One of the first challenges for the American colonies after gaining independence was to establish a government that would fit their ideas of protection of individual freedoms and power by the people. For this reason, no single person could rule, and heredity could not determine the leader; instead, he had to be chosen by merit. This is why the new country could not be a monarchy, even a constitutional one. The highest post would be …showed first 75 words of 534 total…

…showed last 75 words of 534 total…terms, however, instead insisting that the southern states betrayed the Union and were determined to see it destroyed, which officially put them into a state of rebellion. Even before the Civil War was over, the U.S. Constitution was amended to make secession illegal. With the loss of their legal capability for self-determination, however, the states lost many of the other rights they previously held, while the power of the federal government was greatly increased.