Origins of our American Government

Creating the Constitution

Constitutional Convention

• The summer of 1787 was hot

• To keep out the noise and flies, and to protect their secrets, the windows were shut.

• Men wore wool suits

The Framers

•The men who came to Philadelphia had a great deal of experiences and education among them

•Most were lawyers and current legislators for their state

•Some wrote their own state constitutions

The Framers

•Some had signed the Declaration of Independence

•The average age was 42, with almost half in their 30’s

•Ben Franklin was the oldest at 81

The Framers

•Sam Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, John Hancock and Thomas Paine were not present

•George Washington was elected president of the Convention

•James Madison will be given the title of “Father of the Constitution.”

The Work

•The delegates had decided to keep the proceedings secret until they were finished.

•Several delegates, especially James Madison, kept copious notes

•They met most days from May to September 1787

The Work

•Upon arriving, most delegates expected to “fine tune” the Articles.

•Within days, they majority knew they were writing a totally new document.

•Some delegates were prepared for this turn of events

THE DIVIDING ISSUES

A. Great mistrust between large and small states over the idea of representation in any national legislature.

1. Small states feared that their concerns would continuously be outvoted by large states resulting in “tyranny of the majority”.

2. Large states felt entitled to have more representations due to heavier tax burden and more impact on them by government decisions.

3. Southern states wanted slaves to count in representation to blunt North’s bigger population and greater influence in any legislature.

The Virginia Plan

•Virginia was the largest, most populated and most influential of all the colonies.

•Their plan favored large, populated states, wanting a legislative body whose membership was decided on by total population

Solving the Representation Issue

Virginia Plan (James Madison) * Favored by the LARGE states * 3 separate branches with unique powers & duties

* Bicameral legislature; both houses based on population

- Lower house elected directly by the people - Upper house elected by state legislatures * Single, stronger executive with veto check on legislature; chosen by the legislature.

* Legislature can override state laws

The Virginia Plan

•Their plan also called for 3 branches of government; executive, legislative and judicial

•The lower house, based on population, would select members of the upper house

•Federal laws supersede state laws

The Virginia Plan

•Congress has the authority to admit new states

•Congress would choose a “National Executive”

•The small states thought these ideas were too radical

The New Jersey Plan

•William Patterson of NJ presented the plan for the smaller states

•The plan called for equal state representation regardless of size

•Congress would be limited in their ability to tax and regulate trade

The New Jersey Plan

•A panel would make up the “federal executive” office

•A “supreme” tribunal would oversee the judicial system.

New Jersey Plan (William Paterson)

- Favored by the SMALL states

- Retain unicameral legislature with each state having 1 vote (equality)

- Legislators to be appointed by state legislature

- Weak, multi-person executive, no veto power

- National laws supreme over state laws

- Legislature could levy taxes and regulate interstate trade

THE GENIUS OF THE FRAMERS

HELPED Craft A SOLUTION TO

THEIR concerns:

The Great Compromise!

The Connecticut Compromise or Great Compromise

•The large states expected to dominate the new government

•The Connecticut Compromise joined the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan into the Constitution we have today.

1. It proposed: A bicameral legislature with:

• A House of Representatives to be based on population with members elected directly by citizens.

- Allowed larger states to dominate in this chamber.

• A Senate with each state equally represented with 2 members chosen by their state legislatures.

- Smaller states could dominate here by their larger numbers and negate larger states’ influence in House.

GREAT COMPROMISE (cont’d)

• Money bills would be started in the House

• Single executive chosen via an Electoral College composed of electors from each state (eliminates fear of popular vote in selecting the executive)

- 4-year repeatable term of office • Independent judiciary with judges

appointed by executive and confirmed by Senate

Three-Fifths Compromise

•Northern states had few or no slaves and did not want them counted for southern population

•The 3/5 Compromise allowed states to count only 3/5 of their slaves as noted in the 1790 US Census

Three-Fifths Compromise

• The less populated South wanted slaves to count for some representation in Congress.

- Suspicious that North wanted to abolish slavery (economic & political concern).

- Slaves would count as 3/5 of a person.

Three-Fifths Compromise

•Notice that slaves made up 43% of the population in some southern states.

•Massachusetts had outlawed slavery

•Not surprisingly, the arguments over the compromise were loud and long

Commerce Compromise

•The South was fearful that the new government would try to pay for itself using export taxes.

•They didn’t want tobacco, a major export, taxed

•The Compromise stated that no State export would be taxed.

Slave Trade Compromise

•The South also feared that the new government would try to regulate the slave trade

•In the late 1700s, slavery was dying out

•For this reason the North agreed to allow slavery for 20 years, until 1808.

Electoral College

• The selection of the President as head of the Executive Branch was to be left to an electoral college.

• Framers feared direct election by the people as “too much” democracy.

• People selected by each state’s legislature would formally cast ballots for the president after the popular election.

Bundle of Compromises

•The Constitution is a bundle of compromises

•From 13 states with different geography, products, ethnic groups, religions, social classes, populations, climates, etc, they agreed to the document

Bundle of Compromises

•They agreed that the new government had to have the power to deal with big social and economic problems

•They agreed to a separation of powers and checks and balances

Bundle of Compromises

•The heated debates occurred over how the president would be elected, the structure of Congress, and the limits of power that should be given to the new government.

Separation of Powers

•The 3 branches of government, executive, legislative and judicial, have duties and responsibilities given to it in the Constitution that is their job that no other branch can do.

•Example - Only Congress can declare war, only the President can move troops.

Checks and Balances

•Because each branch has its own duties, the Constitution set up this system to make sure no branch assumes too much power.

•Example - The president nominates a Supreme Court judge but the Senate must agree.

Sources of the Constitution

•The framers of the Constitution used early writings from Greece and Rome, and books written by European philosophers of the 1700s.

•They also used their experiences with colonial governments and the Articles of Confederation.

Sources of the Constitution

•Locke – “Social Contract”

•Rousseau – All Men Are Created Equal

•Blackstone – Commentaries on the Laws of England

•Montesquieu – Spirit of Laws

The Constitution is Complete

•On Sept 17, 1787 the delegates approved and signed their work

•James Madison gets credit for writing the document

Ratifying the Constitution

• In order for the Constitution to become law it had to be ratified, or approved by 9 of the 13 colonies.

• New Hampshire ratified the Constitution on June 21, 1788.

• Virginia was the 10th state to ratify the Constitution

Strengths of the Constitution

A. Legislature can tax the states to pay for government; no export taxes can be levied by national or state gov’ts

B. Regulation of interstate trade between states; states can tax inside their own borders only.

C. Federal supremacy when its law conflict with state law D. An executive branch with limited, separate powers E. Independent national judiciary with a Supreme Court F. Coin and regulate a national currency G. A national army raised & paid for by the national government

Origins of our American Government

Ratifying the Constitution

Chapter 2 Section 5

Ratification

•Two groups emerged

•Federalists, who supported a strong, central government, approved it

•Anti-federalists, who supported state’s rights, did not.

•They were suspicious of a strong central government.

•Wanted a Bill of Rights to protect personal liberties.

Federalists Anti-Federalists

•George Washington

•James Madison

•John Adams

•Alexander Hamilton

• Patrick Henry

• John Hancock

• Samuel Adams

• Thomas Jefferson

Mistrust of the Constitution

A. Antifederalists opposed Constitution as it created too powerful a government at the expense of states rights and people’s liberties.

- A loose confederation of states is best, any strong national government would eventually become corrupt.

- Any national government would be distant from the people and would seek to absorb or limit state powers.

- Believed citizens’ rights won through the Revolution would be at risk.

- Don’t ratify Constitution

What Did Anti-Federalists Want?

• Proposed a written guarantee of individual rights and liberties as well as the rights of the states be added to the Constitution to protect against gov’t tyranny.

- It’s why the Revolution was fought!

• Federalist view: Protections on liberties already guaranteed in the Constitution. A strong national gov’t would have only specific, limited powers.

- Federalism splits power with states

- No bills of attainder - No ex post facto laws - Writs of habeas corpus - Supreme Court would be a

neutral arbitrator - No religious tests for

office

Concerns

•1. Increased powers of the federal government (which means less state’s rights and local control)

•2. Lack of a Bill of Rights

Concerns

•Nine states ratified the Constitution, but two of the large states, VA and NY, did not

•Without their support, the Constitution would be doomed.

BILL OF RIGHTS

D. In order to keep ratification hopes alive, Federalists finally agreed to include written individual rights as an immediate priority of the new government.

- In 1791, the first ten Amendments were ratified as the Bill of Rights.

The Federalist Papers

A. Madison, Hamilton, Jay were the authors. B. Written because: - Constitution in jeopardy of not being ratified

due to Anti-Federalist agitation. - Federalists wanted to convince New York to

ratify. If it voted “yes”, then Virginia and the remainder of resisting states would follow.

C. The essays actually had little effect on

ratification, but they do give us great insight into the original intent of our key Founding Fathers.

Federalist Paper 10

This essay spoke to the causes and problems of factions. (1) What were factions to Madison? - “ …a number of citizens… united by some common impulse of passion, or interest adverse to the rights of the other citizens…”

(2) What were the causes of factions? - Selfish human nature and the conflict of unequal distribution of property.

FEDERALIST PAPER #10

(3) Madison’s cure for factions?

- A republican form of government that can control such interests AND still preserve liberty.

- But, liberty spawns special interests that will define the national interest in their own selfish terms.

Federalist 10 (cont’d)

(4) Why not just prohibit factions?

- That would destroy liberty and at the same time make everyone the same.

(5) How can factions be controlled?

- Through republicanism which can control tyranny of the one, or of the few and…

- force competing interests for government attention to compromise.

Federalist 10 (cont’d)

(6) Tyranny of the majority can also be checked by using a federal system that separates power between national and state gov’ts.

- Direct democracy allows for the growth of tyranny of the majority, thus republicanism (indirect democracy) with federalism are best suited to control such tyranny.

Federalist Paper 51 (represents ideas of Montesquieu)

• Federalism divides power between levels. Constitution provides for a “compound government”: one divided between national and state and further subdivided among both of them in separate departments (e.g. branches) and divisions (e.g. local government).

Federalist 51 (cont’d) • Men abuse power, so separation of

powers is essential to the preservation of liberty.

• Checks and balances are necessary to keep any branch from becoming too powerful (e.g. one branch selecting members of another branch).

Federalist Papers

•Series of essays supporting adoption of the Constitution of the United States. They were printed in newspapers

•Once gathered, all 85 essays comprised the Federalist Papers

•After including a Bill of Rights, all states ratified the Constitution.

Ratification

• They decided that the States would choose electors to vote for a president who would assume power in March 1789.

• Even today, electors, not individuals, elect our president.

President George Washington

•Washington was elected president unanimously

•John Adams was selected as his VP

•Inaugurations were held the first Wednesday of March

•The President moved to the new US capital in New York City

Essential Question

• What roles did George Mason, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison play in the adoption of the Bill of Rights?

• These Virginians played a key role in securing individual liberties.

George Mason

• Wrote the Virginian Declaration of Rights.

• States that all Virginians should have certain rights, including freedom of religion and the press

• Basis for the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson

• Wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

• States that all people should be free to worship as they please

• First time religious freedom was protected by law

• Basis for the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees religious freedom.

James Madison • “Father of the Constitution”

• Kept detailed notes during the Constitutional Convention

• Engineered compromises on the most difficult issues facing the delegates.

• Authored the “Virginia Plan,” which proposed a federal government of three separate branches(legislative, executive, and judicial) and became the foundation for the structure of the new government.

• Authored much of the “Bill of Rights.”

Is Flag-Burning Free Speech?

• US v. Eichman – the Supreme Court struck down a TX state law that forbade destruction of the US flag. Eichman burned flags on the Capital steps to protest legislation against burning a flag.