The origin of the United States federal state

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的assignment代写范文- The origin of the United States federal state，供大家参考学习，这篇论文讨论了美国联邦制国家的由来。美国之所以能建立联邦制国家，存在许多有利的条件。当时的内外形势促成了各邦联国要求建立联邦制国家的意愿。另外，各邦联国的人民是同一祖先的后裔，具有相同的语言、宗教，风俗习惯也相似。而联邦制是各殖民地长期政治文化的积淀，有关公民权利的法律已经被殖民地人民熟知和接受。

With the passage of the bill of rights, the framework of the United States federal state was formally constructed. While achieving the goal of establishing a strong government of the whole country, four institutional protections were set up to control the national government and protect citizens' rights.

Although there are only more than 20 federalist countries out of nearly 200 countries in the world today, they have a total population of over 2.2 billion and occupy about one half of the world's land. In addition to the well-known Russia and the United States, it also includes Canada, Australia, India, Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Nigeria, Sudan and so on. It can be said that the vast majority of countries with an area of more than 2 million square kilometers are federalist countries.

Multicentrism, autonomy, decentralization, respect for diversity, protection of minorities, and preservation of national unity are the basic characteristics of federalism. Both montesquieu, an 18th-century French thinker, and tocqueville, a 19th-century ideologue, extolled the virtues of federalism: "to be both free and happy as a small country, and glorious and strong as a great one". The U.S. constitution of 1787, which created the first modern federal republic, endowed federalism with such values as "justice", "free life", "domestic peace", "security" and "welfare for all". One of the first modern federal states, Switzerland, had its political life decided by many majorities, or "compound majorities," resulting in the unification of the French, German, and Italian speakers.

The exploration of the "federalist revolution" with a history of more than 200 years begins with the founding of the United States.

With the signing of a peace treaty in France in September 1783 by representatives of Britain and its American colonies, the 13 colonies of the confederacy officially declared their independence and the United States was free. But the country did not have an authoritative governing body, and its emergence as a confederation was necessary for the war of independence. After the war, the colonies began to face many new problems. Commercial competition among the confederacy; Threat of invasion of British and Spanish territories... In particular, the uprising of more than 2,000 revolutionary war veterans in Massachusetts shocked America's founding fathers.

To deal with the internal and external threats, in August 1786, under the leadership of the political economist? Alexander Hamilton, some advocate building worthy of the name of the national government, use at Annapolis, Maryland, trade and shipping conference call in May the following year in Philadelphia held a "plenipotentiary conference", the basic amendment of the confederacy ordinance in 1781. Soon after, the confederate congress cautiously agreed to allow state-appointed representatives to attend the meeting with "the sole and express purpose of amending the articles of confederation." On June 1, 1787, the confederacy sent 74 delegates to the Philadelphia convention, mostly moderate ones, including Hamilton, George Washington, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and gavrior morris. The conference nominated Washington as its President. As a national hero, Washington's presence adds legitimacy to the convention.

The meeting was held in secret and soon became a constitutional convention. The representative of Virginia proposed that the national government should be composed of the highest legislative, executive and judicial branches. This would change the nature of the national government from a federation of states to a national government. The constituent assembly also passed an enabling clause: congress shall have all the legislative powers of the former confederacy, and the power to legislate "in all cases over which the states have no right to interfere," and shall have the power to veto state legislation that contradicts the proposed constitution. Thus, the national government was given the powers necessary to carry out its duties.

Experience taught these American forerunners that a strong national government was a threat to freedom. The dilemma is how to combine these near-independent "states" into a national government with enough power to constrain it. The deputies were soon divided over the composition of the legislature and the allocation of seats. The common philosophy accepted by most representatives is the philosophy of balanced government, that is, the establishment of a national government that cannot be controlled by any interest group alone. They have a deep understanding and natural fear of the "monster" of the country, especially after the autocratic rule of Britain. This is why the confederacy was reluctant to establish a strong national government after the victory of the revolutionary war.

In the discussion of the legislature, which will play a leading role in the federal government, there was a violent clash of ideas. Virginia representative James Madison proposed a bicameral legislature, with representation in both houses divided according to property or population. This is good for the rich and the big, but not for the small. Representative William Paterson of New Jersey advocated a unicameral system in which all states, big or small, have equal voting rights in congress. Big states don't. The two factions were at loggerheads, and representatives of the small states threatened to leave the conference and demanded the dissolution of the confederacy. At the crucial moment, the representative of Connecticut proposed a compromise whereby the confederates would have equal voting rights in the upper house and representation in the lower house on a per capita basis, with all fundraising or appropriations bills introduced by it. This plan also took care of the rights of large and small states, and was eventually accepted by the representatives of the confederacy, known as the Connecticut compromise.

On September 17, 1787, after more than three months of constitutional convention, the delegates signed the constitution of the United States, completing the first phase of the establishment of a new type of government. Madison remarked, "the equal right of the states to vote is both a constitutional recognition of the part of their sovereignty still reserved to them, and a means of preserving it."

The constitution was ratified not by majority, but by separate votes of the representatives of the states, and was ratified by nine states. This form of ratification was based on two considerations. One was the reality that if the articles of confederation were put to the vote of all state legislatures, the chances of ratification would be slim, and "the vital interests of all the union would be subject to the capriciousness or corruption of one member". The second is out of moral considerations, that is, the constitution should be approved by the authority higher than the parliament, so as to have a solid legal status and moral component. From the framers' point of view, the articles of confederation were simply a contract between the states, and the constitution was a "union of the people."

However, such ratification is not easy, and many people do not want to pass a constitution without thorough debate. They decried the new constitution as an attempt to abolish the states and establish a national government with full powers. There was a lively and unemotional debate in society, with pamphlets, newspapers, letters to the editor, and speeches. The "lowborn" think that some things are imposed on them by the "highborn" : the President of the republic is just another monarch; The parliament in the constitution is just another British parliament, which will insist on unanimity and ignore the sovereignty of the small states. The "well-born" see all this opposition as a cheap manifestation of mob politics.

In order to make the constitution can pass, Hamilton, Madison and jay three federalists published a series of articles in the newspapers, and these are later assembled for a total of 84 articles of "the federalist papers", continues from October 1787 to August 1788, this paper expounds the necessity of establishing federal system not only, and federal state how to build, set up and run, how to divide the national government and the state power, how to safeguard the rights of the people under the federal system, etc., made a penetrating thoroughly, this paper has a strong practicality and maneuverability. For example, where the strengths and weaknesses of the government departments, why do you want to take the bicameral rather than a unicameral legislature, how much the size of the house and senate for reasonable, legislators should have the condition, how to elect the house and senate lawmakers and the President, and both houses, the design of the President's term and election time, the country's important public servants including the Supreme Court nomination and approval from why want to separate, and shall be exercised by the government which department, why the federal court judges should be long-time until for life and must have a fixed salary, why impeachment power set and by which department, and so on.

This discussion is a process of practicing constitutionalism, educating the people and understanding the essence of constitutionalism. It can be said that without such a process, the federal constitution cannot be smoothly implemented even if it is adopted. To this day, this debate is still regarded as an outstanding example of how people decide the nature of the basic law through free discussion and debate. The federalist papers are still widely regarded as the most profound and unprecedented treatise on the constitution of the United States.

Under federalist interpretation and mobilization, most small states were already satisfied with equal representation in the senate. The constitution was ratified. In Virginia, however, representative George mason's first line of attack on the document was "why there is no bill of rights." In an emotional debate, Virginia opposition leader Patrick Henry called out the problem of freedom -- "freedom, the greatest wealth on earth... Precious treasure! Then came opposition from Massachusetts, where leaders such as John Hanks and Samuel Adams were ambivalent. Throughout the spring of 1788, bars and church meetings were filled with "no bill of rights" voices. It was so strong that the anti-federalists, who had been more concerned with the rights of the states than with the rights of the individual, joined in supporting the bill of rights in an attempt to defeat the proposed constitution.

The states also disagree on minor issues. People in one state that did not import or export were opposed to a direct tax, while representatives of another state that did import or export more were opposed to a full consumer tax. Some argue that it is a mistake for the senate and the President to appoint officials jointly, rather than giving the executive power to the President alone. Others believe, dominated by the President with the senate ^ the governance, and out of the house, is not suitable, There are also questions about the senate's ability to exercise impeachment powers of a judicial nature. Such arguments wear the parties out. Writing the constitution, as Patrick Henry lamented after the constituent assembly, was "a revolution as violent as breaking away from Britain". Washington later wrote: "I have almost lost all hope for the future of the conference, and even regret my participation in the process."

Under the foregoing pressure, the federalists were forced to make concessions and agreed to add a bill of rights, including freedom of religion, speech and assembly, once the new constitution was ratified. By June 1788, the required nine states had been ratified, but Virginia had not yet done so. Virginia, the most populous state at the time and a north-south transportation hub, had a huge impact on the constitution's smooth implementation. At the critical moment, Washington himself sent a letter urging ratification of the constitution to pass in the state.

Large landowners along the Hudson River in New York state, unlike their southern planter partners, opposed the constitution, worried about federal property taxes, and were reluctant to eliminate the lucrative trade and business taxes that New York collected from other states. When the state convention was held, the federalists were outnumbered, but with the help of Hamilton's strategy and skill, and the news that Virginia had ratified the constitution, New York ratified it by only three votes. The approval process lasted nearly four months, although north Carolina and Rhode Island remained outside the union. Under the articles of the federal constitution, the states achieved "partial union or amalgamation," and "retained all sovereignty previously granted to the United States, which was not specifically delegated to them under the articles."

From a procedural point of view, this constitution was not written by the congress of the confederacy nor by the congress of the United States, but by a constituent assembly of representatives of the states, which was then passed by a vote of the congress elected by the people of the states. Therefore, the constitution is the people's "bible", above all state institutions. The constitution is not made by the legislature, so the legislature has no power to change the constitution or interpret it. On the contrary, the legislature is bound by it. This constitutional approach later became the model for the basic law of the United States. Since the founding of the federal state, more than 200 state constitutional conventions have been held to pass or amend state constitutions.

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