Author's description of The Constitutional Convention 0f 1787 Essay

Author's description of The Constitutional Convention 0f 1787 - Essay Example On cannot say whether the members of the Constitution drafting committee function as per their free will or under duress. What did the framers of the American Constitution hope for? The Constitution evolved beyond the expected lines of the individuals who drafted it. They believed that the Office of the President would be the ceremonial one; but the President has emerged as the â€Å"all-powerful† individual, and the centre around which the important policies are made and unmade. They discredited then political parties, but that observation also has proved without any merit. Both Republicans and Democrats have served the Nation well by carrying out their constitutional responsibilities. After the Revolution, the newly independent United States, raveled in that newfound political arena, at the same time, it was the trying and testing time for the country. The birth pangs of the newly born Nation were not unexpected, but facing problems and finding solutions to the grim issues w as a tough option. Freedom brought forth to the surface an avalanche of issues. Firstly, a strong federal structure to bind all the states was not there. In the period 1776-1787, interstate conflicts of a severe dimension surfaced forth, besides the usual weakness of the armed forces and economic ills. The country’s unity was in peril. ... The issues that rattled the minds of the delegates before they reached Philadelphia: Independence is the most welcome development in the life of an individual and the nation to which one belongs. America too readied to bask in the glorious sunshine of the newfound freedom but had to tackle the thickening dark clouds over its horizon. The issues before the Nation in 1786 were without a parallel in the history of America. The withdrawal of protection by the British Navy crippled America’s foreign trade avenues. The defense forces withdrew support to the settlers and this endangered their life and property as the native population would not let go the opportunity to attack the white settlements and reclaim which was theirs not very long ago. Once the military campaigns were over, they left the trial of devastation and the population in those areas was without any means of survival. Their homes stood destroyed and they had no financial means to reconstruct them. A pall of gloom en veloped everywhere. Government treasuries were empty with no immediate scope to replenish it; no authority was willing to take the responsibility of rebuilding the finances in such a grim situation. Elucidating it further Berkin writes to remind, â€Å"Thus if an uprising such as Shays’s Rebellion happened again, or if a slave rebellion began, no state would be left to handle it alone.†(p.155) The problems with the framers of the American Constitution, according to Carol Berkin, were i) the deep distrust of the states and their sharply differing views as for demarcation of power sharing between individual states and the national government. ii) Strong pessimism as for the intrinsic capacity of the constitutional provisions to forestall tyranny; the states feared that they may have to