Free Essay: Constitution and the Mixed States

A mixed government or constitution refers to a structure of government that merges elements of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, thus deterring any respective degenerations that get devised as tyranny, oligarchy, and anarchy. The monarchial system of government refers to one in which a single person is the sovereign ruler and obtains the position via heredity. An aristocratic system of government, on the other hand, refers to one in which a particular group who consider themselves unique holds power over the rest. However, a democratic system of government is one in which many hold power (Franklin, 2017). The original 1787 constitution varies from the constitution the states are having in the new century. Elements of monarchial, aristocratic, and democratic features are identified in it, as explained below.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

According to Aristotle, the system used by the Greek states was aristocratic in that some people were not permitted the joy of exploiting their full citizen rights. Only specific categories were like, for instance, allowed to make rulings. Foreigners, slaves, and women were denied their rights as full citizens, and the rich controlled by their ambitions took advantage of the less fortune where else they considered themselves as people of honor and wisdom; thus, equality failed to get practiced. The system of government used was aristocratic since a group of individuals took part in implementing changes. According to the 1787 constitution, however, this element of aristocracy has found significant use in most of the sectors (Franklin, 2017). Like for instance, in Article I, section 1, the Congress, which majorly consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate are given the mandate to make laws alone. The House of Representatives and the Senate make laws solely without consulting the people meaning the system of government used here is aristocratic since the two hold the power that they use to govern the people.

Yet another example from the 1787 constitution is in Article III, where the supreme court is mandated to possess all the judicial power even over Congress. The supreme court gets taken to be the most superior of all, and the say of the judges is final (Franklin, 2017). They are responsible for handling all state cases. In the case of killings in a state, the supreme court is responsible for investigating and bringing the criminals into justice irrespective of their position.

According to Aristotle, a state is democratic if the people get given the freedom of electing leaders of their choice. Unlike in aristocratic government, a democratic government provides every person with his/her full citizenship right. In a democratic government, as Aristotle describes, it is one in which individuals have not to qualify to fit in. In the 1787 constitution, however, the element of democracy has been demonstrated in various sections (Franklin, 2017). For example, in Article I section 2, it gets stated that the House of Representatives comprises members who are chosen by people. The people here can make their own decisions depending on the member's qualifications. Power and authority get given to the people, which makes it democratic. The people chose their House representative every two years in office (Franklin, 2017). At least one representative was to come for every state. In cases where a vacancy in this field occurs, the Executive Authority is the person responsible for calling for an election. All bills associated with revenue-raising originates in the Representative house, although the Senate may differ or concur with Bill's amendments.

Another excellent example of democracy in the original constitution is in the case of the president. The people of the state are responsible for electing or voting for the person they want to lead them. The House of Representatives and the Senate give ruling depending on the number of votes. The two house counts the votes, and one with more votes emerges the winner. The elector with the highest number of votes automatically becomes the vice president. In cases where two electors have the same amount of votes, the Senate is responsible for electing the vice through balloting. The president and the vice serve in office for four years, after which they can go back to balloting and seek a second term. The president must be a United States full citizen either by birth or adoption. The elected president is given the role of a chief commander and is also capable of making treaties with the permission of the Senate. For the president's amendments to be passed by the Senate, 2/3 of the house must agree with it (Franklin, 2017). Finally, the president has the power of filling up unoccupied position which may get encountered during Senate's Recess. Only when the president and his vice get caught up with bribery cases, treason, conviction, and maybe have committed a high-level crime can they get impeached.

According to Aristotle, the city-state is a population of citizen bodies in a territory that is guided by a constitution. The law amenders fashion the constitution, and politicians govern it. The lawmakers, through the selfish drive, may amend laws that act on their favor as they, in turn, oppress the less fortunate. It is from the definition of a form of monarchial governance. From the constitution, however, the Senate has power over people's money (Franklin, 2017). A monarchial government can get seen when they over budget for their financial gain. By doing so, they will fail to consider the rest of the citizens.

Changes in the Constitution since 1789

The 1787 constitution has some defects in that it fails to have the central authority from foreign, domestic commerce and lacks the ability of Congress to collect and raise money, which results in Congress endorsing a method to draft the current constitution. The first change that have occurred is in the presidency (Currie, 1997). A president of the earlier days had minimal roles since most of the powers were allocated to the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Congress. The president was to check the Congress like in the case of veto but this rarely happened. A good example is in the case of Washington who made use of veto powers ones and in other cases like that of Jefferson and Adams who never used it at all. After the 1789 however, the presidents began recognizing their roles and powers to which they hold. Presidents had a voice and capabilities of advocating for changes like in the case of progressive agenda; it is the president who advocated for it. Initially, Congress was the one delegated the role of choosing a president whom they saw fit. The president was to serve under them. However, after the 1789, parties arose and initiated presidential nominees (Currie, 1997). In turn, members of a political party were given power over the Congress, and the public could now participate in the nomination processes. The change, however, gave the citizens more democratic powers of choosing the president of their choice.

The United States is a multi-racial state, and from the earlier days, it gets shown how the whites took advantage of the blacks due to their skin color and oppressed them. The passing of the 13th amendment, however, in 1865, slavery got abolished. After then, the blacks were now able to have freedom just as the whites and could move from one place to the other. Any white who got found to practice any form of slavery after the amendment was to face the court of law where they were to serve a jail term (Currie, 1997). Congress, under its powers, passed a bill which was to advocate for equality. Blacks got denied the right to vote due to their social status. After the passing of the civil rights, blacks got entirely given the power to participate in polls and exercise their democratic rights of electing the leaders of their choice just as the whites.

In conclusion, the original constitution indeed had elements of monarchial, aristocratic, and democratic features, as explained above. The features got mainly observed in the power allocation of government institutions. However, after the year 1789, various changes in how power gets allocated to multiple individuals are thought to differ from the original powers assigned to them in the first constitution, as explained in the case of the presidency and slavery case.

References

Currie, D. P. (1997). The Constitution in Congress: The Federalist Period, 1789-1801. University of Chicago Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=nC4KbZVBeYgC&oi=fnd&pg=IA5&dq=Constitution+after+1789&ots=OlRNKOx5Fx&sig=sZiTo6bUumufGLu-tjANzVuDWHM

Franklin, J. H. (2017). Sovereignty and the mixed constitution: Bodin and his critics. In Jean Bodin (pp. 21-51). Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315092331/chapters/10.4324/9781315092331-2