Result of the emancipation process of the Thirteen Colonies, the Constitution of the United States was discussed soon after the victory against the English colonizers. On that occasion we had the formation of two factions divided between federalists and republicans. The first preached the strengthening of central power in order to preserve the political union of states. Republicans, on the other hand, believed that state autonomy could not be submitted to the central government.
Interested in seeking a balance between the two trends, the US constitutional charter ended up being formed by a restricted series of articles. Created in 1787, the document paved the way for US states to have autonomy to draft a series of laws that would come to address issues of a more specific nature.
In more than 220 years of existence, the Constitution of the United States has only undergone twenty-seven amendments. Its first ten modifications, known as the Bill of Rights, took place four years after its creation and dealt with issues related to the issue of freedom of expression and religious freedom. Ideologically influenced by the Enlightenment, the document ended up oriented to the political aspect of other liberal revolutions that took place later.
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Among the most famous reforms that took place later, we can highlight the laws that determined the end of slavery (1865); the creation of the female vote (1920); the prohibition of confessions under torture (1937) and the one that granted the citizen the right to remain silent and demand a lawyer when accused of a crime (1966). Prohibition, which prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages, was the only amendment revoked by the US government.
Comparatively, we can see that the body of law that governs the United States is quite functional and stable. In Brazil, in just under two centuries, we have already had the creation of eight different constitutions. The last of them was created in 1988, has a very extensive text and, to date, has undergone fifty-three amendments. For many jurists, streamlining our constitution would be essential for the better functioning of the country's judicial institutions.
By Rainer Sousa
Graduated in History
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SOUSA, Rainer Gonçalves. "The Constitution of the United States"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historia-da-america/a-constituicao-dos-estados-unidos.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
