I. What is the Constitution?
A. Constitution defines structure of government.
1. Creates a NATIONAL government / recognizes authority of STATE governments.
2. Divides power national government into three parts. Describes the powers of each., relationship with each other, the relationship between national government, state government, and the people.
B. Americans respect Constitution - strengthens its authority.
C. Constitution - two hundred years ago / governs US. society today.
II. Constitution - rooted in revolution.
A. Colonial Americans fought the War of Revolution to PRESERVE freedom.
1. Colonists enjoyed freedoms denied most people.
2. Americans proud of relations with the British empire / looked to Britain for protection.
3. Americans asked to shoulder portion of cost.
B. Road to revolution - issue of taxation.
1. Colonists - disliked taxation because they had no representation in the distant government..
2. Opposition to taxation - immediate / widespread.
a. Sons of Liberty destroyed taxed items.
b. Daughters of Liberty - encouraged boycotting British goods.
c. 1773 - tax on tea led to Boston Tea Party.
d. Parliament blockaded Boston harbor / allowed quartering of British soldiers.
3. British demanded order / Colonists demanded Freedom.
a. CONTINENTAL CONGRESS to speak for all the colonies.
b. Continental Congress - 1774 - tried to restore harmony between colonies / Britain.
C. REVOLUTION.
1. Massachusetts colonists / British at Concord and Lexington in 1775.
2. British / 12,000 German mercenaries.
3. Continental Congress - for independence / prepared: a set of reasons to explain action.
D. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE - reasons for colonies’ actions.
1. Thomas Jefferson - Declaration of Independence - simple, clear, supported separation from Great Britain.
2. Declaration - people have natural rights / cannot be taken away.
a. Legitimate political authority for preservation of natural rights / authority is based on consent.
b. SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY – government for benefit of the people / government not for benefit of those who govern. Rebellion ok against abuse of power.
3. Foundations of the Declaration of Independence
a. People may revolt when government is destructive of legitimate rights.
b. Deliberate acts by the King - destruction of government
III. First try at government - Continental Congress.
A. REPUBLIC v. British monarchy / a government based on consent of the governed / power exercised by representatives responsible to the governed.
B. Written agreements - New World / Great Britain has no document to establish structure / limits of government.
C. The Continental Congress planned a written agreement of government - ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.
1. CONFEDERATION - loose association of independent states / Each state SOVEREIGN (Has supreme power within its borders)
2. Articles - adopted by Continental Congress in 1777; did not take effect until 1781.
3. Articles guarded states rights / national government under the Articles powerless.
D. National government under Articles - weak / ineffective.
1. Government could not stop insurrection by farmers in Massachusetts in 1786-1787.
2. SHAY’S REBELLION - demonstrated need for national government / need to maintain order.
I. Constitutional Convention - held in Philadelphia / summer of 1787.
A. Five states sent representatives to the meeting in Annapolis. Delegates called for convention in Philadelphia in summer 1787.
B. Twelve of thirteen states sent delegates to Convention in Philadelphia (not Rhode Island). Convention directed by Congress to only revise Articles of Confederation.
C. Delegates from Virginia proposed writing a new charter of government. VIRGINIA PLAN - called for a national government in which:
1. Power divided among three separate branches:
a. Legislative branch - lawmaking.
b. Executive branch - law enforcing.
c. Judicial branch - law interpreting.
2. Legislative branch - divided into two houses - House of Representative / Senate.
3. One-person executive selected by legislature would serve one term.
D. Virginia Plan - supported by large states. Smaller states came up w/ NEW JERSEY PLAN. - called for only amending the Articles. Under New Jersey plan:
1. Single-chamber legislature - power to raise revenue/regulate commerce.
2. States would have equal representation in Senate. States would choose members House of Representatives.
3. Multi person executive - elected by legislature.
E. New Jersey Plan defeated / small states had forced stalemate. Connecticut delegation proposed GREAT COMPROMISE - representation by population in House of Representatives / equal representation in Senate.
F. Disagreement on one-person executive / selection / term of office.
1. Delegates agreed ELECTORAL COLLEGE - Would elect president.
a. College - electors chosen for sole purpose of selecting president / vice president.
b. Same number of electors from a state as total of representatives and senators from that state.
c. Each elector would vote for two people / person with most votes would be president / person with next highest number of votes would be vice president.
d. If no majority - House of Representatives would choose president / each state - one vote.
2. Delegates agreed - president eligible for reelection / term of office - four years / no term limits.
3. Removing a president - serious matter / House of Representatives / Senate / chief justice of Supreme Court all take part.
II. Constitution: product of much political compromise. Twenty-three resolutions debated / approved by convention - organized into a preamble followed by seven articles.
A. Preamble contains four elements - serve as the basis of American political tradition.
1. Constitution creates a people from a loose confederation of states.
2. Preamble explains reason for Constitution - inadequacy of Articles of Confederation.
3. Constitution - set of goals: the promotion of order and freedom.
4. Constitution creates a government.
B. Constitution: four basic political principles.
1. REPUBLICANISM - government in which power resides in the people / exercised by elected representatives.
2. FEDERALISM - division of sovereignty / power among two or more governments. Constitution vested powers in national / state governments / powers from a sovereign people. (duel citizenship)
3. SEPARATION OF POWERS - law-making / law-enforcing, and law-interpreting and independent legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government.
4. CHECKS AND BALANCES / giving each branch some scrutiny / control over other branches.
C. Structure of the Constitution includes details about governments.
1. Article I - legislative power - Most detailed of all articles, describes BICAMERAL legislature / ENUMERATED POWERS / IMPLIED POWERS (NECESSARY AND PROPER CLAUSE).
2. Article II - qualifications president, procedures for election / president's duties / powers.
3. Article III / creates one Supreme Court / describes judicial power / Constitution left composition of the Supreme Court / need for a national judiciary
4. Remaining four articles.
a. Full faith and credit.
b. National government protection to states from invasion or domestic violence.
c. Amending process.
d. Supremacy clause- asserts that Constitution / national laws take precedence over state / local laws when in conflict.
e. Last Article provides ratification by nine states – sufficient to establish Constitution.
D. Framers' motives?
1. Constitution to protect economic interest of creditors.
2. Economic motives - little to do with adoption of Constitution.
3. Some believed that framers' fear of anarchy (with possible loss of homes / families / means of livelihood / was a stronger motivation than material gain.
E. Framers willing to protect most undemocratic of all institutions - slavery.
1. Slavery well ingrained in America at time of Constitutional Convention.
2. Question of representation in the House brought slavery close to the surface of Great Compromise. Delegates agreed - for purposes of representation and taxation, "all other persons" (slaves) would count as three-fifths of "free persons."
3. Fugitive slaves to be returned to their masters / importation of slaves to continue for twenty years (1808).
III. Constitution still to be ratified.
Proponents - federalists / wrote series of newspaper articles called FEDERALIST PAPERS - in favor of ratification. Authored by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay.
1. "Federalist No. 10," - Madison argued that the Constitution would "break and control violence of faction." like modern interest groups / even political parties.
2. Serious threat to government - conflict between the wealthy, (a minority) / those who lacked wealth (the majority.)
3. Majority tyranny - checked through representation. Elected representatives - would control government.
a. Representatives would possess wisdom to serve larger interests of the nation.
b. Majorities organize within each state / organize at the national level.
c. United States vast - little probability that majority would invade citizen rights.
B. Opponents - ANTIFEDERALISTS - attacked Constitution that it centralized power in a strong national government that would wipe out states rights.
C. Many still concerned that Constitution lacked a list of individual freedoms guaranteed to citizens. This BILL OF RIGHTS - chief obstacle to ratification.
D. Ratification - assured w/assurance that fundamental rights / liberties would be added to the Constitution by amendment. (first ten amendments to the Constitution.)
IV. Constitution can be changed in three ways / only one way is spelled out in Constitution.
A. Article V - requirements for amending the Constitution. Has occurred only twenty-seven times since 1787. Two stage process / both are required.
1. PROPOSAL stage. / Amendments proposed.
a. By a two-thirds vote of the House and the Senate, or
b. By a national convention summoned by Congress at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures (option never been used)
2. RATIFICATION stage.
a. By vote of the legislature of three-fourths of the states, or
b. By vote of the state conventions held in three-fourths of the states.
3. Amending the Constitution - difficult - only important issues would be considered.
4. First ten amendments adopted in exchange for ratification.
5. Last seventeen amendments - three main categories:
a. Correcting deficiencies in government structure (e.g., presidential succession).
b. Advancing equality (equal protection).
c. Public Policy: (Prohibition).
B. Constitution - can be amended by the assumed power of JUDICIAL REVIEW.
1. Judiciary's assumed power allows Constitution to be changed by judicial interpretation.
2. An assumed right to privacy accepted / cannot be found in Constitution.
C. Constitution can be amended by POLITICAL PRACTICE.
1. Electoral College supposed to be independent in voting for a president / vice president. (Idealistic)
2. Today - electors usually rubber-stamp election outcomes. (Could be a disaster in a close election)
V. Several concerns w/Constitution.
A. Where are the values of freedom, order, and equality in the Constitution?
1. Constitution created a new form of government / federal government - power would be distributed between the nation and the states. (Federalism)
2. Constitution to be strong enough to maintain order, not so strong as to dominate states / interfere w/ individual freedom.
3. Constitution - a careful balance between ORDER / FREEDOM.
B. Constitution designed to be vague:
1. Government: The inevitable conflict of factions.
2. Constitution guarded against majority tyranny through separation of powers. (Checks / balances.
3. Framers created a republic / government based on majority consent. (Majoritarian)
They produced a government (Best defined as Constitutional Democracy).
4. Government meant to be "Pluralistic." (Many entry points)
WRITING A CONSTITUTION TO MAXIMIZE DEMOCRACY
I. Alternative models of democracy:
PROCEDURAL model:
Concerned with decisions process / not concerned w/substance of decisions.
B. MAJORITARIAN model:
1. Mass citizen participation.
2. Decisions - by sovereign majority.
3. Emphasize majority rule over minority rights.
C. PLURALIST model:
1. "Minorities' rule."
2. Divides government power.
3. Interest groups can express preferences.
4. Assumes that results of open, competitive groups active in the process will result in public interest.
II. DEMOCRACY in THEORY / Not always democracy in PRACTICE.
A. IDEALISTICALLY - democracy has clear guidelines.
1. DEMOCRACY - In "purest" form - MAXIMIZES the procedural values in its conception.
2. MAJORITARIAN democracy - Government ALWAYS DOES WHATEVER majority want.
3. PLURALIST democracy -
a. Maximum of openness in system / allows all to be heard.
b. Requires multiple decisions before final action.
B. IN PRACTICE - democracy complicated.
1. No government is ideal in maximizing MAJORITARIAN / pluralist values.
2. All governments have some "undemocratic" elements, leading us to conceptualize actual democracies as falling short of the ideal.
SELLING THE CONSTITUTION
I. At time of Constitutional Convention agreement emerged among the delegates from those still diverse states.
A. Elements of agreement:
1. Rights must be maintained.
a. Independent Judiciary
b. Law of the land must be free from interference by the executive"
2. British system corrupted by excesses of executive-monarchical-power."
3. Separation of the branches of government
4. Popular government may abuse its power like aristocratic or monarchical one.
5. A republican form of government
6. Independent governments - should be based on written constitutions.
B. Two jobs for the founders.
1. Devise a republican government that would remain stable.
2. Try to build constitution out of existing materials.
Fundamental disagreements:
A. FEDERALISTS / ANTI-FEDERALISTS
1. FEDERALISTS POSITION:
a. Federalists believed the Articles inadequate for United States (A Constitution needed to create government partly national / partly federal.
b. Federalists denied that the Constitution violated traditional republican theory / they devised plan that prevented tyranny of the majority / clashing of diverse interests becomes a cure for problems afflicting republican government.
2. Federalist No. 15 – Hamilton argues that United States had "reached almost the last stage of national humiliation as a result of the insufficiency of the present Confederation to the preservation of the Union."
3. Federalist No. 39 - James Madison explains how the proposed Constitution is "neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a composition of both."
4. Federalist No. 10 and Federalist No. 51 - Madison first asserts that, "a large republic with competing interest ("factions") is the best means to control the evil "effects" of faction. The proposed federal republic will guard against a tyranny of the majority by including "so many separate descriptions of citizens as will render an unjust combination of the whole very improbable, if not impracticable."
5. Madison, Hamilton, and Jay were not alone in their efforts. (In Federalist Papers)
a. Several individuals wrote or spoke under their own names.
b. Others wrote under pseudonyms.
6. Supporters of the Constitution utilized the media better than the ANTIFEDERALISTS.
a. Most of the press supported the Federalist.
b. Two editors wrote that they "conceived it a duty incumbent on them to prepare the minds of their readers for its reception"
B. ANTIFEDERALISTS:
1. ANTIFEDERALISTS position:
a. Constitution would destroy states / create one large republic / would deteriorate into monarchy. Government could exist only in a relatively small territory populated by people who shared similar values.
b. In small republics - representatives know the minds of constituents and the people know their representatives.
c. Intimacy between the people and their representatives is impossible in a large republic.
2. ANTIFEDERALISTS - Use colorful pseudonyms in presenting their arguments. Among the more prominent were, "Brutus," "Cato," "An Old Whig," and "The Federal Farmer."
3. The elastic clause - means by which the federal government would gain absolute power.
4. ANTIFEDERALISTS - Denied that whoever is a citizen of one state is a citizen of each. If wealth is rapidly acquired / where slavery is encouraged / liberty less respected – will result in a conflict of values and interests between north and south.
5. The new Constitution if adopted will destroy the separate governments of the several states. Republican government can exist only in a narrow territory.
6. Many ANTIFEDERALISTS complained about the lack of a federal bill of rights. Any framing of an acceptable constitution will not be done without a CAREFUL ATTENTION TO THE FRAMING OF A BILL OF RIGHTS.
III. The views put forth in late 1787 and early 1788 provided a preview of arguments that have persisted for over two centuries.