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THE CONSTITUTION

The Constitution of the United States established America’s national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. It was signed on September 17, 1787, by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Under America’s first governing document, the Articles of Confederation, the national government was weak and states operated like independent countries. At the 1787 convention, delegates devised a plan for a stronger federal government with three branches—executive, legislative and judicial—along with a system of checks and balances to ensure no single branch would have too much power. The Constitution was the product of political compromise after long and often rancorous debates over issues such as states’ rights, representation, and slavery. The Bill of Rights were 10 amendments guaranteeing basic individual protections, such as freedom of speech and religion, that became part of the Constitution in 1791. To date, there are 27 constitutional amendments. 
https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/constitution#section_6

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Constitution-of-the-United-States-of-America

SEPARATION OF POWERS

Separation of powers is a model that divides the government into separate branches, each of which has separate and independent powers. By having multiple branches of government, this system helps to ensure that no one branch is more powerful than another.

Three branches are created in the Constitution. The Legislative, composed of the House and Senate. The Executive, composed of the President, Vice-President, and the Departments. The Judicial, composed of the federal courts and the Supreme Court.

Separation of Powers in the United States is associated with the Checks and Balances system.  The Checks and Balances system provides each branch of government with individual powers to check the other branches and prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful.


https://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_sepp.html

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/separation_of_powers_0

THE BILL OF RIGHTS

On September 25, 1789, Congress transmitted to the state Legislatures twelve proposed amendments to the Constitution. Numbers three through twelve were adopted by the states to become the United States (U.S.) Bill of Rights, effective December 15, 1791.

James Madison proposed the U.S. Bill of Rights. It largely responded to the Constitution's influential opponents, including prominent Founding Fathers, who argued that the Constitution should not be ratified because it failed to protect the basic principles of human liberty. The U.S. Bill of Rights was influenced by George Mason's 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, the 1689 English Bill of Rights, works of the Age of Enlightenment pertaining to natural rights, and earlier English political documents such as the Magna Carta (1215).

Two additional articles were proposed to the States; only the final ten articles were ratified quickly and correspond to the First through Tenth Amendments to the Constitution. The first Article, dealing with the number and apportionment of U.S. Representatives, never became part of the Constitution. The second Article, limiting the ability of Congress to increase the salaries of its members, was ratified two centuries later as the 27th Amendment. Though they are incorporated into the document known as the "Bill of Rights", neither article establishes a right as that term is used today. For that reason, and also because the term had been applied to the first ten amendments long before the 27th Amendment was ratified, the term "Bill of Rights" in modern U.S. usage means only the ten amendments ratified in 1791.

The United States Bill of Rights plays a central role in American law and government, and remains a fundamental symbol of the freedoms and culture of the nation. One of the original fourteen copies of the U.S. Bill of Rights is on public display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

https://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-constitution-amendments/bill-of-rights/

THE TRAIL OF TEARS

The Trail of Tears dramatically but also fittingly refers to the path on which the original population of mainland Amerika, the Cherokee and other tribes, were forced westwards to make room for the British frontiers claiming more and more land for the colonial settlement. 

In 1819 as more Settlers moved westwards, the American government signed a treaty which guaranteed that the land of the Cherokee would be off limits for the white settlers forever. All white people intruding their land should be removed by the government. In the early 1830s, about 125.000 Cherokee lived in the region of Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida. Land cultivated by their ancestors for generations. 

 In 1829, Andrew Jackson was elected, who believed that the original population consisted of savages and did not have the right to their land and began to forcefully remove the population from their homes to clear the way for the white settlement. In 1830 he signed the ‘Indian removal act’. 

10.000 of people were forced to leave their home, put in chains and forced to walk at gunpoint for over 1000 miles west on a series of routes that lead to Oklahoma. Up to a third of the people who were forced to make this way died on the road, which is part of the reason why this path received the name Trail of Tears.

Today, part of these people live in Northern Carolina.