Constitution

The U.S. Constitution was written in the 1700s; a time very different than today. Not only are the people today different than they were in the 1700s, there are millions more of them, along with many more cities, laws, and problems. Our means of transportation and communication have evolved greatly, thanks to our exponential growth of technology. So why hasn’t the language of the U.S. Constitution changed greatly within this amount of time? It hasn’t changed, even to this day, because it works.
The Constitution didn’t just appear on paper and become it; it was thought-out, collaborated, argued, and dreamed about by many men, which we call our Founding Fathers. The ideas that became parts of the constitution originated from ideas of philosophers and writers, and also from other ideals from other forms of government that had worked.
Our Constitution’s balance of power stemmed from Montesquieu’s “Spirit of the Law.” In it contained a model of 3 branches of government which, when combined, created checks-and-balances that keep any one branch from gaining too much power over another. James Madison brought Montesquieu’s 3-Branches idea to the table during the drafting of the Constitution, hence the name “Madisonian Model.” This was a very important component to the Constitution, since the imbalance of power was usually the cause of other past failed governments. Madison wanted to make sure that this written constitution would last many hundreds of years, but optimistically forever, so it was very important to make sure that every citizen would be accounted for.
In the days of small colonies becoming larger, and farmers being the main contributor to the economy, it was important to keep all options open to what the future may entail. This is why the language of the Constitution needed to remain broad, so that it can be molded or suited to the changes that may come with time. It was also good to make sure that there was a process to change the Constitution, should... [continues]

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