Important Historical Documents Of The United States

When colonists left from their country to come to what is now the United States, they were seeking more prosperous lifestyles and opportunities, away from British control. Their new unestablished land had a lot of room for differences in opinion, especially because there were far less restraints to speak up, than in their home country. Since these people had a deep mistrust for centralized power, there was a division in how it was desired to delegate their government control. After the war, and facing new problems, the United States had to decide what kind of government they wanted. A certain philosophy proposed for the new nation was democracy. “They clearly wanted a government of limited powers… The states had written their own state constitutions during the war, to replace the colonial governments with sovereign republics.” To gain support, the right to vote was extended to wealthy white males. This was the democratic process of letting eligible members of a state elect their representatives.

After the Constitution took shape, new perspectives arose about the structure of the government in place and what could be different in the future. “The ability of a compromise system to unite a wide range of viewpoints, backgrounds, and private interests was the key strength of those who now began to call themselves Federalists.” They advocated a system of government in which the thirteen colonies could have the potential to be a loose yet powerful union. Federalists believed in strengthening the national government, through the U.S. Constitution, which Anti-Federalists believed took away power from every state and all people.

“The anti-Federalists voiced objections to the proposed Constitution in 1787–1788. This diverse group was concerned about the amount of power the Constitution would grant the national government, apprehensive about representation at the national level, and disturbed over the lack of safeguards for citizens' rights.” They were concerned that the national government would, “tax them without constraint, that it could build an expensive and dangerous army, and that it could even take away the rights that Americans expected the government to protect” like due process of accused criminals. Anti-Federalists felt as if the Constitution gave the national government too much power to form new laws if they wanted to, remembering the abuse of their past leadership. To address these concerns and guarantee the freedom of the people, the Bill of Rights was later added to and used alongside the Constitution.

Another proposed philosophy that helped construct the new nation was later outlined in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The unanimous declaration of the thirteen states said, “When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one population to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume… a decent respect to the opinions of mankind that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be… that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” This framework was already thought about and partially in place before treaties were signed in 1783, when the United States became a recognized entity.

In 1788, the Constitution was created stating, more specifically, the basic principles and laws of the United States. The Bill of Rights added ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution that guaranteed man certain rights. Further amendments were added and adopted starting in 1795. There have been additions to the Constitution since this time which shows that these documents are not sedentary, they were written with the acknowledgement for growth as the nation grows. Article 5 of the Constitution documents the freedom the government has to make such changes as needed. The simple philosophy of insisting separation from others and providing security of people’s rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness, helped shape such important historical documents. These documents then constructed the structure of the United States and the government which helps to maintain it.