Why does the constitution endured

As North Americans, the delegates had the additional example of the Iroquois Confederation, in which five Native American tribes in New York State governed themselves independently but also sent their chiefs to a Great Council to make decisions on larger issues of war and peace affecting the five tribes.

In writing a constitution the delegates departed from the practice in Great Britain, where the government was established not by a single document but rather by the entire body of British common law, the rulings of judges and parliamentary legislation.

The delegates were instead continuing a colonial tradition that dated back to the Mayflower Compact of , and other colonial charters. These systems had accustomed Americans to the idea of a single document serving as a contract between the people and their government. He graduated from the College of New Jersey later Princeton University during the American Revolution, but his fragile health kept him from military service. He served in both the Continental Congress and the Confederation Congress, and was a delegate to the Annapolis Convention.

Having lost faith in the government formed under the Articles of Confederation, he actively promoted the Constitutional Convention and took the lead in drafting the Virginia Plan, which offered the basic structure of the new government.

There he led the Federalists and sponsored the Bill of Rights. When Jefferson became President in he named Madison as his secretary of state. Later Madison succeeded Jefferson, serving as President from to During his administration, the United States declared war on Great Britain.

In August , British troops invaded Washington, D. Madison devoted his last years as President to rebuilding the capital and the national economy. At the time of his death in , James Madison was the last surviving delegate to the Constitutional Convention.

Randolph introduced the Virginia Plan, which outlined a Congress with two bodies: a House of Representatives and a Senate. The new government would also have a separate executive branch, headed by a president, who would be both chief executive and commander in chief of the armed forces. The plan also called for an independent judiciary. Although Randolph introduced the Virginia Plan, its actual author was James Madison, a young Virginian who served in the Confederation Congress and knew its weaknesses firsthand.

Much of what we know today about the Constitutional Convention we owe to Madison, who kept detailed notes of the secret sessions. In an effort to avoid public pressures that might hinder their ability to reach a consensus, the delegates had barred the doors and windows and conducted all their business away from public view. The official minutes of the convention recorded little of the debate between the delegates.

His notes reveal the shared sentiments and disagreements among the delegates, the alternative proposals they considered, and the compromises they reached. The Virginia Plan envisioned a republic based on popular consent. Elected officials would represent the people, although the people could vote directly only for members of the House of Representatives.

State legislatures would elect senators. Members of an Electoral College, chosen by the people, would elect the President. The Virginia Plan provided that each state would have representation in the House and Senate that reflected the size of their populations. Because every state had one vote under the old system, the smaller states, representing a minority of the population, could block the will of the majority. The smaller states refused to accept any plan that sacrificed their equality.

They countered with a plan, introduced by William Patterson of New Jersey, that would have preserved the government structure under the Articles of Confederation.

The convention voted to reject the New Jersey Plan in favor of the Virginia Plan, granting the larger states the most members in both houses of the new Congress.

But the smaller states would not tolerate inequality, and they continued to fight for their rights. The convention reached an impasse, just as it planned to take a few days off to celebrate the Fourth of July.

It appointed a special committee to try to work out the disagreement during the recess. Chaired by Roger Sherman of Connecticut, the committee split the difference between the two factions. This became known as the Connecticut Compromise, or the Great Compromise. The delegates accepted the compromise and, as an additional assurance to the smaller states, wrote into the Constitution that no state would lose its equality in the Senate without its consent which, of course, no state would give.

Through this compromise, the Constitution went on to create a single nation from a confederation of states. Yet, the states remained as permanent and integral parts of the new federal system. The absence of anyone representing Rhode Island served as a reminder to the other delegates that it would be folly for them to require unanimity in any new form of government. They provided that the Constitution could be ratified by the vote of nine of the thirteen states.

Nor would unanimity be needed for future amendments. Instead, the approval of two-thirds of both houses of Congress and three-quarters of the states would be required to ratify an amendment.

The Constitution does not specify the size of the Supreme Court. Over the years the designated size of the supreme court has varied between six, seven, nine, and even ten members. Nor does the Constitution explicitly grant the courts the power of judicial review—to determine whether legislation is consistent with the constitution.

Today, no other country makes as much use of judicial review as the United States. The concept of judicial review was initially established on the state level and in the debates over the ratification of the Constitution. When the Supreme Court held its first session in , one justice did arrive wearing a wig. But the public expressed derision at wig wearing, and the justice decided that republican judges should not wear wigs. The Constitution included no property qualifications for voting or office holding like those found in the state constitutions drafted between and In a republican society, office holding was supposed to reflect personal merit, not social rank.

The Constitution did not bar anyone from voting. In other words, qualifications for voting were left to the individual states. The New Jersey constitution allowed women to vote if they met the same property requirements as men. At the end of the Constitutional Convention, George Washington said, "I do not expect the Constitution to last for more than 20 years. Why has the Constitution survived? The framers of the Constitution established the broad structure of government but also left the system flexible enough to adapt to changing conditions.

Senate , giving the American people—rather than state legislatures—the right to elect senators. In comparison to its treatment of the executive and legislative branches of government, the Constitution itself remained relatively vague on the role of the Supreme Court and the judicial branch, leaving its organization largely up to Congress.

Madison Since then, the Court has taken an increasingly active role in interpreting the laws made and actions taken by the other two branches, and ensuring that both abide by the Constitution. That balance of power quickly changed over the years, as the federal government expanded and took an increasingly dominant role. Federalism became the law of the land thanks to Supreme Court decisions like McCulloch v. Black men voting in a significant election following the Civil War, At the same time, the powers of one branch can be challenged by another branch.

The U. Supreme Court the judicial branch can reject a law passed by Congress the legislative branch. This separation of powers limits the power of the government and prevents the government from violating the rights of the people.

What is one power of the federal government? Print money, declare war, create an army, make treaties. The framers wanted to make sure that the branches were equally powerful, so they set up rules that enable each branch to stop the others from doing some things. This system of checks and balances keeps each branch of government from overstepping its bounds, and consequently, the federal government itself from becoming too powerful.

The main purpose of the checks and balances is to prevent tyranny in the government. Tyranny is when one branch of the government has too much power as opposed to having all the branches of government having their powers balanced and equal. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Why has the constitution lasted so long? Ben Davis May 24, Why has the constitution lasted so long?

Why is Article 1 of the Constitution the longest?