‘Transformed beyond recognition from the vision of the Founding Fathers.’ Discuss this view of the modern US constitution.
In many ways, the US constitution has changed and shifted since its creation in 1787. It has changed, with power being put into the hands of bodies not specified in the constitution and certain constraints on power no longer existing. All in all, however, the constitution has maintained the very thing it was created for- to limit the power of the government and protect the people from tyranny of the executive. In this sense, the constitution is still very much embodying the vision of the founding fathers and is relatively unchanged given the lengthy period of time they have existed for. The powers of the president…show more content… The Founding Fathers created a system of government due to the ‘Connecticut Compromise’ and this has remained unchanged since its creation. When faced with the problem of whether state should be represented equally or proportionate to their size, neither New Jersey nor Virginia could agree. This resulted in the establishment of two chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate. This still applies today and has not changed significantly since its creation. These two chambers are central to US government and the fact that these still exist show how things of serious significance within the US political system remain as the Founding Fathers envisioned it. Article 1 established Congress as the national legislature and stated its method of election as well as its powers. Its powers include the power to ‘lay and collect taxes’, ‘coin money’ and ‘declare war’ and this remains unchanged over time. The Founding Fathers created a document that was, at least in parts, deliberately unspecific. One power of Congress is ‘to provide for the common defence and general welfare’ of the united states. The vagueness of this has meant that people can interpret these as they wish meaning that there isn’t a need for change in the US constitution and they are happy maintaining the constitution that the founding Fathers have established. It is a very difficult process to
