Representatives Of States example essay topic

Benjamin Franklin stands tall among a small group of men we call our Founding Fathers. Ben used his diplomacy skills to serve his fellow countrymen. His role in the American Revolution was not played out on the battlefields, but rather in the halls and staterooms of governments. His clear vision of the way things should be, and his skill in both writing and negotiating, helped him to shape the future of the United States of America. His most important service was as a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Although it was not accepted, he is reported to have been the author of the single legislative Assembly, instead of two branches.

Other statesmen have considered bicameral assembly preferable, and which have since been adopted in all the States of the Union, as, well as in other countries where the experiment of popular forms has been tried. There is no doubt that this was a favorite theory with him, because he explained and gave his reasons for it on another occasion. The perpetual conflict between the two branches under the proprietary government of Pennsylvania, in which the best laws after having been passed by the Representatives of the people were constantly defeated by the veto of the Governor and Council, seems to have produced a strong impression on his mind. He also referred to the British Parliament as a proof that the voice of the people expressed by their representatives is often silenced by an order of men in the legislature, who have interests to serve distinct from those of the body of the nation. In his opinion, the collected wisdom of the law-makers could be turned to a better account by their meeting in, one assembly, where they could profit by each others intelligence and counsels. He disapproved, also of the distinctions of rank incident to two assemblies, one being called the Upper and the other the Lower House, as having an aristocratical tendency, unfavorable to the liberty and equality which are the essence of republican institutions.

Not only did Franklin argue the bicameral legislature, but he also argued the idea that each state should have an equal amount of votes, rather then vary by population. Franklin opposed it strenuously in the debates, as unjust and preposterous, since it gave to the smallest State the same power as to the largest. He said that if the practice had heretofore been necessary it was no longer so because it was easy to ascertain the comparative importance of the States, and to adjust the representation according to the number of inhabitants, and the degree of strength afforded by them respectively to the united body. Moreover, this method of voting by States had a mischievous effect in another point of view. The delegates acted as representatives of States and not of the people. They were naturally biased by local partial ities and a tenacious adherence to State rights, which it was extremely desirable to keep out of sight at this time of common peril and calamity, and even forever if it was intended to strengthen and perpetuate the union.

So lively an interest did he take in this subject, and so strongly was be convinced that the system of representation must be equitably balanced that he drew up a Protest containing the principal arguments against the plan of voting by States, which was designed to be presented by the convention to Congress. He was dissuaded from endeavoring to carry it through however, on account of the critical situation of the country, at a time when harmony between the parts was essential to the safety of the whole. The evil was left to encumber and obstruct the operations of government, and impede the prosperity of the nation, till it was remedied by the Federal Constitution.