Perhaps the biggest significance of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the U. S. Constitution was that they were all documents that established the foundation for America in how it would be run by government. The Declaration of Independence was drafted by our nation’s Founders around the ideas they had for how government should exist. It was important because it established the foundation upon how government would exist for the sake and benefit of the people it represented under the premise that all men are created equal. It was the first semblance of representation for individual citizens’ rights in American history.
The Articles of Confederation was considered the first official document that outlined how the U. S. government should be defined. It was drafted in response to the philosophies that arose from the American Revolution, with particular emphasis on the challenges surrounding a democracy in government. The Articles of Confederation was established as a temporary solution in defining the framework of the nation during an eight year period that enabled its citizens to be enlightened and educated on the workings of government and how it should be run.
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The U. S. Constitution dictated how the government would be established and set forth laws that gave American citizens basic rights (history.com). Where the Articles of Confederation had previously been America’s first official document outlining how government should be run, the U. S. Constitution solidified a stronger government by through the establishment and integration of the three branches of government; executive, legislative, and judicial.
All three documents held major significance in tying up the loose ends that existed within American society before their implementation. According to Smith (1997) “Both the Articles and the Constitution established “federal” systems of multiple sovereigns whose continued existence was constitutionally guaranteed” (p. 255). It further determined the scope of political authority. Under the Articles, authority was granted to the states and under the Constitution its authority was gained from both the states and the people it represented.
The term ‘We the People’ is found in the Preamble of the U. S. Constitution and serves as an identifier of those who are responsible for upholding the values, statues, and rulings of the Constitution. The Framers of the Constitution believed the people should have certain inalienable rights without fear, threat, or harm of having their rights violated or removed. Some of these rights are freedom of speech, right to bear arms, freedom of religion, etc. These rights gave the people the freedom to conduct themselves in accordance with the Constitution without fear of prosecution.
As the Constitution’s Preamble states, “We the People in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity”, sums up what rights the people have and the objectives of the Constitution. In essence it means that We the People is the government and the citizens working as a collective whole to ensure the directives in the Constitution are carried out.
The term “American” has changed dramatically from whence it was first used to describe America’s citizens. When thinking about what it means to be an American, the first thought is it means freedom. America is the only country in the world that has the liberties and freedoms that we do. In recent years that freedom has been threatened due to ever-changing Socialist agendas that are as un-American as they come. Freedom and liberty have often been interchangeable in both their meaning and use throughout history. However, as times continue to evolve and the American landscape changes to accommodate the influx of illegal immigrants and a myriad of other changes, these terms are slowly coming to mean something more than what they originally stood for.
American society has been a continuum of ongoing experimental ideologies in the name of progression which has detracted from the core meaning and intent of what the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the U.S. Constitution had in mind when they were written and established. In that regard, “the history of American freedom is a tale of debates, disagreements, and struggles rather than a set of timeless categories or an evolutionary narrative toward a preordained goal” (digitalhistory.org). The idea of freedom, however, continues to remain a core philosophy to the American landscape of politics and culture despite how debated and contested it may be.
