Kim 1 Ariana Kim Mrs.

Bloxsom AP US Govt and Politics/ Period 5 September 25, 2012 Essay #1 For the Union, For the People: United We Will Stand In order to form the perfect Union, our founding fathers drafted the Constitution. In order to protect the people of United States of America and their property, liberties and happiness, our first leaders had the foresight to design a national government that is able to regulate the country, but not control it. But the start of our countrys government was tumultuous, because the first official draft of the US government system had gone awry. So our drafters got together to form what we US citizens take for granted: the US Constitution. Or the paper thing we go to learn in government or civics class. What the founding fathers first disagreed upon (and our entire nation) for quite some time was whether or more power should be given to the states or the central government. Everyone had their own opinions and justifications about whether USA should be Federal based or Anti-Federal based. History had something to say too (he bluntly said no form of government can ever be perfect, but everyone can try, and . Federalism). Ill listen to Historys quiet voice. Ill learn from History. Ill make sure that History wont have to repeat himself. The issue of state power and national power stemmed from back when our citizens were being oppressed as the English Crowns colonists. It was during the time when the English government taxed the colonists for the French and Indian war that costed the English much more than they had expected and nowhere to compensate for the expensive war, but not only did they tax the colonists but problems during the war such as quartering the soldiers in the colonists homes without permission and the English taking command over the commerce

Kim 2 of the colonists economy started the discontent from the colonists and their rationale that their natural rights, the rights that all men are privy to, have been violated. In a sequence of events led to the ultimate rebellion of the colonists, the American Revolution, and started the fear of any central power or power that could violate any white mens rights. Even before Civil War the fear of a strong federal government was present, plotting central government against local power. During the time when our founding fathers were drafting the law of our land, arguments were heated; debates were being held on whether our land should give more power to states or to the nation, but after the Shays Rebellion and the obvious failure of the framers of the Articles of Confederation, a small group of our countrys leaders gathered and agreed that another law of the nation must be drafted, else our nation fail to survive and crumble, as the English thought and hoped both our nation and our law would. Our founding fathers congregated and made the Articles of Confederation and their goal was to make a government that would protect the individuals rights, their property and advocated for equality. Majority of the members wanted states to have more power, to prevent the possibility of centralized power and become oppressed by the government once more. But the weakness and instability of the Articles of Confederation were amplified and unavoidable issues with the first draft came up with the Shays Rebellion. In the Shays Rebellion, Daniel Shay led the ex-soldiers, who fought in the American Revolution, into a rebellion against the government because while the soldiers were gone, there was no one to manage their homes, jobs and property and when the war was over, the soldiers never got paid and so they couldnt pay their taxes, therefore their lands were foreclosed. This injustice of being foreclosed because the soldiers werent paid was great, and so the ex-soldiers rebelled against the state governments. The states in response called the national government, but since the national government was not allowed funds and militia, there was no way that the national

Kim 3 governments could help the states. This situation displayed the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation to our framers and to the people of our nation. Sometime after the rebellion, a few of our countrys leaders decided that even without the consent of the majority of the officials and framers, that our nation needed a stronger federal government and it needed to fill in the gaps of the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation. Debate after debate, each part of the law was scrutinized, amendments were added and finally our leaders produced the U. S. Constitution. The U. S. Constitution with federalism guaranteed that the law would protect the people as much as they could. But as a result, state governments powers were limited and much of their powers were reduced. But with the Tenth Amendment any power not given to the federal government explicitly in the U. S. Constitution, is given to states, and the framers, in hope to give some powers to the states, installed that amendment with the Bill of Rights. But still, there was tension between those who wanted more state government power or national government power. After years of splitting of the U. S. due to the desire of either more state power or national power, our nation finally paid the most tragic price: brother killed brother, friend against friend. U. S. faced Civil War. The tensions were higher with both civilians and officials also the stakes were higher. People were fighting amongst themselves and Congressmen broke out into fights during conferences. But none did so simply because of stubborn opinions, but rather, people from each side believed that either state government power or federal power would be able to protect their rights, way of life and the nation. After the grueling war within our nation, state power advocates had lost the war not because of military superiority than that of the advocates of the federal government but simply because the federalists had more resources, and they could outlast the states. This could also be an analogy of the U.S. government as well. States by themselves can only last so long, while

Kim 4 national government can be dominant and regulate the nation as well as aid states, which will have their own powers as well. Any nation cannot last long or withstand the conflicts of time and modernization and continuous onset of problems with only groups of local governments. Local governments and people need overarching government that can regulate and aid local governments, set overall standards, and advocate for both state rights and peoples rights. Without central government there is no foundation to which local governments can fall back to, and help get themselves up again. Through federal governments, countries like U. S. A. can continue to be one of the best free, peoples rights advocating place for all people who are privy to rights. With the national government, we can form near perfect Union. With the central government, we the people are protected: our liberty, prosperity and property and pursuit of happiness. With the federal government, we are as free as we are today.