W. P. Cope
Published: 2015-07-03
Total Pages: 30
Get eBook
Excerpt from The Three Great Compromises of the Constitution: A Thesis While this change was taking place, that great body of unwritten law and customary usage, known as the English constitution, was evolved. And while the nation was growing and developing from barbarism into civilization, its constitution was gradually adapting itself to the needs of the people. Such has been the development of the English constitution, the basis and inspiration of our own. But, although it was the model after which the constitution of our own country was fashioned, an unwritten constitution could not answer the needs of a nation whose origin and growth have been so unlike that of the English. When the various English colonies were planted in America, they were established under charters which guaranteed to their inhabitants all the rights of Englishmen: and the laws of the mother country prevailed, except so far as local circumstances might demand some modification. While the governments of all these colonies were integral and complete in themselves, the emergencies of the times, the dangers of their situation, and the oppressive laws of home government, soon impressed on the minds of the leading men of the colonies the need of a more perfect union and the necessity of the united action which results from a general government. The laws forming the basis of such a union could not, from the circumstances of the case, result from usage, nor could they be statutory, since there was no common legislature in which to enact them. Hence, the constitution defining the form of the government and limiting its powers must be the work of a convention authorized by the colonies to make such a body of laws, which, when ratified by the several colonies, should be the supreme law of the land. After several vain attempts to form such a union, the evils of oppression and the dangers of war awakened the country to the pressing need of concerted action, and the Articles of Confederation were adopted as the first step toward a national government. While the nation was engaged in the struggle for its existence, the defects of the Confederation escaped the notice of the people. Although its provisions had in many instances hindered and thwarted the successful prosecution of war, yet, with all its faults, it was of substantial aid in bringing the war of the Revolution to a successful close. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.