In class today we discussed the role of the people in shaping the Constitution of the United States. The video we watched gave a brief explanation of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. We also discussed the ratification process.
To Do:
1. Read the "Get Off Our Backs" document from our Civics Wiki.
2. Comment on this blog post by answering all of the following questions:
- If the 1787 Constitution were presented today, would it be ratified (approved)? Why or why not?
- What issues are the same now as in 1787?
- What issues are different?
1. I think that it would be improved because we have a lot more technology that helps us. We are smarter and would have a lot more ideas. We would be improving because we would not have the Britain’s nagging on us to pay them for stuff.
ReplyDelete2. We are both going through problems. Us and our economy them and trying to separate from England. We both have the same set of rules that we want for our country.
3. Well the people in 1787 were boycotting England. They were also trying to create a colony while we already have a place to live. They had to worry about a lot more stuff then us. We are in an economic crisis and they barley have an economy of their own.
I think that if the constitution were presented today it would be rejected because it still had some work to be done on it and it doesn't go with our political system. It has some things that people wouldn't approve of or agree with. I’m not saying that everyone wouldn't like the bill but I think the majority would be against it. If they had a modified version of it the document might be widely accepted.
ReplyDeleteIssues today that the bill addresses are things like equal rights, freedom of speech and things about equality.
I think that some of the issues that are different are global warming, illegal immigration, job loss and restoration, keeping peace and other big things like that. The problems of today’s society are so different to those of the old world. I think that our government has enough to deal with without another law that states some of the core foundations of the U.S. that already exist!
-Albert
If the constitution were presented today, it would not be ratified. Today's culture is much different than the 1700's. There is no slavery, no wooden ships for trading, and our military today would put down any rebellion. Freedom is still a big issue today as it was in the 1700's. This includes freedom of taxes, control, and many other things. Today's issues are in the Middle East while back in the 1700's it was in America.
ReplyDeleteJacob H.
I think that if the 1787 Constitution was presented today, it would not be accepted by very many people. Besides not addressing many important freedoms today such as women's rights, segregation, and slavery, it also is missing out on many important points. The Bill of Rights would be necessary for the 1787 constitution to even be considered. Today we are much more advanced, so we have different issues. One of the current ones going on is "Violent Video Games: Should We Put More Restrictions on Them??" Is a current one I heard of a couple days ago. That particular circumstance would NOT have happened in the 1700's.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of freedom, whether political or economical is still a big issue in the world today. Most of the wars lately have been over freedom and protection, like the war in Iraq. Even though the U.S. has Freedoms of Speech, Assembly, and others, there are places like North Korea where a Communist government can really impact your life. There, they do not have many rights. And I welcome anyone to prove my opinion wrong, but I think that they are not treated like equal human beings.
However, most issues are different back then than they are now. For example, most of our arguments are based on technology now available. In the 1700's, they didn't have any of that. Plus, the U.S. was just starting then, whilst it is almost 250 years old now. They had governmental issues such as "How are we going to get people to read the constitution??". But nowadays, our political argument usually deal with senators and policians.
I think if the constitution were presented today it would not be passed at first, I do think it would be passed eventually, however it would not be passed right away, because the constitution was not perfect, it still had to have a bill of rights added to it, and people don’t usually enjoy making huge changes to their government all at one time.
ReplyDeleteWe’re still concerned today with many problems in our government and we always want to make sure we keep our freedom, however there are a lot of problems we face today that we didn’t face in 1787 such as, the economy, global warming, finding alternate energy sources, and the war on terrorism.
-Jake
If the constitution was presented today it might be ratified. Because of our weak economy, we could use something new. The constitution might not be ratified though, because we alredy have a strongset of laws.
ReplyDeleteIssues that are the same are 1) Money. They left in search for gold, and the king was always trying to get more money. 2)Buying rights. The King was forcing the colonists to buy, like our government makes us pay taxes.
Different issues are 1) A king. They had a king, while we have a government. 2)Access to materials. We can get almost any raw materials, but they needed to get materials other ways.
I think that if the constitution was presented today, it would not be passed because our society is way different then it was back then. In 1787, there were a lot of different issues then today such as women’s rights and slavery. Today there is a bunch of issues like the economy and the war on terrorism. With so many different problems today then back then; I just can’t see the constitution being ratified.
ReplyDeleteWe still deal with some of the same reasons today, freedom, war, and just overall with the government. But with so many differences, it'd take a long time to improve it. Over half the things that are "wrong" or not good now in time weren’t a problem in 1787. Also, I don’t see anyone in the near future getting together like they did in 1787 to make this huge document again or to just change it, it would take up too much time. Finally, Americans wouldn’t want so many changes at once.
I feel that if the constitution were presented today, it wouldn't be accepted. We don't have slavery and women's rights issues, and it doesn't bring up any of our technology issues that they obviously wouldn't have in the 1700s. We both had wars overseas, heavy taxes, and freedom issues (though not as many). Today, we have more technological issues, that Americans in the 1700s wouldn't have, and we have job loss, stock market issues, illegal immigration, global warming that they also did not have to deal with.
ReplyDeleteIf the constitution was presented today i think it would not be approved because times have changed since 1787. There aren't as many problems going on in America like there were back in the 1700s. All the problems are across seas and mexico and those areas. and the problems there are here are not the same as way back then.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Constitution would not be ratified. The reason I think this is because we have changed so much. We have gone from ships to airplanes, horse and buggy to brand new cars. I just don’t think it would fit in.
ReplyDeleteSome issues that are the same as they were in the 1700s are that people have to pay taxes. People were having a hard time agreeing with all the things that the government says and does.
Some things that are different is that there is no slavery. Also we have better transportation than they did in the 1700s. We also have a equal way of voting.
I think that moving into the future we have a great chance of having a great government! I also think that we will find better ways to create peace and freedom for all people in some way!
-Megan
I think the constitution would be rejected because there is more work to be done ,and it's present day where people are doing all kinds of stuff so there is no way it would make it. There is still war ,still problems with freedom ,and still racism. We are a bigger country so we aren't in trouble of being atacked ,we have enough food to keep us healthy ,and we don't use slaves.
ReplyDeleteI think that it would be ratified today, because we still have the bill of rights, except we don’t have slavery. Today we also have fair voting. I think that if today we redid the declaration of independence, and the bill of rights, it would be better!
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ReplyDeleteI believe that if the constitution were to be presented today, it would be approved, because we are still a country founded on the belief that all men are born equal, and that we have a right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.
ReplyDeleteWe still have war, and while not as severe as it used to be, we also have racism.
Nowadays women are allowed their rights, which is a very big difference in the issues of now and then.