How Much Power And Liberty Did The Constitution Give To ?the People?? E

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  How much power and liberty did the constitution give to â€Å"the people?†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The constitution is the document that has framed and shaped the United States from inception. It is the document that is defended by all new presidents and also the document which affords the citizens of the United States freedoms and rights that cannot be removed. In its drafting it shaped the formation of a new country and a new style of governance. It is a ‘bottom up’ as opposed to established ways of government which are ‘top down’. However for all its virtues the Constitution is somewhat ambiguous and there is some debate of the intent of the drafters, did they intend to give as much power or did they intend to give less power to the people?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Constitution sets out the system, rules and regulations of how the new American government was to work. The constitution was drafted by a small select group of people from the 13 states; they were the people’s representatives for the constitution. However these people were very much part of an emerging elite, the masses weren’t literate nor would they have had a vast understanding of theories of government, all they knew was the old system and monarchical government. Therefore the drafting of the constitution fell to what one could call idealistic gentry, who were very wealthy and well educated perhaps an upper class group of individuals. They may have been acting on behalf of the people but there are numerous examples of blatant self-interest. When assigning powers to congress taxation was obviously a big area, the representatives from the Southern states managed to get exemptions for export duties. Many of the representatives from these souther n states were heavily involved in the Tobacco trade and made a lot of their personal wealth from this trade so it was is in their own direct interest to get exemptions for these things. This is a clear demonstration on how some representatives weren’t wholly representative.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To assess how much power and liberty the constitution gives to the people one obviously must look at the language and the content of the document itself. In article one, section four, it states â€Å"The congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be o... ... so it is extremely difficult to change. Also in the installation of the Supreme Court as ultimate arbiter can strike down legislation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In summarising this question it is not what’s in the Constitution that is important it is the application of it that is of greater importance. Many different parties can interpret the Constitution and different people will consider one thing constitutional and others will consider it to be unconstitutional. One should also consider who â€Å"the people† are; the constitution can look after interested parties rather than the citizens it is supposed to protect. The majority can become tyrannical over minorities given the prohibition of alcohol. The ‘founding fathers’ also did not envisage change in societal attitudes George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to name two both had slaves, but now the constitution prohibits the owning of slaves. Liberty in their eyes was not for everybody, and the people cannot be trusted to make the right decisions given the Electoral College. However a genuine attempt was made to protect the rights of the indi vidual and preserve the principle of power in the people and not in one individual