Rufus+King-2

​ Aliana Robichaud March 24, 1755 - April 29, 1827 // Hi! // // Introduction The US constitution was written in 1787 by a group of delagates from all over the US.There where 55 delagates who met in phillidelphia to discuss the ideas they had and to come up with a new gov for the people. They had trouble agreeing on laws due to the many different opinions and set ups of the states and their governments. Rufus King was one person who helped to created this imortal document.
 * //Rufus King// **

Background Info. King was born March 24, 1755// //in Scarboro, in that part of Massachusetts which later became Maine. He received a basic education, and later attended Harvard College. He graduated first in his class in 1777 before moving to Newburyport to study law under Theophilus Parsons. Parsons later became Massachusetts' chief justice. He was a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Gongress. . He ws raised by a loyalist family, but was a fierce patriot. He had a modest upbringing that was the envy of all the neighbors. He was well equipped to handle the posision as delagate due to his background and schooling. He had a legal practice and and was involved in govornment prior to the constitution.// //He later represented New York in the United States Senate, served as// //Minister to Britain, and was the Federalist candidate for both Vice President(1804, 1808) and President (1816).This was the last year the federalist party had a canadate in the race. King was first elected to the Massachusetts state assembly in 1783, and returned each year until 1785. Massachusetts sent him to the Confederation Congress from 1784 to 1787. He was the youngest at the conference.//

//He was a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Congress. He also attended the Constitutional Convention and was one of the signers of the United States Constitution, which was signed on September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was particularly interested in commercial, financial, diplomatic, and military issues.! For King, the abortive uprising not only proved the inherent weakn////ess of the existing government, but completed his conversion to the cause of strong central government. He clearly demonstrated these sentiments when he joined the other delegates as a representative for Massachusetts at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He was the first delegate from New England to reach Philadelphia, and he quickly joined James Madison in leading the fight for a national union on the Convention floor. His ingenius dialogue and clear pragmatism(common sense) helped to win over wavering delegates. After the document was signed, King returned to the Continental Congress, where he worked to secure approval of the// new //Constitution. Then he returned to Massachusetts to act as floor leader in the state's ratification convention. He helped to organize the first bill of rights. //

__DBQ

How Did the Constitution Guard Against Tyranny? __ Tyranny – an unrestrained exercise of power exhibited by a single person/group of people. Why is it that tyranny never took place in the U.S.? James Madison, known as the Father of the Constitution, was a firm believer that tyranny had many forms and that America should not be subjected to any one of them. The writers wanted America to be different from England with equal rights and power. What prevented tyranny in the U.S.? The writers of the Constitution prevented tyranny from taking place in America through federalism, separation of power, checks and balance, and the solution to the big states vs. small states conflict To prevent tyranny, federalism was instituted. Federalism is the idea that decisions of the country are divided into state and federal government powers (doc A). For example, states can establish school and pass marriage /state laws, but federal government is in charge of immigration laws and print money. They both have the **R**power to tax, though (doc A). This sets up a double security for the people by giving them a state and federal government (doc A). This prevented against tyranny because then there are powers that the states have to prevent the federal government from becoming too powerful. At the same time, though, the federal government still has powers equal to the states, and they make the decisions that keep the country united as a nation. Separation of Powers is another way that the writers prevented tyranny. There were three branches, Legislative, Judicial, Executive, which were divided by subject matters (doc B). Legislative makes laws and is made up of the Congress and the House of Representatives. The Judicial approved the laws and the Executive Branch is the President and his cabinet. The President can pass or veto laws as well as many other things (doc B). The Separation of Power into these three branches prevents tyranny by giving each part of the government a specific job and powers that all work together. This prevents any one person/group from becoming too powerful because the 3 groups are equal and unchanging/concrete . The writer of the Constitution prevented tyranny from taking place in the U.S. through a system of checks and balances. The checks and balances put in place by the Constitution are power the branches have over each other to make sure that everything’s fair and equal in the government (doc C).For example, the President can veto any law that the congress makes, but the Congress can overrule him and also has the ability to impeach the President with good enough reason (doc C). As Madison says: “the three branches should not be so far separated as to have no constitutional control over each other.” which is saying that while the three branches are separate for a reason they shouldn’t be so separated that they have no control over each other (doc C). By keeping each other in check, the branches are unable to gain the upper hand at power therefore stopping any tyranny from taking place in the U.S. government. By solving the debate between big and small states, the writers protected America from tyranny. The conflict between small and big states is that they both wanted equal representation in the legislative branch, but they had different ideas of equality. The solution that the writers of the Constitution created was to create two parts to the branch; a House of Representatives (based on population) and a Senate (equal for all) to appease both parties. In the House of Representatives, there is one delegate for every 30,000 people with at least one delegate per state. In the Senate, there are two for each state and they serve six year terms (doc D). This was able to stop tyranny by giving states the power they deserve by population while still giving equal power in other ways to make sure that one group does not get more powerful than the others and so all groups are happy with the outcome. In summary, due to the creation of federalism, separation of power and checks and balances, the writers of the Constitution were able to prevent tyranny in the U.S. Also, the solution to the big states vs. small states conflict helped prevent tyranny. This is significant because without these precautions, America wouldn’t be the same as it is today. We would have a tyrant for a government and it would give Americans no free will. The Constitution gave Americans, and obviously it helped because we are the free country living the dreams .

// Federalism Rufus King was a supported of federalism. He was on board with national powers and was unwavering on his opinions. His strong opinoins helped the federalists to convince unsure delagetes. He was the leader of the fedderalists in the senate as well, and that gave him an advantage. he even ran for president and president as the federalist canadate. He was for federalism completely. //

//Separation of Power He was also is support of separation of power. He wanted a strong central govornment and was totaly in favor of separation of power. It was a way to make sure that his plans did not blow up in his face. King wanted a centrel gov. and was part of the planning, so the separation of power kept things nice and neat for them to keep track of.

Checks and Balances He fully supported checks and balances because the protected him. the checks and balances are like insurance for the gov., so it keep the other branches in line to make sure that nothing goes wrong. King wanted a central gov and this was one way to make sure that his wants were met easily, quickly, and safely.

Big States vs. Little States He supported the little states in the big debate and was all for the solution to the conflict. he was against the 3/5 compromise and slavery. The senate gave every state equal representation, which is something that he was in support of. He was a member of the senate for many years and was a very active advocate for equal rights for all.// //Attendance Record-Rufus King// //This attendence record shows that Rufus King was very active in the constitutional convention. He was present at over 80% of the meetings and was suspected to have been present at at least 8 more meetings. He only had 8 absenses and 2 of them were missed by everyone. This shows that he was very dedicated to the constitution and to the convention. He was very involved and voiced his opinions.//
 * || [Present] || [Absent] || [Do Not Know] || [Probably Present] || [Probably Absent] ||
 * __Act 1__ || 19 || 1 || 0 || 2 || 0 ||
 * __Act 2__ || 25 || 2 || 0 || 5 || 0 ||
 * __Act 3__ || 18 || 4 || 0 || 1 || 0 ||
 * __Act 4__ || 12 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 ||
 * __Totals__ || 74 || 8 || 0 || 8 || 0 ||
 * __%__ || 83.146% || 6.74% || 0% || 8.98% ||  ||

Article V [|Constitution, Article V] [|written document analysis worksheet]

The article states that congress has the power to propose ammendments. he would agree with this article because he came up with the bill of rights and was a huge suppporter of them. He wanted the best possible government possible so this was very important to him. He was a part of congress as a senator and was open to everybodies opinions on changes to make the gov better. The two thirds vote is something he would have been happy with and he liked the idea that he was a part of something that could change the gov. and make a stronger nation.

9th ammendment [|9th ammendment]

Rufus King would have supported the 9th ammendment, which states that there are many other rights to the people other than the rights given by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. he would have supported this because he knows that the gov and the world is always chanding. he knows that it will never be perfect, but that that blanket statement lets people know that they have rights and that they are protected even if it is not specificaly written out in the constitution. He would want them to feel hope and would want to know that in some way the constitution would always have something right no matter how much time goes by.

Sites and Biblyographies -[] -[] -[] -[] -[] -[]

1636. "Massachusetts - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts

" ABC-CLIO Social Studies Databases: Login." //ABC-CLIO Social Studies Databases: Login//. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2010. <http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display.aspx?categoryid=4&searchtext=rufus

" Google Image Result for http://www.massachusetts-map.org/massachusetts-road-map.gif." //Google Images//. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2010. .

" ABC-CLIO Social Studies Databases: Login."// ABC-CLIO Social Studies Databases: Login//. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2010. .

26, Larry J. Sabato (September. "United States Constitution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia."// Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States

O'Brien, Steven G. "Rufus King."// American History//. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 3 May 2010. [].//

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Ernst, Robert. Rufus King: American Federalist. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1968; King, Charles, ed. The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King. 6 vols. 1894-1900. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1971.//