Because of widespread fear of a strong central government at the time they were written and strong loyalties among Americans to their own state as opposed to any national government during the American Revolution, the Articles of Confederation purposely kept the national government as weak as possible and the states as …

Why did the Continental Congress make the federal government weak when it drew up the Articles of Confederation? They wanted to make sure the central government didn’t get too powerful or have too many laws. Because the central government was so weak.

The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia met between May and September of 1787 to address the problems of the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation.

Terms and People constitution – document stating the rules under which a government will operate executive – person who runs the government and sees.

Many of the United States Founding Fathers were at the Constitutional Convention, where the Constitution was hammered out and ratified. George Washington, for example, presided over the Convention. James Madison, also present, wrote the document that formed the model for the Constitution.

Philadelphia

James Madison

Rhode Island did not send any delegates to the Constitutional Convention.

Rhode Island was the only state not to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. There were several reasons for Rhode Island’s resistance including its concern that the Constitution gave too much power to the central government at the expense of the states.

The Constitution was not ratified by all states until May 29, 1790, when Rhode Island finally approved the document, and the Bill of Rights was not ratified to become part of the Constitution until the end of the following year.

The delegates had differing views on how powerful the national government should be. The delegates for a strong national government believed that a strong national government would endanger the rights of states.

Rhode Island, which opposed federal control of currency and was critical of compromise on the issue of slavery, resisted ratifying the Constitution until the U.S. government threatened to sever commercial relations with the state.

Jefferson’s commitment to religious freedom grew from several inter-related sources. Jefferson wanted a strict separation of church and state, but he fully expected a vibrant, public religion on the “other” (non-governmental) side of that wall.

Separation of Church and State is a phrase that refers to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Board of Education that “[t]he First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state,” and that “[t]hat wall must be kept high and impregnable.”

The Lemon test, considered aptly named by its critics, derives its name from the landmark decision in Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971). Lemon represented the refinement of a test the Supreme Court announced in Walz v. The Court also would determine if the primary effect of the aid would advance or inhibit religion.

The Establishment clause prohibits the government from “establishing” a religion. The precise definition of “establishment” is unclear. Historically, it meant prohibiting state-sponsored churches, such as the Church of England. Sometimes the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause come into conflict.