From Give Me Liberty and Readings in US History: "American Constitution," discuss how the US Constitution fixed the flaws of the Articles of Confederation. What, can you deduce from the text of the US Constitution is the status of African Americans, slaves, and, runaways?

 

Answer:

The first published constitution of the United States was The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. Written in 1777, its development was hampered by concerns of central control and widespread land claims by states, resulting from wartime urgency. Until March 1, 1781, it was not ratified. 27 September 2019

The United States Constitution established the national government and fundamental laws of America, and guaranteed its people certain basic rights. It was signed in Philadelphia by delegates to the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787. The national government was weak under America's first legal text, the Articles of Confederation, and states acted like autonomous countries. Delegates established a proposal for a stronger federal government at the 1787 convention with three branches: executive, legislative and judicial, together with a system of controls and balances to ensure that no single branch would have to be.

In 1781, when the country was a loose confederation of nations, each functioning as separate countries, America's first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, was ratified. A single legislature, the Congress of the Confederation, established the national government; no president or judicial branch existed. The Articles of Confederation, America's first constitution, was ratified in 1781, a time when the country was a loose confederation of nations, each acting as separate countries. A single legislature, the Congress of the Confederation, formed the national government; no president or judicial branch existed. After America gained its independence from Great Britain with its victory in the American Revolution in 1783, it became increasingly clear that in order to stay intact, the young nation needed a stronger central government. In 1786, a lawyer and politician from New York, Alexander Hamilton, called for a constitutional convention to discuss the matter. The Confederation Congress, which adopted the idea in February 1787, invited all 13 states to send delegates to a Philadelphia conference.

On May 25, 1787, at the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence had been adopted 11 years earlier, the Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia. There were 55 delegates, representing all 13 states, with the exception of Rhode Island, who declined to send representatives because they did not want a strong central government to interfere with their economic activities. George Washington, who after leading the continent, became a national hero.

The delegates had been tasked by Congress to amend the Articles of Confederation before discussing a Constitution; however, they soon began deliberating plans for an entirely new form of government. They formed a proposal that created three branches of national government-executive, legislative and judicial after intense debate, which lasted during the summer of 1787 and at times threatened to derail the proceedings.

Slavery was another controversial subject. While the practice had already begun to be outlawed by some northern states, they went along with the insistence of the southern states that slavery was a matter for individual states to determine and should be left out of the Constitution. Many northern delegates claimed that the South would not join the Union without agreeing to this. It was determined that enslaved for the purpose of taxation and deciding how many representatives a state should send to Congress. There have been thousands of suggested changes to the Constitution to date. In addition to the Bill of Rights, however only 17 amendments have been ratified since the procedure is not easy-after a constitutional amendment makes it through Congress, three-fourths of states have to ratify it. Article XXVII, the most recent amendment to the Constitution dealing with legislative pay increases, was drafted in 1789 and adopted in 1992.