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The Constitution
Transcript
The Government That Wasn't
The Articles of Confederation
- The first document to govern the United States.
- Established a confederation among 13 states.
- Congress had few powers; no president or national court system.
- Most government power rested in the states.
Madison 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
The Constitution and the Convention
Men from the states met 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
The Government That Wasn't
Revolution
- The American revolution represents an overthrow of a system of government based on widespread popular support.
- It did not cause widespread societal change like the Russian, Chinese, or Iranian revolutions.
Political Philosophy
Problems faced:
- Economic Turmoil
- Postwar depression left farmers unable to pay debts
- 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
- John Locke’s Natural Rights philosophy states that the government’s role is to protect life, liberty and property
- Consent of the governed
- Limited government protects natural rights.
The Constitution and the Convention
Economic Issues
Agenda in Philadelphia
- Assumptions
- Human Nature is self-interested
- Political Conflict leads to factions
- Objects of Government include the preservation of property
- Nature of Government sets power against power so that no one faction rises above and overwhelms another
- 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 rights were not specified
- Freedom of speech and expression
- Rights of the accused
- States had tariffs on products from other states
- Paper money was basically worthless (14 currencies)
- Congress couldn’t raise money
Compromises
Slavery
- Three-fifths compromise
- Slaves are not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, but there is a reference to persons “not free.”
- Count as 3/5 of a person for purposes of taxation and representation.
Voting Requirements were left to the states.
The Great Compromise
The Constitution
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