The Drafting of the US Constitution

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE

Historical Narrative

I have learned after my research that many important people took place into drafting the Cosntitution such as lawyers, politicians, merchants, military men and clergy were also considered as The Founding Fathers of the Constitution. Lets include President Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, and Hamilton. Although it was quite a task to get the Constitution together, and reading second sources, I have come to the conclusion that they were all imperfect in their own way, that their main interest was to achieve political greatness.

The letters that were sent back and forth between the Founders were always of main concern of having inconsistencies coming from Madison, whom for years he disagreed on fiscal policies and political pressure. In the article, “James Madison and the Constitution: Reassessing the ‘Madison problem”, and studying what historians came across, they disagreed with the political pressures and shifting dispositions but found reasons for them. In the article, it states that “Madison scholars have tended to defend the intellectual coherence of his political though with increasing vigor.” I believe, that after scholars researched on reasons why Madison had his ways, there was a reason for it in the long run.

George Washington also kept good contact with John Jay, whom was the governor in office while the Constitution was

being drafted.

Although many political figures refer to the Constitution, navigating the circumstances in which they refer back to the Constitutional is substantial. Precisely analyzing the emotions, circumstances and urgency, political figures tend to refer to the Constitution when trying to prove a specific point, according to their needs and desires of what is being presented.

After substantially looking for an article that can help me break down on how emotions can contribute to the making of a constitution. Although this article does not speak in particular to the US Constitution, it does navigate the “claim is that historical studies and psychological analysis can influence each other mutually.” In the conclusion, the author mentions “… that the constitution- making processes tend to be flawed because of emotion-induced urgency and wishful thinking… Urgency can be rational…a country undergoing a crisis may not be able to afford to take the time that a careful legal construction may require…”

Three Historical Lenses

Historical Lenses

History’s Value

History’s value changes overtime, having historians, academic institutions, family, friends, the media and websites feed to what is being provided for us to review about history. We all view it differently. The public and historians have a different way to perceive and interpret history, making to each its own assumptions and interpretations.

History's Value

Primary Sources

Discuss the conclusions you can draw from thinking about how history is told. Consider how historians are persuaded by their own biases, motivations, and influences of their time.

Primary Sources

Primary sources can be a key to a historian’s research, having to use primary sources, a historian can draw its own conclusions from primary sources. Historians are persuaded by their own biases according to their time to interpret history. Most of their conclusions are based on what is around them, socially and politically. The information that historians select and present thesis and their topics can be for different audiences. As history changes and new information is found, so does the historians- they draw new conclusions and topics to their arguments.

Does History Repeat Itself? Evidence from the Course

During the first module of the course, it caught my attention as part of the introduction that our present is built on the past. The is no specific point in history that we can relate to our present, but after analyzing the past and the present, there is a connection. This is the job of historians- to analyze and interpret the relationship on how things change over time.

History in my Opinion

Does History Repeat Itself? My opinion

I believe history does repeat itself in so many different ways. It’s like having a trend: suddenly a trend starts then fades away, years later that same trend comes back to life. So yes, history does repeat itself. History is colored by people’s perspective, the way we analyze and take personal assumptions, beliefs and values are all influenced in history.

Historical Context of Event

This resource provides plenty about the research topic since it provides details of when, where and why political figures made such statements. Bernstein takes Martin Luther King Jr’s quote, since it was very important for the public to know how African American people were treated and how this goes against the Constitution. Meaning, that blacks were not treated as equal, questioning the purpose of the Constitution.

“How do political figures today interpret the reasons of the Founding Fathers to initiate the drafting of the Constitution?”

The multiple arguments that Bernstein provides are quite interesting, bringing in quotes from different political figures, such as Martin Luther King Jr., addressed after the march in Washington D.C, speaking about the works of the Constitution being “the note was a promise that all men, yes black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the ‘unalienable Rights of life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness… given the Negro people a bad check, a check with insufficient funds in the great vaults of this nation.” Bernstein makes it clear America, has failed to keep its words of an “American experiment.”

Our Lives

The constitution is an instrument of control, as it helps a government to control the governed and assists the government to control itself. It helps in setting boundaries for the judiciary, legislature and the executive by separating powers of the three arms of government.

Discuss your obligation as a citizen of your society to understand the history behind issues that impact you every day

My Obligation as a Citizen

My obligation as a citizen of society to understand history has an impact on my daily life is by being first generation to attend college and arriving to this country 15 years ago, is to learn about immigration and where it stands today. Things have changed within the last 15 years and so have laws. It impacts me because population that I work for are those that run away from violence, abuse (sexual and physical), employment scarce, persecution, by the government and the gangs. They come to this country asking for asylum and refugee protection in the United States. These are women who have families in third world countries, whom are exposed to all that was mentioned above. These laws constantly change, making it difficult by the day to understand them.