Founding Fathers Essay, Research Paper
Some people see the Founders of our constitution as capitalists,
out only
to benefit themselves and their bank accounts, and yet others see them
as
people who were only out to benefit the actual people of the United
States.
In my opinion, every man that was involved with writing the
constitution was
a little of both. Each was out to better his situation, yet I also
believe
that each was out to better the actual public s interests. All in all
the
Founders agreed upon a great document which set up a well rounded
government
for our new country.
Each of the Founders was of high statute in society and also most
were
very well educated. Thirteen of the delegates were businessmen,
merchants,
or shippers, six were major land speculators, eleven speculated in
securities
in large scales, twelve owned or managed slave-operated plantations or
large
farms, nine of the men derived most of their income form public office,
three
were retired, and only two were actual small farmers. Most of these
men had
other professions as well, such as physicians, lawyers, ministers, and
scholars. A small number of the delegates were wealthy as well as a
number
of them had been born into leading families. As can be seen, each of
these
men had great amounts to gain from a strong central government, but yet
still
great amounts to lose. Promoting this strong central government, to
some was
great because it allowed for their businesses to be protected and
allowed for
one single type of currency for the entire country. Both of these were
benefits to the Founders because it allowed them to make money in all
ways.
But in return it could also hurt them by putting restrictions upon how
they
conduct business and how much they could charge for certain things.
Yet in spite of all of this, all of these men had seen the despair
of the
poor and knew that if something was not done soon and their government
collapsed that everything that they had fought for in the Revolutionary
War
would be gone. Some of these men had fought for such the cause and
would
sacrifice everything to keep what they had fought so hard to achieve.
Even though knowing all of this each Founder knew that in order to
create
a government that would function without glitch their greatest weapon
would
be that of compromise. There were two plans that were placed upon the
table
to which the opposing side liked, the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey
Plan.
The Virginia Plan was a government which would benefit mostly the
larger
states. It called for a strong central government with three branches,
the
legislative, executive, and the judicial branches. Each of these
branches
was to have its own power inwhich it could act. The legislative branch
was
to hold complete power on all things inwhich the individual states were
not
capable of acting. This branch could also veto any state laws that it
felt
necessary to do. This branch was to be comprised of to houses, the
House and
the Senate, inwhich one was directly elected by the people and the
other
being appointed by the house chosen by the state legislature. The
executive
and judiciary branches were to be appointed by a national legislature.
To
control the power for the national legislature, this plan enacted to
allow
the executive branch as well as some of the judiciary branch the power
to
veto any act of the legislature, all of this being part of the system
inwhich
we call checks and balances. The New Jersey Plan, on the other hand
benefited that of the smaller states by proposing that each state
should get
only one vote in congress, thus making every state equal.
In the end everyone was forced to use their greatest weapon,
compromise.
This compromise was in entirety to satisfy the smaller states. It
stated
that one house of congress would be directly elected by the people and
would
be based on the population of the state. While on the other hand the
other
house of congress would consist of two members from each state that
would be
chosen by the state legislature. After this Great compromise there
were
still many issues that were still in conflict, one being that of the
president and how he would be chosen. Some thought that the president
should
be selected by Congress while others thought that he should be directly
elected by the people. In the end compromise was used again. This
time the
Founders decided to make an Electoral College inwhich each state
would
decide who would get its electoral votes by having an a popular vote,
and
whoever had the most electoral votes in the end became president.
Another
compromise had to be made over the issue of slavery. The southern
states had
a large population of slaves which were not considered free men, thus
the
northern states did not want to count them as part of the population.
By
doing so this would decrease the number of representatives the southern
states had in the house. Yet again another compromise had to be made.
This
compromise was called the three-fifths compromise. This agreement said
that
only three-fifths of the slave population would count towards the
population
that decided how many representatives were given in the house. Thus
throughout the convention every Founder in some way or another was
forced to
make some kind of compromise.
Many people have had differing views on the Constitution itself.
Some
say that it was simply a way for capitalists to gain more power and
wealth
for themselves, while others see the constitution as a holy writing
that
produced a strong government inwhich everything can thus function. In
my
opinion the Founders did a great thing by producing such a marvelous
document
which makes them heroes. This agrees with what John Fiske and Clinton
Rossiter once said.
By hero I mean a leader of men who engages with clear eye and
stout
heart in an uncertain enterprise for some purpose larger than the
gratification of his ambition or the rewarding of his own friends,
and
whose deeds work a benevolent influence on the lives of countless
other
men….
As many have seen the Founders made some good some bad decisions by
which
each may have had some personal gain from. Yet as we know these men
not only
looked to help themselves but to also help everyone in the country.
None of
these men were tyrants looking to feather their own nests but instead
to help
others and contrive a working government inwhich all the things that
every
citizen hold dear were retained. These men may have been looking to
help
themselves but as you can see they were also looking to help the entire
country.
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