A momentous chapter in American history is the story of the making and ratifying of the Constitution of the United States. The challenge before the Constitutional Convention was to draft a document that would harness political power in a responsible fashion. The direction of the young country&apo...

In the movie "Clear and Present Danger" is a movie about a secret coalition being sent into Columbia illegally. A close friend of the President and his family are murdered aboard their yacht in the Caribbean, setting off a chain of events that leads Jack Ryan, Deputy Director of the CIA., ...

Johnson -1- THE BILL OF RIGHTS By the end of the eighteenth century, the majority of Americans had come to believe that government was created by citizens who consent to live under its laws in order to protect their rights of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." They also fe...

SEPARATION OF POWERS Over two hundred years ago our Founding Fathers gathered in Philadelphia, PA to rewrite the constitution. In rewriting the Constitution there was one change that they wanted to make above all. That was within this new government there would be a Separation of Pow...

1. During the 1800's, when the nation was newly formed, the country was unsure as to how much power should the federal government attain. Some people believed that it should have limited power, only the ones listed in the constitution. These were the views of the strict constructionist. The loo...

FDR's Running for a third term When you first start thinking about Franklin Delano Roosevelt you might think of the New Deal, fireside chats, or possibly the United States role in World War II. Throughout Roosevelt's Rein as president, he has had to make many decisions possible more than any ...

In 1800, President John Adams lost his bid for re-election. Thomas Jefferson was voted in for the president. Adams, being a Federalist, disagreed with the beliefs of Jefferson, a republican, and feared that he would shift the power in the government to the states. To prevent this, Adams created many...

Boy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale No. 99-699 Argued April 26, 200- Decided June 28, 2000 In order to explain this court case and why it is so important, it is necessary to look at the history behind it. In July of 1990 James Dale an assistant scoutmaster, and Boy Scout since age eight, was i...

Gun Control Government 2301 02 November 1996 A Well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms , shall not be infringed. Amendment II, Bill of Rights ...

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born on March 15, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, Nathan, was a furrier and her mother, Celia, had a strong passion for reading, language and love of books. Ruth had an older sister, Marilyn, who died of Meningitis. She attended James Madis...

Gun Control Government 2301 02 November 1996 A Well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms , shall not be infringed. Amendment II, Bill of R...

One of the most famous supreme court cases of all time took place in Maryland in 1818. The case was between James W. McCulloch vs. the state of Maryland. This was around the time that the big and small state plans were being determined and national and state laws were blurry in how much power each o...

By the mid-20th century, racial tensions had escalated and demonstrations swelled for voting rights and school integration. Beginning with the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 lead by Reverend Martin Luther King, conflicts between the Civil Rights movement and those who would fight to maintain "the...

One of the biggest problems when facing a new government is the economic problems. Because of the revolution, the federal government had acquired a huge debt of $54 million, including interest, not to mention that the states owed another $25 million. The United States was in need of a new financial...

The First Amendment: Our Guarantee of Individual Rights In 1777, the Continental Congress adopted a set of rules known as the Articles of Confederation. From these meager beginnings sprang thirteen states and a promise of a representational government. Twelve years later congress ratified ...

The Separation of Church and State in America Church and State seem to be two words which are entirely inseparable from each other. Religion in politics and the government has been present since the federal government was first put into place. The issue of religion is present in such varied top...

The Separation of Church and State in America Church and State seem to be two words which are entirely inseparable from each other. Religion in politics and the government has been present since the federal government was first put into place. The issue of religion is present in such varied top...

The Pledge of Allegiance is spoken daily in many schools throughout the United States. During the last several years this fact has become a source of contempt for many parents, who do not promote a particular religious belief in their homes. Reciting wording specific to a particular set of religio...

Marbury v. Madison,5 U.S.137 (1801): The Decision of Powers Facts of the Case The Federalists carried the majority of the power in the 1800 election, both in the Congress and the election of John Adams as President. The following election, it became apparent that the Federalists would lose c...

Cruel and unusual punishment is the term used to describe criminal punishment which is considered unacceptable due to the suffering or humiliation it causes on the person. Cruel and unusual punishment has a very long history and is now noted in the constitution. There are several cases that deal wit...

James Madison once said, "A people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power that knowledge gives. A popular government without the means of acquiring information is a prologue to a tragedy." It is because I agree with Madison that I stand in strong affirmation ...

With the signature of Executive Order 10925 in 1961, President John F. Kennedy created the President's Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity, and thus, began transforming the world of minorities, woman and the handicapped to equal existence with Caucasian males (Shelton 10). Still, this wa...

What would happen if you were caught with a bag of pot at school?? What about a gun?? Now what do you think would happen if you were caught giving thanks for your food in the school cafeteria, or reading your Bible in your spare time?? Since 1962 the Supreme Court has prohibited prayer, bible readin...

Free Speech VS. Hate Speech Most Americans would like to think that the United States is a place open to diversity with room for everyone. The fact is, hate is a huge block to this vision, and the atrocities of Mathew Shepard and James Byrd grow by the day increasing the search for a remedy. We...

Thomas Jefferson, the American icon, is best remembered as the author of our Declaration of Independence and as a great president. Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, at Shadwell plantation in western Virginia. He later went on to excel in school and graduated at William and Mary College in Virg...