A nation is born Forming a Government

On the bright morning of November 25, 1783, the last British soldiers were leaving the harbour of New York. An American flag was being raised. The war was over, but there was much to do. Thirteen states had made up a new nation. They needed a new government.

Confederation. In the summer of 1776 Thomas Jefferson was writing the Declaration of Independence. At the same time, other members of the Second Continental Congress were planning the new nation’s government. The 13 states joined together into a confederation.

It was decided to set up an organization which would work out the laws of the country. This organization was called Congress. Each state would send representatives to Congress. These representatives would choose a leader. Congress and its leader would make up the nation’s government.

Congress worked out a system of adding new states to the original thirteen states. It was decided that when the population of any area grew to 60,000, the area could become a state. For example: in later years five new states were formed from the Northwest Territory: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. (The Northwest Territory was the region west of Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio River.)

Convention. Many members of Congress realized that a clear and exact system of governing the country had to be worked out. They decided to call a nation-wide meeting, or convention. Each state was asked to send representatives to this convention.

The delegates of the Convention decided that Congress would have two parts, or houses, as the parts were called. One house was called the House of Representatives. The other house was called the Senate. Each state would have two members in the Senate. The membership in the House of Representatives would be based on the size of population.

Three branches of government. The delegates wanted to set up a government that would be effective, but at the same time not too powerful. To do this, they created a government of three branches. Each branch would have its own powers. In addition, each branch of government could limit the power of the other two. With the power of government so divided, no single branch would become too powerful.

Congress would be the lawmaking, or legislative, branch. Its members, in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, would make the laws. Congress could also declare war and form armies.

The President would be the executive branch. The President would sign, or refuse to sign, the laws that Congress made. When a law was signed, the President would make sure that it was carried out. The President would also appoint other people to help him in carrying out the laws. Another important power of the President was to be commander- in-chief of the armed forces of the United States.

The third branch of government would be the law-examining, or judicial, branch. Judges would make sure that the laws passed by Congress and signed by the President were in agreement with the Constitution. The most important body of the judicial branch was the Supreme Court.

The Constitution. In 1790 the Constitution (the basic law of the country) was adopted by Congress. In 1791 ten amendments were added to the Constitution. These ten amendments are known as The Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights declares that the national government will protect the basic rights and freedoms of every American citizen.