Founding Fathers Essay, Research Paper

Some people see the Founders of our constitution as capitalists,

out only

to benefit themselves and their bank accounts, and yet others see them

as

people who were only out to benefit the actual people of the United

States.

In my opinion, every man that was involved with writing the

constitution was

a little of both. Each was out to better his situation, yet I also

believe

that each was out to better the actual public s interests. All in all

the

Founders agreed upon a great document which set up a well rounded

government

for our new country.

Each of the Founders was of high statute in society and also most

were

very well educated. Thirteen of the delegates were businessmen,

merchants,

or shippers, six were major land speculators, eleven speculated in

securities

in large scales, twelve owned or managed slave-operated plantations or

large

farms, nine of the men derived most of their income form public office,

three

were retired, and only two were actual small farmers. Most of these

men had

other professions as well, such as physicians, lawyers, ministers, and

scholars. A small number of the delegates were wealthy as well as a

number

of them had been born into leading families. As can be seen, each of

these

men had great amounts to gain from a strong central government, but yet

still

great amounts to lose. Promoting this strong central government, to

some was

great because it allowed for their businesses to be protected and

allowed for

one single type of currency for the entire country. Both of these were

benefits to the Founders because it allowed them to make money in all

ways.

But in return it could also hurt them by putting restrictions upon how

they

conduct business and how much they could charge for certain things.

Yet in spite of all of this, all of these men had seen the despair

of the

poor and knew that if something was not done soon and their government

collapsed that everything that they had fought for in the Revolutionary

War

would be gone. Some of these men had fought for such the cause and

would

sacrifice everything to keep what they had fought so hard to achieve.

Even though knowing all of this each Founder knew that in order to

create

a government that would function without glitch their greatest weapon

would

be that of compromise. There were two plans that were placed upon the

table

to which the opposing side liked, the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey

Plan.

The Virginia Plan was a government which would benefit mostly the

larger

states. It called for a strong central government with three branches,

the

legislative, executive, and the judicial branches. Each of these

branches

was to have its own power inwhich it could act. The legislative branch

was

to hold complete power on all things inwhich the individual states were

not

capable of acting. This branch could also veto any state laws that it

felt

necessary to do. This branch was to be comprised of to houses, the

House and

the Senate, inwhich one was directly elected by the people and the

other

being appointed by the house chosen by the state legislature. The

executive

and judiciary branches were to be appointed by a national legislature.

To

control the power for the national legislature, this plan enacted to

allow

the executive branch as well as some of the judiciary branch the power

to

veto any act of the legislature, all of this being part of the system

inwhich

we call checks and balances. The New Jersey Plan, on the other hand

benefited that of the smaller states by proposing that each state

should get

only one vote in congress, thus making every state equal.

In the end everyone was forced to use their greatest weapon,

compromise.

This compromise was in entirety to satisfy the smaller states. It

stated

that one house of congress would be directly elected by the people and

would

be based on the population of the state. While on the other hand the

other

house of congress would consist of two members from each state that

would be

chosen by the state legislature. After this Great compromise there

were

still many issues that were still in conflict, one being that of the

president and how he would be chosen. Some thought that the president

should

be selected by Congress while others thought that he should be directly

elected by the people. In the end compromise was used again. This

time the

Founders decided to make an Electoral College inwhich each state

would

decide who would get its electoral votes by having an a popular vote,

and

whoever had the most electoral votes in the end became president.

Another

compromise had to be made over the issue of slavery. The southern

states had

a large population of slaves which were not considered free men, thus

the

northern states did not want to count them as part of the population.

By

doing so this would decrease the number of representatives the southern

states had in the house. Yet again another compromise had to be made.

This

compromise was called the three-fifths compromise. This agreement said

that

only three-fifths of the slave population would count towards the

population

that decided how many representatives were given in the house. Thus

throughout the convention every Founder in some way or another was

forced to

make some kind of compromise.

Many people have had differing views on the Constitution itself.

Some

say that it was simply a way for capitalists to gain more power and

wealth

for themselves, while others see the constitution as a holy writing

that

produced a strong government inwhich everything can thus function. In

my

opinion the Founders did a great thing by producing such a marvelous

document

which makes them heroes. This agrees with what John Fiske and Clinton

Rossiter once said.

By hero I mean a leader of men who engages with clear eye and

stout

heart in an uncertain enterprise for some purpose larger than the

gratification of his ambition or the rewarding of his own friends,

and

whose deeds work a benevolent influence on the lives of countless

other

men….

As many have seen the Founders made some good some bad decisions by

which

each may have had some personal gain from. Yet as we know these men

not only

looked to help themselves but to also help everyone in the country.

None of

these men were tyrants looking to feather their own nests but instead

to help

others and contrive a working government inwhich all the things that

every

citizen hold dear were retained. These men may have been looking to

help

themselves but as you can see they were also looking to help the entire

country.

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