After the American Revolution our nation needed to create its own government. The Articles of Confederation government was too weak, and a new, stronger government was needed. The creator's of the constitution needed to create a stronger government without taking away the rights of the states and the people. The solution was a constitution that called for a federal plan of government, with a system of checks and balances and a procedure for change to meet future needs.
A republic is a nation in which voters elect representatives to govern them. Federalism is the division of power between the states and the national government. These two ideas are part of the basis of the government of America. They were included in the Constitution because the citizens didn't want their government to resemble that of England's, the country from which they had just gained their hard-earned, well-deserved, independence from.
Also included in the Constitution was a system called separation of powers. This was included to make sure that the three branches of government (the legislative , the executive , and the judicial ) didn't gain too much power. The Electoral College is a group of electors from each state that meets every four years to vote for the President and the Vice President.
Another system included in the Constitution designed to keep each branch from becoming too strong was the system of checks and balances. Under this system, each branch of the federal government has some way to check, or control, the other two branches . Even though the Legislative Branch has the most checks, the Executive Branch is the most powerful branch of the government. .
The Bill of Rights was set up to guarantee the freedoms that the citizens wanted, but weren't included in the Constitution. .
The Bill of Rights is composed of the first ten amendments to the Constitution . Since the Bill of Rights was created, 17 amendments have been included to the Constitution.
