Chapter 2
The Constitution of the United States (US) has gone through various stages of emancipation. Whereas a face-value impression of the Constitution may speak for its current effectiveness, such was not the same when the US became a nation independent from the United Kingdom (UK). What made the Constitution robust as it is right now are the experiences the US have undergone, from its struggle for independence and throughout generations of conflicts. Therefore, it is important to go through historical details that contributed to the characterization of the Constitution in order for one to have a deeper understanding on its effectiveness in terms of maintaining order in the US. It is noteworthy to note that the Constitution would not have emerged had there been no potent movement for the New England colonies to seek independence from the UK and form the US. When generations of New England settlers grew increasingly alienated from the monarchy ruling the UK, they started to seek for independence. The fact that the UK has tried levying new taxes on New England settlers unjustifiably further triggered the latter to revolt. Yet, the independence of the US did not translate to national unity from the very beginning. The formation and ratification of the Constitution has led warring factions to argue over certain controversies, most notably on the powers amassed by both states and the federal government. Therefore, it is reasonable to argue that the Constitution did not convince all of the people in the US at the time of its formation. At the same time, it is notable that advancements in the Constitution emerged from conflicts attributed to groups with conflicting ideas (O’Connor, Sabato & Yanus 28-58).
Chapter 3
The formation of the United States (US) as a federated consortium of various states provides said nation with a sophisticated governmental arrangement that could have only emerged through a series of national experiences. When the Constitution of the US first came into being, there were questions over the nature of powers of the federal government and that of states. Yet, the controversy took only a matter of time to meet viable resolutions, especially with the failure of dual federalism. Initially the defining nature of federalism in the early years of the Constitution, dual federalism recognized that both the federal government and that of states have separate yet equal powers. Yet, the Civil War, featuring the emergence and eventual defeat of the Confederate States of America (CSA) that favored greater state powers, has influenced the decline of dual federalism. With the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments introduced after the Civil War, dual federalism soon became a figment of the past national failures of the US. Moreover, the Great Depression of the 1930s stood as a more compelling example of the inefficiency of dual federalism. Instead, cooperation between the federal government and that of states, aptly termed cooperative federalism and highly apparent in the New Deal under the term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, emerged as the more potent trend that has helped characterize federalism in modern US. Such attempt to balance powers between the federal government and that of states, however, may not have found completion without the wisdom of the Supreme Court, which has helped interpret the nature of federalism of the US throughout the years. Currently, the US is constantly confronting progressive reforms to its federal form of government (O’Connor, Sabato & Yanus 62-86).
Works Cited
O’Connor, Karen, Sabato, Larry, & Alixandra Yanus. American Government: Roots and Reform (2012 Election Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2012. Print.
