The Constitution

1. The Constitution Chapter 2

2. Answer the following Warm up: • Would the American government be more efficient if power were concentrated within a single branch of government? Would it be more effective? Explain.

3. Constitution • Definition • A constitution is a nation’s basic law. It creates political institutions, assigns or divides powers in government, and often provides certain guarantees to citizens. • Sets the broad rules of the game • The rules are not neutral; some participants and policy options have advantages over others.

4. Origins of the Constitution • The Road to Revolution • Colonists faced tax increases after the French and Indian War. • Colonists lacked direct representation in parliament. • Colonial leaders formed the Continental Congress to address abuses of the English Crown.

5. Origins of the Constitution

6. Origins of the Constitution • Declaring Independence • In May and June 1776, the Continental Congress debated resolutions for independence. • The Declaration of Independence, which listed the colonists grievances against the British, is adopted on July 4, 1776. • Politically, the Declaration was a polemic, announcing and justifying revolution.

7. Jefferson, Locke, and Independence: • What justifications for revolution are present in the Declaration of Independence? • What ideas about government did Jefferson borrow from John Locke?

8. Origins of the Constitution • The English Heritage: The Power of Ideas • Natural rights: rights inherent in human beings, not dependent on government • Consent of the governed: government derives its authority by sanction of the people • Limited Government: certain restrictions should be placed on government to protect natural rights of citizens

10. Origins of the Constitution • Winning Independence • In 1783, the American colonies prevailed in their war against England. • The “Conservative” Revolution • Restored rights the colonists felt they had lost • Not a major change of lifestyles

11. The Government That Failed • The Articles of Confederation • The first document to govern the United States, it was adopted in 1777 and ratified in 1781. • It established a confederation, a “league of friendship and perpetual union” among 13 states and former colonies. • Congress had few powers; there was no president or national court system. • All government power rested in the states.

12. The Government That Failed • Changes in the States • Liberalized voting laws increased political participation and power among a new middle class. • An expanding economic middle class of farmers and craft workers counterbalanced the power of the old elite of professionals and wealthy merchants. • Ideas of equality spread and democracy took hold.

13. The Government That Failed

14. The Government That Failed • Economic Turmoil • Postwar depression left farmers unable to pay debts • State legislatures were sympathetic to farmers and passed laws that favored debtors over creditors • Shays’ Rebellion • Series of attacks on courthouses by a small band of farmers led by Revolutionary War Captain Daniel Shays to block foreclosure proceedings. • Economic elite concerned about Articles’ inability to limit these violations of individual’s property rights

15. Making a Constitution:The Philadelphia Convention • Gentlemen in Philadelphia • 55 men from 12 of the 13 states • Mostly wealthy planters & merchants • Most were college graduates with some political experience • Many were coastal residents from the larger cities, not the rural areas

16. The Philadelphia Convention • Philosophy into Action • Although very different philosophical views were represented, the group agreed on questions of human nature, the causes of political conflict, and the object and nature of republican government. • Human Nature, which is self-interested. • Political Conflict, which leads to factions. • Objects of Government, including the preservation of property. • Nature of Government, which sets power against power so that no one faction rises above and overwhelms another.

17. The Philadelphia Convention • The delegates were united in their belief that people were self-interested and that government should play a key role in checking and containingthe natural self-interest of the people. • James Madison, often called “the father of the Constitution,” was perhaps the most influential member of the Convention in translating political philosophy into governmental structure.

18. The Philadelphia Convention • Madison believed that the distribution of wealth (property) is the source of political conflict. • He claimed that factions arise from the unequal distribution of wealth: one faction is the majority (composed of the many who have little or no property); the other faction is the minority (composed of the few who hold wealth.)

19. The Philadelphia Convention • The delegates believed that either a majority or a minority faction will be tyrannical if it goes unchecked and has too much power. • Property must be protected against tyrannical tendencies of faction. • The secret of good government is balanced government: as long as no faction could seize complete control of government, tyranny could be avoided.

20. Constitution Reading Guide • In your study groups, work together to complete the Constitution reading guide. • If, at any point, you are confused about something, try to figure it out within your group first.

21. The Agenda in Philadelphia • The Equality Issues • Equality and Representation of the States • New Jersey Plan—equal representation in states • Virginia Plan—population-based representation • Connecticut Compromise • Slavery • Three-fifths compromise • Political Equality and voting left to states

22. The Agenda in Philadelphia

23. The Agenda in Philadelphia • The Economic Issues • States had tariffs on products from other states • Paper money was basically worthless • Congress couldn’t raise money • Actions taken: • Powers of Congress to be strengthened • Powers of states to be limited

24. The Agenda in Philadelphia

25. The Agenda in Philadelphia • The Individual Rights Issues • Some were written into the Constitution: • Prohibits suspension of writ of habeas corpus • No bills of attainder • No ex post facto laws • Religious qualifications for holding office prohibited • Strict rules of evidence for conviction of treason • Right to trial by jury in criminal cases • Some were not specified • Freedom of speech and expression • Rights of the accused

26. The Madisonian Model • To prevent a tyranny of the majority, Madison proposed a government of: • Limiting Majority Control • Separating Powers • Creating Checks and Balances • Establishing a Federal System

27. The Madisonian Model

28. The Madisonian Model

29. The Madisonian Model • The Constitutional Republic • Republic: A form of government in which the people select representatives to govern them and make laws • Favors the status quo – change is slow • The End of the Beginning • The document was approved, but not unanimously. Now it had to be ratified.

30. Ratifying the Constitution

31. Ratifying the Constitution • Federalist Papers • A collection of 85 articles written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison under the name “Publius” to defend the Constitution • Bill of Rights • The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, drafted in response to some of the Anti-Federalist concerns about the lack of basic liberties

33. Ratifying the Constitution • Ratification • Lacking majority support, the Federalists specified that the Constitution be ratified by state conventions, not state legislatures. • Delaware first ratified the Constitution on December 7, 1787. • New Hampshire’s approval (the ninth state to ratify) made the Constitution official six months later.

34. Formal Amending Process • Article V outlines the procedures for amending • 1. Proposing Amendments by 2/3 vote in each house of Congress OR national convention called on by Congress by 2/3 of state legislatures • 2. Ratified by ¾ of the state legislatures OR state conventions called in ¾ the states

35. Informal Amending Process • Judicial interpretation- disputes about the meaning of the Constitution • Changing political practice • Technology- media helping to elect officials • Increased demands for new policies

37. The Importance of Flexibility • The Constitution is short, with fewer than 8,000 words. • It does not prescribe every detail. • There is no mention of congressional committees or independent regulatory commissions. • The Constitution is not static, but flexible for future generations to determine their own needs.

38. Understanding the Constitution • The Constitution and Democracy • The Constitution is rarely described as democratic. • There has been a gradual democratization of the Constitution. • The Constitution and the Scope of Government • Much of the Constitution reinforces individualism and provides multiple access points for citizens. • It also encourages stalemate and limits government.

39. Summary • The Constitution was ratified to strengthen congressional economic powers, even with disagreements over issues of equality. • Protection of individual rights guaranteed through the Bill of Rights. • Formal and informal changes continue to shape our Madisonian system of government.

40. Framing the ConstitutionCharles Beard • Charles A. Beard, who published his famous An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution in 1913, suggested that the Constitution was nothing more than the work of an economic elite that was seeking to preserve its property. • This elite, according to Beard, consisted of landholders, creditors, merchants, public bondholders, and wealthy lawyers. Beard demonstrated that many of the delegates to the convention fell into one of these categories.

41. Goal: To Limit Popular Majorities • According to Beard’s thesis, as the delegates met, the primary concern of most of them was to limit the power of popular majorities and thus protect their own property interests. • To Beard, the anti-majoritarian attributes that he felt existed in the Constitution were a reflection of the less numerous creditor class attempting to protect itself against incursions by the majority.

42. Constitution Protects Property • Specific provisions as well were put into the Constitution with a view toward protecting property, such as the clause prohibiting states from impairing contracts, coining money, or emitting bills of credit. • Control over money was placed in the hands of the national government, and in Article VI of the Constitution it was provided that the new government was to guarantee all debts that had been incurred by the national government under the Articles of Confederation.

43. Evidence Does Not Support Beard • Beard’s thesis was startling at the time it was published in 1913. As it came under close examination, it was revealed that the evidence simply did not support Beard's hypothesis. • Key leaders of the convention, including Madison, were not substantial property owners. Several important opponents to ratification of the Constitution were the very members of the economic elite that Beard said conspired to thrust the Constitution upon an unknowing public.

44. The Founding Fathers: A Reform Caucus in ActionJohn P. Roche • John P. Roche suggests that the framing of the Constitution was essentially a democratic process involving the reconciliation of a variety of state, political, and economic interests

45. Framers were Politicians • Roche writes: "Perhaps the time has come, to borrow Walton Hamilton's fine phrase, to raise the framers from immortality to mortality, to give them credit for their magnificent demonstration of the art of democratic politics. The point must be reemphasized: they made history and did it within the limits of consensus."

46. Constitutional Convention • Roche writes that "the Philadelphia Convention was not a College of Cardinals or a council of Platonic guardians working in a manipulative, pre-democratic framework;”it was a nationalist reform caucus that had to operate with great delicacy and skill in a political environment full of enemies to achieve one definitive goal “popular approbation.” • Approbation= warm approval

47. The Framers as a Political Elite • Roche recognizes that the framers, collectively, were an elite, but he is careful to point out that they were a political elite dedicated for the most part to establishing an effective and at the same time controlled national government that would be able to overcome the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

48. Roche on The Constitutionalists • When the Constitutionalists went forth to subvert the Confederation, they utilized the mechanisms of political legitimacy. • And the roadblocks which confronted them were formidable. • At the same time, they were endowed with certain potent political assets. • “The history of the United States from 1786 to 1790 was largely one of a masterful employment of political expertise by the Constitutionalists as against bumbling, erratic behavior by the opponents of reform. Effectively, the Constitutionalists had to induce the states, by democratic techniques of coercion, to emasculate themselves.”

49. Framers Were Not a Conspiratorial Economic Elite • The framers were not, says Roche, a cohesive elite dedicated to a particular set of political or economic assumptions • They were dedicated to the simple need to create a national government that would be capable of reconciling disparate state interests. • Roche contrasts with Beard who viewed the Framers an economic elite out to protect their personal property.

50. Constitutionalists Persuasion • The great achievement of the Constitutionalists was their ultimate success in convincing the elected representatives of a majority of the population that change was imperative. • A small group of political leaders with a Continental vision and essentially a consciousness of the United States international impotence, provided the matrix of the movement.