An Illustrated History of the USA

EvenFran ce. theallyo f th eAmerican sd uringth e
Watofln d cpcu den ce.re fusedto reco gniz eCong ress
asa realgovernment.Thomasj eff erso n.nowth e
Am eri can rcprcscnranvcin France,wrote ho m esad ly
that t heUnitedStateswasth e leastimport antand
least respectedofallthenations wit he mbassiesin
Pans.

M anyA me ricansbecameworriedaboutthefuture.
Howcouldthcvw inthetrustofother nationsifth ey
refused to pay theirdebts?H o wcould the Count ry
pro sperif thestatescontin ued toq uarrelamong
th erusclv csfGeorgeWash ing to n wasu suall y all
optimist.B utevenhew ro te :" I p red i cttheworst
cotlSequellcesfroma half-s tarved.limpin g
government, alw aysm ovingon crut chesand
to tt ering at everystep."

Itwasclear t hatfo r theUnitedStat esto sur vi vethere
wouldhavc tobe.' cha ngesin the Articlcsof
Confed erat ion. In February 1787,Congressask ed
each statetosend delegat esto ameetingo r
"conven tion;"inPhilad elp hia totalkabout such
changes.T hesmalleststate,Rhod eIslan d ,refu sed ,
buttheothertwelveagreed. Themeetingbecame
known astheConstitutionalConvention.ItbeganIII
M ayI7H7, andfifty-fivem enattended.Theychose
CcorgcWashington 10 leadth eir discuss ions.
Thed elegatestotheCons titutionalConvention
disag reedaboutth e changesth atwereneeded.So m e
wereanxioustoprotecttherightsoftheindividual
stares. Attill"sametim emostwanted a stronger

1'1 F O Il ."II N GTilENewN.\TlON

centralgovernme nt.Allo f th emwererichmen.

T heybelieved that a stro nge rcent ralgovernment

wouldpro tecttheirpropertyand bus inessinter ests.

Theo rigi na lpurposeo f th eCons titu tional

Convc nnonwassimplytor evisetheArt iclesof

C on fed eration. Butthedelega tesd idmort"tha n this.

Theystarte dafreshand workedouta completely

newsystemo fgovernment fortheU ni tedStates.

They set o utth e planfor t hisgovernmentina

documentcalled theC onst itutionOftheU I/itedS tiltes.

TheCon stitutiongavetheU nit edStaresa " federal"

system ofgovern me n t.Afedera lsystemis one in

which th epower 10 ruleISshared .A central.o r

federal,au th o rity hassomeofit andtill'rest is inthe

h and soflocal authori ties ill th e separateregionsthat

m akeuptheco un try.

T henewC o ns titut ion still left th e individualstate

govern ment swith awideran geofpowers.Hutit

m ad ethefederalgovernmen tmuchstrongerthan

before.Itgan'it thepo wer tocollecttaxes,to

organ izearm edfo rces,tomake treaties withfo reign

countries andtocontrol tradeofall kinds.

TheConstitmionmadearrangementsfortheelection

ofa nat io nalleader calledthePr esid en tto takecharge

ofth e federalgovernment.Hewouldhead th e

"execu tive"sideofthen ati o n 'sgovernment.It

would be hisjob to runthecountry'severydayaffairs

andtosecthaipeopleobeyedth e laws.

THE LEGISLATIVE

BRANCH

Senate

..'-..

S ec.etaries-

appoi nt edb~

t heP r eSident

THEJUOICIAJj)' ~~

BRANCH , _ H _.

/--'""

E~plainsandi nt er p ret stheLaw s

andtheConstitution

V ice -P resid e nt

• elect ed.....it h
  t he Pres ident

CONGRESS THEPRESIDENT

Eleel

I

THESUPREMECOURT

A p po in t ed by the Pre side ntw it h

theadvice andconsentoft ho

Senate

Tnrl l ruCIIl rr.1".rntu·

~'vrn""n!'.

ElectoralVot ers

Elect --1 THEPEOPLE~Elect

N .B.Therulesanda rra nge me nt sfor

IheGovernmentoft heU.S.A.shown

herearelaiddownintheCOIIslitutlOfl.

This.....nttendocumentdefinesand

limitsthepo.....e rsofth e Fede ral

Governmentanddiv idest hembelween

theGo ver nme nt'sthreemainbranChes

• Leg islati ve.hec u t ivea ndJudicial.

33