220 year old living document

        Why is the US Constitution so important? The Revolutionary War lasted 8 years. The war started on April 19, 1775 at Lexington, Massachusetts. The colonies finally gained freedom when the Treaty of Paris ended the war in 1783. The colonies realized they need to be united and set up the second Continental Congress July 12, 1776. They finally agreed on November 15, 1777 on a firm league of friendship (Articles of Confederation). The Articles of Confederation did not go into effect until March 1, 1781. With the Articles of Confederation the states were still independent with no power behind the central government. The government was so limited it could not do anything. The government could not raise money by taxing, couldn’t control foreign commerce, and could pass laws but not make states comply. The Constitution also limits the power of the government.
         The three branches of government are all limited in different ways. The Executive branch can pass a bill but can’t make them, that’s the Legislative branch’s job. The President can’t just go off and make treaties, appointments of judges, department heads, ambassadors, and agency leaders the president needs approval from the senate to do all these things. The Legislative branch can make bills and pass them to the president but he can veto and send them back. They have to fix it then send it to the other house if they pass it, it becomes a law. The Judicial branch is the courts. They have the hearings and trials. They have to make sure that they are Constitutional.
         As the world change we might need to change the Constitution to do that you would be amending the Constitution. You would amend the Constitution because it would make it easier for the citizens of the US. The process for amending the Constitution is to propose an amendment by two-thirds of both houses of congress vote to propose on amendment or two-thirds of state Legislatures ask Congress to calla national convention to propose amendments. Then ratify by three-fourths of the states Legislatures approve it or ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states approve it.  The Constitution is so hard to amend because they did not want the people’s rights taken away before anyone knew what was happening. So the reason the US Constitution is so important because it protects the US citizens from the government and that is why it is said to still be a living document.