Friday, September 30, 2016

Never-ending Argument

There have been a few forms of government throughout our history that just have not worked. There is always something that just does not fit in. In the year 1783, there was yet again another government issue. There was a "new" type of government forming in America; however, it was too similar to the type of government that America had just escaped from. James Madison stepped up to the plate and tried to steer America away from entering back into the same useless form of government. He enlisted the help of the great George Washington. George Washington was hungering for retirement. He was ready to throw in the towel and take a break from all of the action. What Washington did not realize was that Madison was manipulating him into coming out of retirement. I think that Madison just wanted the help of an experienced person like Washington to aid him in forming an ideal new government.

One of the main reasons that the American government was weak in 1783 was the fact that the constitution America had at the time was very weak. One reason for this could have been because our constitution copied others; therefore, it had to be remade. But how? How could the constitution be remade to where it pleases at least the majority of the people? I think that the American government at the time should have let the people vote on it. Yes, that is both a good decision and a dangerous one. However, if the government wanted to please the majority of the people, letting them have a say would probably be the best way to please the majority of America's population.

Appearing out of the tangled mess known as the political process came the idea that finally captured America; however, it was not necessarily the best plan. It went against the traditional norm of the political system and it was not exactly what one would call "logical". It put state and federal government against each other in a constant battle for dominant power, thus making the "argument itself the answer". The constitution was now considered "an argument without end". After hearing about this, George Washington truly believed that our nation was no longer moving towards greatness, but chaos. He even informed John Jay that he did "not conceive that we can exist long as a nation", which, given the state of the constitution, was probably true. If there was constant arguing between state and federal government, there would have been practically no way for the political system of America to move forward.

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay took it upon themselves to help America in making a new and stronger constitution. They wrote a series of 85 articles called "The Federalist" in order to ratify, or confirm, a new constitution. James Madison was in favor of the federal government being in supreme power, which meant that there would be smaller community forms of government as well as a reigning national government. Alexander Hamilton, however, wanted the states to disappear. It was a "take it or leave it" decision. There would be no negotiating involved with this decision. The federalist had to choose between staying united or complete disbandment. There were pros and cons to both having the states stay together as a united nation as well as eradicating the states altogether. Either way, in my opinion, the nation could still be united as one. If the states did end up completely vanishing and all that was left was just "one giant America", everyone would be united as one, considering that some states have different views on various subjects such as abortion and gay marriage. No state laws would separate the the states via morality. If the states stayed and there were small local governments as well as a larger national government, everyone would be united under the supreme reigning government. But small republics in small areas seemed to work better for the well being of America. The Founders even created a bicameral legislature for two important reasons: to make sure that the states were represented efficiently and for the separation of powers. The complete eradication of the states seems and having everyone united under one single government sounded like a nice option, but what do I know? I'm not a politician. I would say that the people in charge of deciding whether the states would stay or not knew what they were doing, but we had just freed ourselves from England only years earlier, so they were clearly still trying to get a handle on how to run the government.

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