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Constitution
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What is Constitution?

The Constitution stands as one of the most examined documents in American political and legal history, making it a central subject in history, political science, law, and civics courses. Students write about it because it raises enduring questions about the balance of power, the protection of individual rights, and the relationship between citizens and their government. Its origins in the turbulent period following the Articles of Confederation, the debates surrounding its ratification, and its ongoing interpretation through amendments and Supreme Court decisions give it layers of complexity that reward sustained academic attention.

The papers collected here approach the Constitution from several distinct angles. Some take a historical perspective, examining the political pressures of the mid-1780s that drove delegates toward a new framework, or asking whether the document represented a counter-revolution or a national salvation. Others focus on legal and structural analysis, tracing how amendments shape the broader legal system or how federal power is distributed through federalism. Case-focused essays use specific Supreme Court decisions and cases such as Ruiz v. Estelle to ground constitutional principles in concrete legal outcomes. A smaller number of papers place the Constitution in comparative or thematic contexts alongside topics like secular humanism or revolutionary America.

A strong essay on the Constitution requires a focused thesis that moves beyond description toward an interpretive claim about power, rights, or legitimacy. Evidence drawn from the text of amendments, congressional authority, and documented legal precedent carries the most weight in historical and legal arguments. The most common pitfall is treating the Constitution as a static document rather than one continuously reshaped by political conflict, court interpretation, and the evolving relationship between citizens and federal government.

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Paper Undergraduate
American perceptions of presidential power and international influence
America's cultural propensity to act, look and think of itself as the protector of the free world is perpetuated by hundreds of cultural practices, viewed with more or less distaste by various nations of the world and…
Paper Doctorate
Is the United States a representative democracy?
The philosophical and political system known as democracy, at least as it is typically used, came from an Ancient Greek concept of popular government (not a true democracy at the time, because only free men could vote).
Paper Undergraduate
State and local government authority over crime and education
This paper discusses the desirability or undesirability of the federal government's intrusion into local functions, such as the police, education and public works projects. It also presents the reason why local affairs should remain local. It offers suggestions on how this can be done. It is the work of Congress to make the difference.
Paper Undergraduate
Smallpox epidemics and disease control during the Revolutionary War
The disease that caused the most serious problems during the Revolutionary War in America was smallpox. There were other diseases that afflicted the soldiers, but nothing took the terrible toll that smallpox did.
Paper Undergraduate
Joseph Ellis's Founding Brothers and the revolutionary generation
This is a review of The Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis. The paper notes that Ellis tried to recount the lives of the founders of the American republic to make an argument about the character of the nation. The virtues and the faults of the founders became part of the Constitutional spirit, he argues. Ellis neither worships the founders nor does he see them in a negative light.
Research Paper Undergraduate
McDonald's analysis of executive power in the American Constitution
¶ … American Presidency by McDonald takes a strong stand against the executive branch gaining too much power over the other branches of government. His basic thesis is that this Constitutional government is brilliantly…
Research Paper Undergraduate
Intolerance of tribal religion and its impact on the Cherokee
The impact of Intolerance of tribal religion on the Cherokee over the last 150 years
Paper High School
The evolving role of the Supreme Court and judicial activism
In the beginning, the Supreme Court merely interpreted the law. It began with six justices and a chief justice, now there are eight justices and a chief justice. The President nominates the justices, the Senate confirms…
Paper Doctorate
Gun ownership rights and the Second Amendment debate
There is presently much controversy regarding the U.S. and its position concerning gun control. With recent events such as the Newtown, Connecticut (a mass shooting involving 29 persons shot dead) dominating media devices, the public has become agitated concerning gun laws. The fact that these legislations provided an environment where guns can be used by a series of controversial individuals triggered alarm and influenced the masses to lobby with regard to reform. Even though gun control is especially important when considering conditions in the contemporary U.S., it is also significant for the authorities to acknowledge that guns are an active part of society and that people who meet a series of requirements associated with gun ownership need to have access to weapons.
Essay Doctorate
The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act and interstate commerce regulation
Regulating commerce between the states was one of the overriding problems facing the drafters of the original U.S. Constitution. Under the Articles of Confederation, regulating such commerce was a significant problem so…