Thursday, 17 July 2014

How did the founders of the United States balance protecting individual rights and creating a strong union in the nation's founding documents?

The American colonies faced a problem after the Revolutionary War. They needed to guarantee individual liberties or else there would be another revolution. They also needed to form a strong government that could defend the nation and encourage its financial health. The founders tried continuing under the Articles of Confederation, but they proved to be unworkable as each state did not want to pay more than they thought fair.


In order to maintain individual rights...

The American colonies faced a problem after the Revolutionary War. They needed to guarantee individual liberties or else there would be another revolution. They also needed to form a strong government that could defend the nation and encourage its financial health. The founders tried continuing under the Articles of Confederation, but they proved to be unworkable as each state did not want to pay more than they thought fair.


In order to maintain individual rights and somehow have a strong central government, the founders created the Constitution. The first ten amendments are the Bill of Rights and they safeguard individual freedoms such as the right to jury trials and freedom of the press and religion. The three articles in the Constitution have to do with the creation of a strong union as they handle how the nation will be governed.


With the addition of the Tenth Amendment, the rest of the Constitution grants rights and responsibilities to the federal government. This allowed the nation to protect the rights of its citizens and yet still maintain its defense and fiscal responsibilities.

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