Maness 1

Austin Maness
Mrs. Bliss
American Government
12 April 2010

Unlawful Powers
America is a free country today mainly due to the unfair laws that the King of England
set down on the colonies in the 1700s. The frustration these laws caused among the colonies led
to rebellion and ultimately the American Revolution. The injustices that these laws caused
weighed heavily upon the colonists minds when they sat down to form a new government. The
founders of the Constitution were so upset about some of these unjust acts by the King that they
decided to mold the basic government with these grievances in mind.
One thing the King did that was later addressed in the first ten amendments to the
Constitution was make the colonists house and feed soldiers even in times of peace. This was an
unnecessary and unfair hardship on the colonists, as it caused a lot of strife despite its purpose
being to prevent rebellion. This caused much strife and tension in the colonies, but the King did
it regardless and probably did not think about the repercussion being a revolution.
What the authors of the Constitution did to keep this law by the King from ever soiling
their republic was the Third Amendment of the Constitution. The Third Amendment reads as
follows No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the
Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. This amendment ensures
that no citizen would be forced to house soldiers unless they felt the desire too, therefore giving
Americans another freedom that the King had denied them.

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Another grievance that was addressed in the Constitution relates to the fact that the
military is not the ultimate power. The King had basically allowed the military to operate
unconstrained as the primary and ultimate legal power in the new country. None of the appointed
governors or any civil authority really had any power over the military commanders.
Military power was addressed in the Constitution in the very clear structure of the new
government. The President has the military authority of being the Commander-in-Chief.
Congress is chartered with the responsibility of declaring war when it deems it necessary. This
ensured that there would be civil authority over the military rather than the Kings opposite
approach.
One thing that the King did to the colonies, that was never fixed in the Constitution, was
when the King plundered the seas, ravaged the coasts and burnt the towns of the Colonies down,
thereby destroying the lives of the people. The King did these things mostly in times of conflict
however, it appears as though he made no effort to stop it during times of peace either. The pirate
raids during times of peace were what angered the colonists the most.
I couldnt find anywhere that this was addressed, most likely because it did not need to be
addressed with the Colonies making themselves a nation, and introducing a standing army. This
would make any of the aforementioned acts an act of war on the United States. However, I think
it should still be clarified as to our policy on English pirates. I am not sure what the punishment
should be, it should depend on the extent of the crime, but they could have added at least a basic
set of guidelines about it in the Constitution.
The King also called together legislative bodies at distant and uncomfortable places. This
was a hindrance for those who were in power of the government at the time. The people wanted

Maness 3

this resolved so they would not have to travel long distances over tough terrain in order to
represent their constituents. This only seems fair to make the place of convention convenient for
all the representatives.
This was not necessarily solved, however; we have a general place for the bodies of
government to convene at which is Washington D.C. the capitol of the United States. This is also
not as relevant as it was in the 1700s due to the advances in technology and transportation, and
travel and communication are much easier now. A senator in the state of Tennessee can pick up a
phone and call a senator in Maryland in a matter of seconds, when back then it would take days
to travel that distance or send letters that far. A general place of meeting and new advancements
has made this problem mostly irrelevant.
All the issues with the King were resolved in a way by Americans declaring their
independence and starting a new government and nation that would very quickly rise to be the
premier power of the world. It is worth considering that perhaps we should be grateful to the
King for all the unfair laws he handed down to the colonists, because without them who knows
what would have happened. We might not be the free country we are today. While many of our
freedoms are taken for granted by Americans it is apparent that the population of other countries
wish their country was run like the United States. This is why the number of immigrants is so
high in America today. The worlds population is envious of the freedoms that we have and take
for granted every day. So in the end the King of England started a chain of events that would
lead to the most powerful county in the world being born, all by passing unpopular laws.