States And The Federal Government example essay topic
The first ten amendments to the Constitution, also known as the Bill of Rights, was designed to protect individual rights of the people. Articles 1-8 describe the limits on all three branches of government, and articles 9 & 10 describe the limits on the national government. This again was to serve, as further proof of the founder's intent to limit the possibility of an oppressive central government. The third concept, federalism, is the relationship of power between the states and federal government. The fundamental argument was where the power would lie between them.
The states were always very concerned that the central government would pose a threat to their way of life, particularly the large states in regard to representation in the legislature, which was the most powerful of the three branches. The text states that, "emphasis on government programs in the early years of democracy revolved around assistance, promotion and encouragement- the allocation of land or capital where they were insufficiently available for economic development". The results of ratification left the federal government with only a small amount of power which included the sponsorship of supplying the public goods, encouraging the settlement of western land, raising and maintaining a nation army, regulation of tariffs on imported goods, and regulation of currency. Almost no coercion on the part of the national government directly affected the colonists. Essential to the framework of the Constitution was the idea of dual federalism, which dictated that both the states and the federal government had dual sovereignty under the Constitution. In fact, the states ended up with a considerable amount of power retained after ratification.
The idea of an extended commercial republic was one in which the power and freedoms would be extended to the people under a federal system. The commercial republic was the people under a representative democracy. Under the states before ratification, the people were subject to the will of the states, with no recourse. For example, before Article IV, which describes the full faith & credit and privileges and immunities clauses, the laws varied from state to state with no limits on the ways states chose to determine consequences and rights for the people. The concept of an extended republicanism was to create a "higher" law of the land, which would provide union and consistency between the colonies, as well as encourage a free marketplace of ideas. The exchanging of ideas in a free system allowed the republic, whom the founders knew were motivated by self interest first, to feel that all who entered the political arena would have a shot at presenting ideas that would become a representation of the national self interest.
The framers sought this extended commercial republicanism within the union and the Federalists continued to strongly support a Constitution of this design that created factions of ideas that would protect the nation from the spector of excessive democracy, as well as abuse of power. Madison felt that this idea of extended commercial republicanism served as a second safety net to the protection of the rights of individuals. Madison states in the text that, "The power surrendered by the people are first divided between two distinct and separate governments (federal and state), and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments (the legislative, executive and judicial branches). Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people, The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself". In the framers view, the protection of individual liberties as well as the expression of self interest were of the highest importance when creating the Constitution and a new system of government. The idea of separation of powers along with checks and balances, coupled with an encouraged environment of expression eventually led to the ratification of the Constitution with a Bill of Rights in 1791 and the birth of dual federalism.
Although today in the twenty -first century we have more of a regulated federalism, the basic concepts of protection of individual rights along with free expression of ideas is still at the core of our current political philosophy. The founders intentions, primarily fueled by the Federalists, sought to create a national system under which the new area of democracy would thrive in the shadow of what they perceived to be an oppressive past with mother England.