The United States Constitution - Essay Example

The constitution is composed of a preamble, the main body, and amendments (www.enchantedlearning.com, The Constitution of the United States). This very important body of laws sets up the United States with a federal government as the national government plus state governments and specifies the state as a republic, with an elected President, a bicameral congress and a system of courts headed by the Supreme Court (www.enchantedlearning.com, The Constitution of the United States). With all these laws and specifications, we need to know what are behind the minds of the framers who came up with the law of the land.

It is important to know how the framers of the Constitution balance the competing claims of local self-government, sectional interests, and the national authority. The Competing Claims of the Local Self-Government We can really see that there is a diversity of the people in the United States. Thus the framers of the Constitution aimed to create a strong government that is receptive and open to the will of the people. But unknown to the people, the concept of the self-government did not begin with the Americans but started in England.

To address the issues on diversity of the people, the Articles of Confederation tried to unite these self-governing states. The Constitution was made to balance the claims of these self-governing states. . They made sure that the powers are not in incongruity with the needs and welfare of the nation as a whole. The framers clarified that the states will continue to possess their powers to matters such as education, public health, business organizations, work conditions, marriage and divorce, local taxation and ordinary police powers.

Thus the Constitution was able to provide and address the differences of the states (Targonski, 2000). The Competing Claims of Sectional Interests In a large and diverse country such as the United States, there is no way that there is unity among the interests of the people. Thus there exists faction, groups, organizations, political parties to address there united and common interests among them. These groups are said to endanger the rights of others thus the framers of the Constitution gave their best to mediate and balance these competing sectional interests.

The best way to address this problem is to have a proper form of government that must be able to prevent any faction, whether minority or majority, from imposing its will against the general good. The republican or representative form of government is the best protection from diverse and sectional interest. The best way to mediate and balance these claims is to have them represented to the government. In this way, the sections or factions will not think that they are left out and not given importance by the government.

The republican state adheres to the principle of pluralism which is said to address the issues on conflicting passions and interests (Targonski, 2000). The Claims of National Authority It is really difficult for the Unites States to administer and govern a lot of citizens given the 13 states.