Preview

The Pros And Cons Of Originalism

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
119 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Pros And Cons Of Originalism
Originalism, in its various and sometimes conflicting versions, is today the dominant theory of constitutional interpretation. Originalism is championed for a number of fundamental reasons. First, it comports with the nature of a constitution, which binds and limits any one generation from ruling according to the passion of the times. Second, originalism supports legitimate popular government that is accountable. The Framers believed that a form of government accountable to the people, leaving them fundamentally in charge of their own destinies, best protected human liberty. Third, originalism accords with the constitutional purpose of limiting government. It understands the several parts of the federal government to be creatures of the Constitution,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Imagine oneself back at the constitutional convention in seventeen eighty-seven. All of the brightest minds and most respected people in one place, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the southeast of the state, near New York. Because it is May, and just beginning to be summer, it is hot, and because all the windows are closed in the interest of secrecy, it is stifling as well. Fifty-five well known thinkers of the age, all white males, have come. They range in age from James Madison, an up-and-comer and a prodigy who is twenty five to Benjamin Franklin, a wise, venerable, learned man who is eighty one. Delegates from eleven states are present, New Hampshire not turning up until July, and Rhode Island not at all, thinking to veto the proceedings by their absence. The problem that had caused these proceedings was that the Articles of Confederation, the current system of government was too weak. although the Northwest Ordinance resulted of it, and it fixed the fear of a strong central government and dominance by large states, there were unfair competition among states, unenforceable trade agreements, no power over states governments, no president, no judicial branch and the government could not pay debts because they could not force states to pay taxes. As the cons out-weighed the pros, it was clear that something had to be done. The framers decided to create a new government completely. The question was; How do we give the government the power it needs while preventing tyranny? This essay will address the many and varied was the constitution guards against tyranny. In this essay, the word tyranny refers to James Madison’s definition, which states, “The accumulation of all powers…in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many (is) the very definition of tyranny.” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #47, Hook Document). The constitution addresses tyranny in four main ways: the balance of powers between national and state…

    • 1740 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    DBQ Essay

    • 304 Words
    • 1 Page

    Constitution. The Federalist interpretation of the Constitution was that it was flexible and that the…

    • 304 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The evolution of Federalism in the United States was a gradual event that had definitions of federal government being given in federalist 46 and 28 which gave definitions of a federalist government to the United States. As stated by James Madison one of the architects of the federal kind of government, “the state and national governments are in fact but different agents and trustees of the people, constituted with different powers." The purpose of such a kind of government was to protect the rights of the people in all its earnestness.…

    • 828 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this essay, Tribe and Dorf describe our nation’s Constitution as a document that continues to dynamically work to achieve a balance between governmental power and individual liberty. Founding fathers like Madison and Jefferson also look to the constitution as a distinct outline, instead of a blueprint. The amendments and bills that comprise it tend to be very vague and open to interpretation of what some definitions actually mean. This leads to a lot of disputes throughout history of what the Constitution and its words stand for.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the book The Conscious of the Constitution, the author Timothy Sandefur argues the merits of using the Declaration of independence as a legal document in the legal fight to keep the government out of the lives of the american citizen and thus control how the government expands. This book is a heavy read that while bias toward a small government is a must read when wanting to understand the debate that takes place between the right and the left. The book answers and raises questions about the constitution that make it an important pillar to base constitutional debate.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence present many ideas which can be traced back to the time of classical antiquity. Many of the concepts within the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence can be linked to ideas that were present in ancient Greece and Rome. These ideas and concepts have helped form our society into what it is today. In Article 1 of the Constitution it states that, the House of Representatives and the Senate have all legislative powers. They have the power to pass the laws that control and influence our society. In history, the Romans had a system similar to this. Their government consisted of an Assembly, Senate and a Consul which controlled their society. A second concept can be found within the first amendment in the Bill of Rights, it states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (amend. I). This grants United States citizens religious freedom. Despite of the fact that the Roman Empire was not religiously tolerant until the reign of Constantine the Great, there was a point where Roman citizens had religious freedom. Another parallel between America’s government and the worlds of classical Greece and Rome would be in the Writ of Habeas Corpus. It is a common idea that was first instituted by Emperor Justinian can be found in the sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Another idea found within the Declaration of Independence, the idea 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,” (line 7, Declaration of Independence) also finds its roots in the classical world. The concepts within this quote mirror some of the component of Greek Stoicism. They believed that all men were created equal and because of that we are all brothers. The last concept deals with the right of the people to alter or…

    • 1581 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Alexander Hamilton, the leader of the Federalists, and his party believed in a loose interpretation of the Constitution. This means they think that certain powers not specifically given to the federal government was more or less implied. Hamilton says “The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right.” He and the Federalists think the government needs more control to run its…

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The debates over ratification of the Constitution represent the most important and intellectually sophisticated public debates in American history. On the one side, the supporters of the Constitution, or "Federalists," argued that the nation desperately needed a stronger national government to bring order, stability and unity to its efforts to find its way in an increasingly complicated world. Opponents of the Constitution, or "Antifederalists," countered that the the governments of the states were strong enough to realize the objectives of each state. Any government that diminished the power of the states, as the new Constitution surely promised to do, would also diminish the ability of each state to meet the needs of its citizens. More dramatically, the Antifederalists argued that the new national government, far removed from the people, would be all to quick to compromise their rights and liberties in the name of establishing order and unity.…

    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Federalist Papers 51

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Federalist Papers are a collection of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay advocating the validation of the United States constitution. The series of articles were first published in 1787 - 1788 in the Independent Journal, the New-York Packet and the Daily Advertiser. At the time of publication, it was unclear who the author’s were, since Hamilton, Madison and Jay used the pseudonym “Publius”, in respect to Roman diplomat Publius Valeria Publicola. It wasn’t until Hamilton’s death in 1804 that it was clear as to who were the creator’s of the “incomparable exposition of the Constitution, a classic in political science unsurpassed in both breadth and depth by the product of any later American writer” (Federalist Papers). The Federalist Papers drafted a basic form of American federalism, meaning the papers served as a justification of the document that would soon become the constitution. The federalist’s promoted a divided federal government, a system of checks and balances where there was “division of power across the local, state and national levels of government” and a system for judicial review (William Bianco). At first, the Federalist Papers were received as unfinished and exaggerated, as many Americans were cynical of a contradiction of the bill of rights. Despite first impressions, the Federalist Papers have survived well into the 21st century, and are still used today by lawyers, judges, and jurors as a tool to interpret the Constitutional laws.…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Our founding father, Patrick Henry, said, “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government — lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” Our founding fathers created a strong government for the people of the United States in order to protect their rights. They established a framework that our contemporary government is supposed to adhere to. Today, the American government has drifted away from the ideas embedded in our Constitution. The contemporary American government fails to work the way our founding fathers intended because of the representative government we have today.…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Branches of Government

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the beginning before the Constitution was drafted, the founding founders were concerned about how to solve the issue of a weak central government. The Federalists and the Anti-Federalists had different ideology and views in regard to the issues at hand, but had the common goal of ensuring the government would be protected against any assembly having the ability to become overpowered by another.…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Forming a new government comes with challenges and obstacles that the people need to overcome for the greater good of the country. During the time that the Americans formed the government, arguments were placed into the open to be solved. Solutions that were given, many were rejected and caused a lot of disagreement. Creating a government brought the country into disagreement between the anti-federalists and federalists for the concerns of rights of the people and power that was shared among them. Firstly, the anti-federalists disagreed how the rights were to be given to one another as well as the division of power between the states. Secondly, the federalists were satisfied with the conditions that were given to them, including the power they could have and what human rights that would protect them.…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The drafting of the new federal Constitution for the infant United States drew many staunch lines between federalists and antifederalists. These differences proved to be vast and in most cases complex, the antifederalists opposed the newly drafted constitution, while the federalists pushed for its ratification. These two primary views of how the United States government should function, made the ratification of the Constitution by no means a guarantee in 1787. Thus, the criticisms made by the antifederalists and the retorts returned by the federalists echoed the uncertainty of the United States in its infancy, plus these arguments demonstrated the blurred views on the “good society” and developed the Constitution into a document that preserved…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Federalist Papers

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Several documents have helped carve the United States government from the beginning into what we know it as today…the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence…to name a few. One of the most important of those documents was The Federalist Papers. It is a series of 85 articles/essays that were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, between 1787 and 1788. This paper will focus on the purpose of the Federalist Papers, who the intended audience was, and why another document – the Articles of Confederation – written after the American Revolution, failed in the wake of the Constitution being drafted and ratified. (Peacock, n.d.)…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At one point it was expected, that the Congress would pass laws, the President would execute them, and the Supreme Court would interpret them in individual cases. This was the framework for the Separation of Powers; established by the Constitution, and stuck to it for the greater part of our history. The Founding Fathers were well-acquainted with a long-held tenet of government: the accumulation of power by a single person or body of government is the greatest threat to liberty. In fact, a celebrated feature of the…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays