One common theme in The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution is freedom, especially freedom against tyranny. In the plaque pictured below, it states how the market is to be kept for the people and shall always be for the people. It isn’t controlled by some big monarch or any one person, but instead is for everyone equally. . It is also the duty of the people to protect the market against those that would try to abuse it or extort it. This is similar to the duties of citizens regarding protecting the new free land. This plaque is like a mini constitution for the market; a declaration that the market will always be free and public
Plaque outside Pike Place Public Market in Seattle
In the United States constitution, it is stated that “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union […] establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” What type of union is more perfect than the union of partitions of disjoint events?
Here I will compare the definition of a partition with the Union of states as discussed in the Constitution. The definition of a partition is as follows: a partition of a set X is a set of non-empty subsets of X such that every element x in X is in exactly one of these subsets (i.e., X is a disjoint union of the subsets). We see this idea that the Union of States (the United States) is a partition, shown in the Constitution in Article IV, section 3 on the discussion of the formation of new states. There it says that new states can be admitted into congress, but it cannot be formed or erected in the jurisdiction of any other state unless through agreement, and in section 4 it states that every state in the Union is guaranteed a republican form of government. As shown here, we can conclude that the United States is indeed a partition of the states it makes up: since each state is disjoint, and that the intersection of the states are the null set (no states share jurisdiction), and the union of all the states makes up the United States, then each state is thus a partition. In relation to the picture below, Ω represents the United States, where each subset Ω B1, B2, …, BN represents each state (a partition of Ω).
It is true however that the states are subordinate to the national government though. Could you disprove the notion that states are partitions of the United States by disproving the statement that the states are disjoint?
A major reason that the colonies fought for independence was for being treated unfairly financially. Britain charged various taxes on the colonies to pay for wars, despite no say from tho colonists themselves. High taxes caused much retaliation from the colonists, including the Boston Tea Party. In the constitution, we see the desire for protection of property. Amendment 5 protects private property, while Amendment 8 prevents excessive fines. Along with this, by declaring there independence from Britain, Americans were freed from paying taxes to the king.
This image is a map of the United States which shows the 50 individual states that have their own rights but still make up a whole country. Amendment 10 talks about the power that the individual states or the people are given when the power is not reserved for the United States. This is important because it defines the balance of power between the states and the government, and shows that the states have individual powers so that the federal government does not overstep its bounds and become tyrannical. The 10th amendment gives states rights in order to limit the authority of the federal government. However, states are still subject to federal law, so when does federal law override states rights? Should the federal government be able to take away states’ rights?
The first amendment of the constitution talks about freedom of expression and religion, and is based on the fact that many of the first American settlers were fleeing religious persecution in certain parts of Europe. Although “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” there are still many parts of the government that contain Christian sayings and ideology. “In god we trust” is written on American dollar bills, and god is also mentioned in the Pledge of Allegiance, which is used in American public schools. What do you think about the constitutionality of these phrases, and where would you personally draw the line on the separation of church and state?
