American Law: We the people...

We, the people...

United States Constitution - The Supreme Law

We were born equal but we are all different. Everyone has a different attitude to morality. So what is the distinction between us humans and wild animals? Animals live according to the law of the jungle - the survival of the fittest. No one, however, wants to imagine a world in which this 'law' applies for human beings, too.

Our laws maintain our order. The reasonable ones guide our behaviour and enable living together in peace.

Every country enacted laws that tell the people living in the respective country how to co-operate with one another. There are, however, not only laws applicable for the co-operation among ourselves but also, for instance, in what way a country is to be governed.

A Young Nation's Road To Its Constitution

The foundation of today's American legal system is its Constitution. Let's get back to the beginning and see how it all started...

The thirteen Colonies had come a long way until they gained their complete independence in 1783.

America's first constitution was the Articles of Confederation which was drafted in 1776/1777 and ratified by the states in 1781. They kept the central government's power to a minimum, i. e. the Confederation Congress could make decisions, but lacked enforcement powers to carry them out.

The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) was preceded by fierce combats and the American Revolutionary War or War of Independence was still raging on when the Colonies had already cut the ties with the British Crown themselves:

Great Britain did not want to lose its Colonies - Money rules the world!

Why did the American population want to be independent?

After Britain defeated France in the French and Indian War which had taken place between 1756 and 1763 it had to recoup the great costs thereby incurred. The British government therefore imposed and raised taxes as well as charges in the Colonies of the New World to reduce its debts. Over the course of the following years, the tensions built up unbearably and the situation exacerbated, various protest movements arouse until the powder keg finally blew up in Lexington on April 19, 1775.

After numerous battles, for example in Trenton, Saratoga and Yorktown, the war eventually came to an end in Paris in 1783 when representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America signed the Treaty of Paris on 3 September. This treaty, along with the separate peace treaties between the British and the nations that supported the American cause, are known collectively as the Peace of Paris.

The Articles of Confederation was proving more and more inappropriate to serve the difficult task of uniting the diverse interests of the various states as this constitution paralysed Congress which could do nothing without nine states, and some legislation even required approval of all thirteen. It is impossible for a country to operate and work under such circumstances, hence it was high time someone did something to replace the Articles. On this account, drafting the United States Constitution began in 1787 and it was ratified or in other words accepted in June, 1788. The United States of America finally had a solid constitution when it came into force in 1789.

The aim of the Constitution is to set up the government and to protect the basic rights of Americans.

"We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

This is the Preamble to the Constitution and the way it starts means that the power of the government comes from the people. The short statement, however, is only about the purpose of the Constitution itself and does not prohibit actions or grant any rights.

The original frame consists of this Preamble and Seven Articles which separate the government into three branches: executive (President and Vice-President), legislative (Congress, i. e. the Senate and the House of Representatives) and judicial (the court system with the Supreme Court being the highest court). The system of 'Checks and Balances' is to prevent one branch from becoming supreme or too powerful. These are the first three articles. Article Four describes the relation between the states as well as the relation between the federal government and each state.

It is difficult but not impossible to add changes to the Constitution. These changes are called Amendments and Article Five outlines the amending process. There have been 27 of them so far. The first ten are known as the Bill of Rights. You will read more about them in our next entry.

The Constitution, as well as all federal laws and treaties of the United States made according to it, is established in Article Six to be the supreme law of the land. This implies that no federal law has more validity than this document.

And in the end: Article Seven.

It contains the requirements for a successful ratification of the United States Constitution. At least nine states have to approve the draft to become the Supreme Law - this happened on June 21, 1788 when New Hampshire was the ninth state to sign the document. After the ratification, George Washington was elected the first President of the United States in February 1789.

Government took up employment shortly afterwards on March 4, 1789.