Constitution

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/CliffsReviewTopic/American-Government.topicArticleId-65383.html <-- super helpful site!!

The framers of the Constitution had different opinions about how to best prevent leaders from abusing power, as British kings had. Essentially, they wanted to create a tug-of-war, so that when politicians inevitabley became self-serving as they believed human beings often do, the other branches would continue to pull power in an equal but opposite direction. The founders wanted to control the people without infringing upon their rights, and found this a difficult balance to achieve. The new Constitution had to respect the liberties of the citizens, but it also had to be strong enough to keep order in America. Several schools of though were represented during the drafting of the Constitution: The road to ratifying the Constitution was rocky. North Carolina and Rhode Island initially rejected it. **Antifederalists** (Jefferson) insisted that by taking power away from the states and giving it to a central federal government, liberties would be lost. They wanted states legislature to have the majority of governing power, with a weak, restricted federal government to tie all the states together. In the end, the Constitution created a strong federal government, but states also retained special rights and powers
 * Aristotelian (Sam Adams) - the government is responsible for encouraging good moral behavior.
 * Madisonian - the government should not try to inflict morals or virtues on its citizens, because doing so would give the government too much power and interference in personal issues. This philosophy was grounded in the ideals of liberty and self interest. (Madison also believed that liberty is safest in a large republics, where there is more diversity and no one opinion can become dominant since there are so many others.)
 * Factionalism - liberty is only guaranteed when power is equally distributed among many areas. This philosophy is reflective of **Federalism** (having many states unified by a strong central government) and the **checks and balances** associated with **seperation of powers** (the three branches of government) so that no one branch can become too powerful.
 * If something can only be done by a states, it is a **reserved power.**
 * If something can only be done by the federal government, it is an **enumerated power**.
 * If something can be done by either state government or the federal government, it is a **concurrent power**.

//*From CliffsNotes.com. The Amendment Process and Bill of Rights. 24 Feb 2009 .//
 * Table 1: Amendments to the Constitution, 1798–1992***
 * **Amendment** || **Date** || **Subject** ||
 * XI || 1798 || A state cannot be sued by individuals in another state ||
 * XII || 1804 || Electors cast separate votes for president and vice president ||
 * XII || 1865 || Slavery abolished ||
 * XIV || 1868 || Due process and equal protection of the law given to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. ||
 * XV || 1870 || Right to vote cannot be denied because of race, color, or previous condition of slavery ||
 * XVI || 1913 || Federal income tax established ||
 * XVII || 1913 || Direct election of senators ||
 * XVIII || 1919 || Prohibition ||
 * XIX || 1920 || Women given the right to vote ||
 * XX || 1933 || Dates of presidential inauguration and opening of Congress ||
 * XXI || 1933 || Prohibition repealed ||
 * XXII || 1951 || President limited to two terms ||
 * XXIII || 1961 || Citizens of District of Columbia given right to vote for president ||
 * XXIV || 1964 || Prohibits poll tax for voting ||
 * XXV || 1967 || Succession of president or vice president ||
 * XXVI || 1971 || Minimum voting age set at 18 ||
 * XXVII || 1992 || Limits on when pay raises for members of Congress can be enacted ||



All states get one vote in Congress To pass anything, nine of thirteen states must vote for it __Limitations__ Could not levy tax or regulate commerce Could coin money but there was little to coin Could appoint key officers to small armies-dependent on state Could run post office reform AOC all states must vote for it __States' governments became very extreme__ PA - Democratic MA - Repulican States threatened to leave or claim land out west They also invaded each other Men sought - life, liberty, and land Believed in a higher law/natural rights Legislative stronger than executive
 * __THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION (1781)__**

These web sites will provide you with a greater understanding of the Articles of Confederation http://majoritywhip.house.gov/constitution/Related-Topics/confedr.html http://www.usconstitution.net http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/artconf.html __http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/chart.art.html__ http://encarta.msn.com/text_761567227_0/Articles_of_Confederation.html

TERMS YOU SHOULD KNOW Constitutional Convetion__- Meeting in Philadelphia in 1787 that produced a new constitution.__ Shays's Rebellion __- A 1787 rebellion in which ex-Revolutionary War soldiers attemtpted to prevent the foreclosure on farms as a result of high interest rates and taxes.__ Virginia Plan __- Proposal to create a strong national government.__ New Jersey Plan __- Proposal to create a weak national government.__ Greate Compromise __- Plan to havve a popularly elected House based on state population and a state-elected Senate, whith two members for each state.__

__Authorzed by Congress for elgates to revise the Articles of Confederation Four months later the convention was adjourned and an entirely new constitution had been produced The main goal: ( 1776-1787) protect life, liberty, and property Delegates were aware of the problems with the Articles, but they didn't know how to go about sovling them didnt' agree on what should be done there was no "accepted political theory" that would tell them what type of government would meet the main goal__
 * THE CONVENTION**

Finding the "right" type of Government __Reading ancient and modern political history....not much help studied the history of many ancient and modern governmental systems, he also traveled to search for a model for a "workable American Republic" "History consists of beacon lights which give warning of the course to be shunned, without pointing out that which ought to be pursued." Confederacies were too weak to govern Other types of governments overpowered the people/public__
 * James Madison:**
 * Conclusion: basically, throughout history, most governments have failed, and studying them wasn't helping in finding the "right " type of government.**

Pennsylvannia Constitution __ 1776 - most radically democratic unicameral legislative members annually elected for one year terms no more that four terms per member broke up the Quakers persecuted anti-war supporters ignored trial by juries manipulated judiciary
 * The Assembly**

no governor or President Executive Council__

Massechusetts Constitution __ 1780 - less democratic separation of powers via various branches of government directly elected governer...who had the power to veto Judges were "Lifers"...........served life terms voters and elected officials must own property governor had to own 1000 pounds worth of property principal officers had to swear that they were Christians__

Shays's Rebellion - __named after Daniel Shays January 1787 - Ex-Revolutionary War soldiers/officers feared foreclosures upon their farms/land from high taxes and debt this rebellion revealed the great weakness of the Massechusetts Constitution delegates that were once reluctant to attend the meeting in Philadelphia became fearful of internal dissension, which would cause the states to collapse....needless to say, these delegates were not so reluctant to attend the meeting in Phili. "For goodness sake, if they have real grievances, redress the; if they have not, employ the force of government against them at once." "A little rebellion now and then is a good thing." "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." __ Info about the Framers __Many of the framers were young....thirties Couldn't agree on most things ....powers of the central government,representation of states, slavery, role of the people.....therefore, for many issues there was a compromise Became committed to liberty....people don't want a tyrannical government that threatens liberty, but they will choose a government that protects liberty and is limited a strong government ...enought to keep order but doesn't threaten liberty not democracy...mob rule(Shays's Rebellion) not aristocracy...rule of few (there's no real solution of one type of government, the real solution was basically a mixture of different types of government that was later called a democracy) "If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. in framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enables the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." He thought that balance could not be obtained by writing out governmental limitations in a document(Constitution)__
 * Changed Opinions**:
 * Response-George Washington**:
 * Response-Thomas Jefferson ** :
 * Problem:**
 * Solution:**
 * Madison's view:**

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/411696/New-Jersey-plan click on - **provisions** ( //in// [|**Constitutional Convention (United States history)**] ) **There is a video on the right side of the scree, labeled Audio/Video, about the history of the Constitution, it's quite helpful!!!**
 * The Virgina Plan || The New Jersey Plan || The Great Compromise ||
 * strong national union || small states want equal representation in Congress || House of Reps- 65 members, based on population, elected by the people ||
 * 3 branches of government || amends old articles...not replaces || Senate - 2 senators per state, legislatures choose ||
 * national legislature has power to act when states are incompetent || increased power of national gov, represented in Congress by what the Articles say ||  ||
 * one legislative house to be elected directly by people || each state only gets one vote ||  ||
 * This information as been found throught the text of the AP American Government book.

**The Constitution- Part 2**

=// All information comes from “American Government” by James Q. Wilson and John J. Dilulio, Jr. //= = = = Government and Human Nature = -Framers not opposed to giving states an array of rights and responsibilities. They learned from British rule and the Articles of Confederation that human nature would keep tension between Federal and State Governments, giving no one complete control -Common thought was that, for the new government to work, the citizens would have to become better people -Madison and the other founders used the ambitious human nature to create a system with a Separation of Powers · Samuel Adams said America needed to become a “Christian Sparta” · They hoped that power struggles between Factions would keep any one faction from having too much power · Or in Madison’s words: give the leaders of each office the “necessary means and personal motives to resist the encroachments of others.” That way, “ambition would be made to counteract ambition.” -In this way, checks and balances are created within the Federal Government, and between Federal and State Government. It creates a sort of “double security”

= The Constitution and Liberty = -Tensions between Federalists (Nationalists: in favor of Constitution) and Antifederalists (States Righters: against Constitution) slowed and lengthened the ratification of the Constitution, in which 9 of the 13 states needed to approve of for it to become law = The Antifederalist View = -The basis of the new government was liberty, not democracy -The Antifederalists opposed the Constitution because they believed that liberty was only secure in a small republic, where the leaders are close to their people -In response, Madison, Hamilton, and John Jay wrote a series of articles defending and, basically, advertising the Constitution. These come to be known as the *Federalist Papers · There were 85 written · The two most famous, Federalist 10 and 51(Madison), expressed great need for the Constitution. 51 argued that liberty is best kept in a large republic. · Within a large republic, the many different factions would struggle for power, and no one would be in complete control. There fore, they would create Coalitions to try to gain power. Then they would ‘fight,’ and still no single coalition would have absolute power. -Though the Antifederalists could think of no alternative to the Constitution, they felt it did not fill its purpose until a Bill of Rights was added

2.Most states already had a Bill of Rights 3.The goal of the Constitution was to limit government power and give many liberties. Adding a Bill of Rights would be just stating the unnecessary

= * Need for the Bill of Rights = -It became obvious that a Bill of Rights was needed when 9 states needed to ratify, and only 3 did (at first) -Smaller states ratified early (Delaware, New Jersey, Georgia). It took larger states (Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York) some convincing before they voted for it -Once the Bill of Rights was put in place, the Antifederalists backed off, and the Constitution passed

-Though slavery was a heated issue during the process of creating the Constitution, nowhere in the document will you find the words //slave// or //slavery.// -The Constitution did deal with slaves in three ways: 1.Blacks counted as “three-fifths of all other persons” when counting census (this contradicts the Declaration of Independence, which states that “all men are created equal” 2.The Government cannot ban slave trade until 1808 3.It states that if a slave were to escape to a non-slave state, he/she would be returned to “the party to whom…service or labor may be due.” -This neglect to deal with the issue of slavery caused the most American blood to be spilled in a single war: The Civil War
 * The Constitution and Slavery

Vocabulary:
 * = A Key Concept in the section
 * Separation of Power-Constitutional authority is shared by three different branches of government
 * Factions-a group with a distinct political interest
 * Federalists-those who favor a strong national government
 * Antifederalists-those who favor a weak national government
 * Federalist Papers-a group of articles defending and explaining the Constitution in the New York City newspapers
 * Bill of Rights-the first ten amendments to the Constitution
 * Habeus Corpus-an order to produce an arrested person before a judge
 * Bill of Attainder-a law that declares a person, without trial, to be guilty of a crime
 * Ex Facto Law-a law that makes an act criminal although the act was legal when it was committed

Key Concepts: Economic Interests at the Convention o economic position of states they were representing was influence o personal monetary condition had little/ no effect; individual interests rarely dominated votes at the convention (exceptions: slavery, public debt) Economic Interests and Ratification o More likely to NOT vote for ratification if they were farmers, didn’t own public debt, or owned slaves o Many exceptions; small farmers dominated some conventions where vote was unanimous to ratify The Constitution and Equality
 * 1) In the drafting of the Constitution, the positions people took were not usually determined by their economic interests.
 * 2) Most important differences in opinion was whether a large government (supported by the Federalists) or small government (supported by the Antifederalists) would be better for the country.
 * In 1913, historian Charles Beard published a book claiming that many of the (financially) better-off delegates voted to ratify the Constitution because it would benefit them. View was held for about 30 years.
 * In 1950s, historians concluded that the Constitution could not be explained by the economic interests of those who wrote it
 * In the 1980s, another group of historians found evidence that economic consideration did influence Framers
 * Economy played larger role at state ratifying conventions
 * Delegates more likely to vote for ratification of the Constitution if they were merchants, lived in cities, held gov’t I.O.U.’s, owned large amounts of land, and/or did not own slaves
 * In most states, only the majority of adult white males could vote; no women or blacks
 * Two views of public good:
 * Federalists- strong national gov’t required to maintain balance of liberty/ order/ progress
 * Antifederalists- powerful/ distant gov’t couldn’t ensure liberty; decentralization was needed
 * To the Framers, liberty/ political equality weren’t conflicted: task was to keep gov’t as limited as possible to prevent inequality in political privilege
 * Today, many observers think task is to strengthen gov’t in order to reduce inequality in wealth, major difference since the ideals in the time of the Framers

· Debates of improvement have occurred since ratification · Two Kinds of Critics: those who think the Fed. Gov’t is too weak and those who think the Fed. Gov’t is too strong 1. Reducing the Separation of Powers i.  Allow president to appoint cabinet members ii. Allow president to dissolve Congress and call for special election iii. Congress may require president who has lost confidence in country to call special election before end of term iv. Presidential and congressional candidates run as team in each congressional district v.  President serves single six-year term instead of two four-year terms vi. House serve for four-year term just like president 2. Making the System Less Democratic · Some critics who believe that the government is too weak say that that problems arise because the Gov’t caters to the special-interest groups · Critics who have argued on this side of Government have come up with some of their own ideas i. A constitutional amendment should be passed limiting the amount amount of money gov’t receives from taxes and to balance the national budget ii. Power to president could be increased by granting authority to block spending with **line-item veto** iii. Narrow the authority of the federal courts · Arguments have been made on both sides that these revised forms of government would never work 3. Who is Right? · People will always argue about ways to reform the Government or to revise the constitution · Some questions to consider before changing the way things are may be; “How well has it worked over the long sweep of American History?”, and “How well has it worked compared to other democratic nations?”
 * Constitutional Reform Modern Views**
 * Problem is gridlock between president and Congress
 * Some critics have devised proposals for reducing separation of powers
 * Alternative is Parliamentary System

– An executive’s ability to block a particular provision in a bill passes by the legislature.
 * Key Word: **

__ In a sense, yes: nowhere in the constitution does it mention the word women. Let’s face it. The constitution was written in 1787, long before women (or anybody except white property-owning men for that matter) were even though to have equal rights as everybody else. Also anywhere in the constitution that a pronoun is used, the words //he// or //him// are put in place. __, nowhere does it explicitly grant any fundamental rights to just men.In a sense, no: everywhere in the Bill of Rights that a right is granted to all people, it formally grants that right to all //peoples// or //citizens//, nowhere does it explicitly grant any fundamental rights to just men.
 * Key Concepts: **
 * Were Women Left Out Of The Constitution? **
 * However… **

· There are two ways two to propose **amendments** to be added to the Constitution and two ways to ratify them 1. Proposing and Amendment · Congress must have 2/3rd vote in both houses · 2/3rd of state legislature may inquire upon Congress to hold national convention to propose amendment 2. Ratifying an Amendment · 3/4th of state legislature approval <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-list: Ignore; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Ratifying Conventions in 3/4th of state can approve amendment 3. Key Facts <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-list: Ignore; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Only first method has ever been used to propose amendment <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-list: Ignore; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Usual time limit granted to an amendment being proposed before it dies is seven years <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-list: Ignore; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Twenty Seven amendments have been ratified <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-list: Ignore; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· The first ten amendments, ratified on December 15, 1791 are referred to as the Bill of Rights <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-list: Ignore; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Thousands of proposals have been made, but only 33 have received the necessary 2/3rd vote in Congress
 * Ways of Amending the Constitution **