John Jay, one of the Founding Fathers, said that after the United States government could not pay for soldiers to defend against any armed rebellion: "the inefficiency of the Federal government [became] more and more [obvious]." Another Founding Father, Henry Knox, said that Shays' Rebellion convinced many people that the United States needed a stronger federal government. The Rebellion made it clear that the states were not protected, and if they were attacked, they would be on their own.
"Provide for the common defense" meant the framers were well aware that independence from Great Britain did not mean they were secure. British Canada to the north was still full of angry loyalists. To the west were unknown numbers of hostile Native American tribes. Farther west was the vast Louisiana territory held by France. To the south the Spanish held Florida. Worse, these powers were fighting a series of wars in Europe that affected much of North America. The framers knew America needed to protect itself. Providing for the common defence meant the new government would make sure all of the states were protected and defended if attacked.
"Promote the general welfare" is the basic goal of all governments. It was the main reason for having a constitution.
In general, this part of the Preamble means that one of the new government's jobs would be to make things better for the whole country. Specifically, this part of the Preamble has to do with the government's powers to tax people and spend money. It means that the new government will only have the power to tax and spend on things that are good for the entire country. The government will not be allowed to spend money on things that will be good for only a part of the country, or only some people in the country.
For example, of the Constitution gives Congress the power to tax people and spend money on creating Post Offices and building roads for mail carriers to use. Congress can do this because Post Offices will "promote the general Welfare"—everybody in the country will benefit from being able to send and get mail.
"Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity" was important since many had come to America from places with little political or religious freedom. This phrase demonstrates the intent of the new government to protect the newly-won freedoms and protect against a tyrannical government.
However, the Articles of Confederation were all about the states' rights. At that time, many people were afraid of having a federal government that was too strong. These people were called anti-federalists. They included some of the Founding Fathers, like Patrick Henry and James Monroe. The anti-federalists worried that a strong federal government could become tyrannical and take away the rights of individual states, like they thought the British colonial government had done. They also worried that a government ruled by a President might turn into a monarchy, where the President would become a King and have total power. Because of these worries, the Articles of Confederation talked all about states' rights, and not about individual people's rights. The framers wanted to establish these rights for the people of the United States and their "posterity" meaning all the generations of Americans who would follow.
"Do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America" is perhaps the strongest statement in the Preamble. It says in effect that the people made the Constitution and it is the people who give it power.
The Preamble to the United States Constitution, is the beginning of the Constitution. It is not a law. Instead, it talks about the Founding Fathers' reasons for writing the Constitution, and what they hope the Constitution will do.
Thelma Aldana
Thelma Aldana or Thelma Esperanza Aldana Hernández de López (born September 27, 1955), is a Guatemalan lawyer. She became a judge in the Supreme Court in 2009. She was elected president of the Supreme Court from 2011-2011. In 2013 she replaced Claudia Paz y Paz as Guatemala’s attorney general.
Aldana graduated from the University of San Carlos in Guatemala. She has a Master's degree in Civil and Procedural Law.
In 2011, when she was president of the Supreme Court, Aldana started special courts in Guatemala for femicide cases. Killing women, and violence against women became a crime in Guatemala. Eleven districts now have the special courts. Judges and police officers receive special gender crime training. Every year there are 56,000 reports of violence against women.
In 2015 Aldana led an investigation into government corruption. As a result, the president of Guatemala resigned.
Suranimala Rajapaksha
Jayasinghe Rajapakse Mohottige Don Suranimala Rajapaksha (Sinhala:සුරනිමල රාජපක්ෂ) (5 January 1949 – 14 March 2016) was a Sri Lankan politician. He was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1994. He was the Minister of School Education in Republic Socialist of Sri Lanka in 2001 to 2004. He was a member of the United National Party (UNP) and a member of UNP Working Committee. He was appointed as the Coordinating secretary to the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe on 27 January 2015.
Rajapaksha died on 14 March 2016 at a hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka from renal failure. He was aged 67.
Doreen Massey
Doreen Barbara Massey FRSA FBA FAcSS (3 January 1944 – 11 March 2016) was a British social scientist and geographer. She was working among others on topics involving Marxist geography, feminist geography, and cultural geography. Her work on space, place and power has been highly helpful within a range of related disciplines and research fields. She served as Emeritus Professor of Geography at the Open University.
Massey died on 11 March 2016 from pancreatic cancer. She was aged 72.
Hilary Putnam
Hilary Whitehall Putnam (July 31, 1926 – March 13, 2016) was an American philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist. He was a central figure in analytic philosophy from the 1960s. He worked in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of science. Until his death, Putnam was Cogan University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University.
Putnam was born in Chicago, Illinois. He studied at Harvard University, at University of Pennsylvania and at the University of California, Los Angeles. Putnam died on March 13, 2016 from mesothelioma at his home in Boston, Massachusetts. He was aged 89.
Davy Walsh
David Joseph Walsh (28 April 1923 – 14 March 2016), commonly referred to as Davy Walsh or Dave Walsh, was an Irish footballer. He was born in Waterford, Ireland.
He played as a centre forward for, among others, Linfield, West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa. Walsh was a dual international. He played for both Ireland teams – the FAI XI and the IFA XI.
In 1949, he was a member of the FAI XI that defeated England 2–0 at Goodison Park, becoming the first team to beat England at home.
Walsh died on 14 March 2016 from pneumonia in Dublin, Ireland. He was aged 92.
San Francisco (disambiguation)
San Francisco is a combined city/county in the U.S. state of California.
San Francisco may also refer to:
Sergio Arellano Stark
Sergio Arellano Stark (10 June 1921 – 9 March 2016) was a Chilean military officer. He led the so-called “Caravan of Death". It killed many Chileans from helicopters and established Augusto Pinochet’s hold on power. He was born in Santiago, Chile.
Stark died in Santiago, Chile on 9 March 2016 from complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was aged 94.
Martha Wright
Martha Wright, born Martha Lucile Wiederrecht (March 23, 1923 – March 1, 2016), was an American actress and singer. She performed on Broadway and on television. She was in "South Pacific" and "The Sound of Music".
Wright died at the age of 92 in Newburyport, Massachusetts on March 1, 2016.
Thomas G. Morris