{"id":17,"date":"2025-07-09T15:11:53","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.routledgelearning.com\/americangovernment\/?p=17"},"modified":"2025-08-14T21:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T21:44:08","slug":"chapter-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.routledgelearning.com\/americangovernment\/chapter-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Revolution and the Constitution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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This chapter deals with the establishment of an independent political order in the area of the North American continent called the United States of America. Colonial disaffection was high regarding the perceived British encroachment on individual and colonial liberties through such endeavors as the Stamp Act, the Declaratory Act, and the Intolerable Acts. Americans began to offer organized resistance through such conglomerations as the Stamp Act Congress, the Boston Tea Party and Massacre, as well as the two Continental Congresses, which ultimately led to the Revolutionary War and its Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the war the first national government, the Confederate Congress under the Articles of Confederation, was deemed ineffective and inefficient as a governing body. The Confederate Congress lacked an ability to tax, regulate interstate commerce, have control over foreign relations or finance, and even the power to create an army and navy, among other shortcomings. This was especially true in the critical period of the 1780s, which saw Daniel Shays\u2019s Rebellion against the propertied interests in Massachusetts. The Annapolis Convention of 1786 called for a Constitutional Convention to strengthen the central government. The Convention went far beyond that, crafting a new political order typified by limited government through separation of powers in a system of checks and balances. Crucial compromises were made regarding representation in the Congress, presidential selection, and socio-economic regional interests, thus assuring the creation of a Constitution of the United States, which has remained in place since its ratification in 1788 and implementation in 1789. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Constitution itself delineated powers through a series of articles, creating and empowering the three branches of government as the legislative (Congress in Article I), the executive (the presidency in Article II), and the judiciary (the Supreme Court in Article III). These powers were both enumerated (such as Congress\u2019 power to tax) and implied in content (such as the \u201ctake care clause\u201d for executive power). Meanwhile, Articles IV and VI deal with federal relations such as interstate reciprocity, admission of new states, republican guarantees, and protections against domestic violence. Likewise, Article V outlines the amendment process requiring supermajorities of Congress and state legislatures\/state constitutional conventions to propose and ratify, respectively, each proposed change to the document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the struggle for the Constitution\u2019s ratification divided elites and masses alike between Federalists (those supporting ratification) and Anti-Federalists (those opposing ratification). The Federalists ultimately triumphed and the Constitution has served as the major founding document of the American government ever since. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Quizzes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n