We Must Stand United As Patriots To Defend President Mahinda Rajapaksa
Dr. Telli C Rajaratnam
Will of the people is the Grund norm of the Constitution; In defence of 18th Amendment to the Constitution
Stability of Government is a sine qua non for development and rapid economic progress. A classic example is Singapore. Singapore has been successful due to political stability. Lee Kuan Yew served as Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990.
In 1783, the Treaty of Paris left the United States independent and at peace, but with an unsettled governmental structure. The Second Continental Congress had drawn up the Articles of Confederation in 1777, describing a permanent confederation, but granting to the Congress – the only federal institution – little power to finance itself or to ensure that its resolutions were enforced. In part, this reflected the anti-monarchy view of the Revolutionary period and the new American system was explicitly designed to prevent the rise of an American tyrant.
However, during the economic depression due to the collapse of the continental dollar following the American Revolution, the viability of the American Government was threatened by political unrest in several states, efforts by debtors to use popular government to erase their debts and the apparent inability of the Continental Congress to redeem the public obligations incurred during the war.
The Congress also appeared unable to become a forum for productive cooperation among the States encouraging commerce and economic development. In response, the Philadelphia Convention was convened, ostensibly to devise amendments to the Articles of Confederation, but which instead began to draft a new system of government that would include greater executive power while retaining the checks and balances thought to be essential restraints on any imperial tendency in the office of the President.
The United States of America – Founding Fathers
Individuals who presided over the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary period and under the Articles of Confederation had the title ‘President of the United States in Congress Assembled’, often shortened to ‘President of the United States’. However, the office had little distinct executive power.
With the 1788 ratification of the Constitution, a separate executive branch was created, headed by the ‘President of the United States’. This new Chief Executive role no longer bore the duties of presiding over Congress in a supervisory role, but the title ‘President’ was carried over nevertheless.Read More
