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution. This resulted in 10 important amendments attached to the original document. The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to clearly state and secure the rights of citizens in the United States.

The Bill of Rights is what protects freedom of speech, of the press, religion, and protest in the United States. Other amendments deal with legal issues, such as securing people the right to a fair and speedy trial. The 10th amendment establishes that anything the central government does not control is up to the states. 

THE CONSTITUTION TODAY

Today, the U.S. uses its constitution to make new laws and policies. Congress has made 17 additional amendments over the nation’s history. The U.S. Constitution is still the shortest governing document in the world.