The Creation of the Bill of Rights and U.S. Constitution - Research Paper Example

This current status comes from the original decision of the founders of the USA to formulate and adopt a Constitution and a Bill of Rights for what was then the Union, in order to begin the country that is today the United States of America. The Constitution was adopted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by the Constitutional Convention, on September 17, 1787 (Spaeth & Smith, 1991, p.1). Today the Constitution acts as the most powerful law in the USA, controlling the Federal Government, its relationship with State Governments, the Courts and the citizens of the USA, as well as non-citizens living within the US (For Know-It-Alls, 2008, p.2). It established the three branches of government – in the first three Articles of the Constitution – and also the federal system by which the USA is governed.

In addition to the total Constitution, the first ten Amendments to the Constitution form the Bill of Rights, which limit the power of the Federal Government, and give basic human rights, such as of property ownership and freedom of speech, association and other liberties, to the citizens of the USA (AmericansGoverning.org, website). These Amendments were proposed to the First United Stated Congress by James Madison and adopted by the House of Representatives on August 21, 1789 (Spaeth & Smith, 1991, p.22). .

ution the loose union of States tied together by the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union (For Know-It-Alls, 2008, p.3), but the individual States were not adhering to the rules of the Confederation, particularly in terms of money: they were not contributing to the national budget – and by 1786, the budget really just consisted of foreign debt which could not be paid by the Union (AmericansGoverning.org, website). In addition to this, the threats from international powers and from pirates, even, were making it clear that the Union was not functioning as an effective nation.

Often, individual States were not attending Confederation meetings and not acting together in any meaningful way. Individual States were violating the peace treaty between Great Britain and the United States (The Treaty of Paris, 1783). States could not pay for defense and no real defense force could be raised on a federal level. All of these circumstances meant that Congress had become extremely ineffectual and legislation and all decision-making were being hampered severely. State representatives were not arriving at Congress – for five months up to April 1786, for example, there had been only three days when nine States – the number required to pass any proposal – were present in Congress.

At the same time, as mentioned, States were acting unilaterally in international relations, and within their own legislatures, completely independently of Congress. In short, the Congress was no longer the government (Spaeth & Smith, 1991, p.15-18). Thus in September 1786, the plans were made to meet in Philadelphia in order to amend the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union in the hope that the Union could be more effectively structured, and begin to function as a nation. By June 16,