The Constitution
The Constitution: What is it?
Many of the leaders felt the Articles of Confederation were not good enough. They needed to create something better.
America was founded upon the idea that all men are created equal, all people have rights that come from God, and those rights include the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But this had never been done before. So, after the war, the question became, “How can we create a government that upholds and defends this idea? And how do we create one that works?”The leaders came together and worked as a team to make a stronger document.
Now, the delegates had to start from scratch in designing a new American government – and they were faced with many important decisions.
They had to address the issue of how the government should be structured, what powers it should have, and how it should work with the states. They did not want another king.
They made sure that no part of the government had too much power
They wrote up all the rules and showed them to the people. Many early Americans looked at the draft of the Constitution and thought that it didn’t do enough to protect the rights of the people and the states from the federal government.
The Bill of Rights guarantees civil liberties to every American – including freedom of speech, press, and religion – and reserves all powers not expressed in the Constitution to the states.
Meet James Madison!
He is considered to be the Father of the Constitution! He was the one to introduce the list of rules that would protect people’s individual freedoms and liberties (also known as the Bill of Rights).
