The U.S. Constitution

The Constitution of the United States of America is much more than just a historic document, an antique curiosity. Although over 200 years old, it still governs the politics of one of the mightiest modern nations. It is this Constitution that keeps the complex mechanism of democracy running so smoothly.

The Constitution was the end product of a revolutionary movement aimed at preserving existing liberties. That movement began with the Declaration of Independence, a proclamation that everyone is entitled to certain rights (among them, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness) and that government exists for the welfare of its citizens, who have the right to rebel whenever their rights are denied.

War with the British Empire was only part of the process of independence. Some form of government was needed to replace the British monarchy. The Americans chose a republic, and defined the structure of that republic in the Articles of Confederation. The Articles in themselves were too weak to provide the government with the power to deal with disorder and insurrection, but their merit was that they guaranteed the states their independence and had set the foundation stone for the later Constitution.

The Constitution was the second attempt at government. It created a strong national government, acting as regards the will of the people. The document written, work began on ratification. A major stumbling block was the Constitution's failure to list the individual liberties the Americans had fought to protect. With the promise of a bill of rights, the Constitution was ratified. The ten amendments that constituted the Bill of Rights, guaranteed participation in the political life, personal belief, and personal privacy anomg others. They also embodied guarantees against government over-reaching in criminal prosecutions.

The Constitution was designed to strike a balance between order and freedom. It was not designed to promote equality, in fact it had to be redesigned to redress inequality. The framers did not set out to create democracy. Nevertheless, they produced a democratic form of government, remarkably well suited to the pluralist model of democracy.