CHAPTER 2

American Revolution

• Unlike other revolutions after it

• Conservative movement that did not drastically change lives of the citizens

• Liberty is the goal of American Revolution.

• French Revolution: Liberty, fraternity, equality

• Russian and Chinese Revolutions: EQUALITY is the goal

Influences behind American Revolution

• Enlightenment ideals of life, liberty, pursuit of property

• Natural rights: Unalienable Based on nature

Hobbes• Social Contract

• According to Hobbes, society is a population beneath a sovereign authority, to whom all individuals in that society cede some of their natural rights for the sake of protection.

Locke

• Sole purpose of government is to protect:

– Natural rights: rights inherent in human beings, not dependent on governments

• Laws of nature govern people and are determined by people’s innate moral sense

• Life, liberty, and property

Locke• Government must be built on the consent of the

governed (people must agree on who their rulers will be)

• Limited government: clear restrictions on what rulers can do

• Government must provide standing laws so people know ahead of time what is acceptable

• Supreme power cannot take away any part of his property without his consent

• Social Contract– Right to rebel if injustices become deeply felt– People can work together

Rousseau

• Social Contract- Gets its legitimacy through popular sovereignty.

• Rousseau was bitterly opposed to the idea that the people should exercise sovereignty via a representative assembly. Rather, they should make the laws directly.

Montesquieu

• Separation of powers

• Checks and balances

• Separation of church and state

WHY THE NEED FOR A CONSTITUTION?

1. Weaknesses found in Articles of Confederation

• It took 4 years (1777-1781) to put into effect since unanimity was needed

• One vote/state• 9/13 to pass laws• Delegates selected by state legislatures• All 13 to amend• No national judicial system• Congress had few powers other than maintaining

army and navy• It could not tax, regulate commerce, compel citizens

to do anything

2. Changes in the States

• Increase in democracy and liberty in states:Bill of rights, abolished religious qualifications for

holding office, fewer requirements for voting

• New middle class of farmers and craftsmen came to power and overshadowed wealthy merchants and large landholders

• Legislators more powerful than governors (who were selected by legislatures, brief tenures, limited veto and appointed powers)

3. Pennsylvania Governmental System

• Too much power in too few hands• Unicameral• One year terms with four maximum• Disenfranchised Quakers• Conscientious objectors persecuted• Ignored trial by juries• Showed that a democratic government can be

tyrannical if the power is concentrated in one set of hands

4. Massachusetts Governmental System

• Separation of powers

• Voters and elected officials had to be property owners

• Governor had to own at least £1,000 of property.

• Officeholders had to be Christians

• Shays’ Rebellion: – Small band of farmers rebelled at losing land to creditors– Series of armed attacks on courthouses to prevent judges

from foreclosing on farms– Economic elite concerned that people were taking law

into their own hands

The Challenges of the Constitutional Convention

• How do you create a government that is strong enough to preserve order, but not so strong that it will threaten liberty?

• General agreement that there were defects in the Articles of Confederation, but are you just remedying the defects, or are you going to go much farther in what you do?

PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE:

Virginia Plan• Strong central government• Three branches• Bicameral legislature

One house directly elected by peopleThe second appointed by the first

• Executive and Judiciary chosen by legislature• Council of Revision (executive and some judiciary

members): veto legislation which could be overridden• The national legislature would have supreme powers on

all matters on which the separate states were not competent to act, as well as the power to veto any and all state laws.

New Jersey Plan

• Amend not change Articles

• One vote/state

• Lower House elected by state legislatures

• Each state receives same number of seats

Great Compromise

• Connecticut Compromise• House of Representatives:

65 elected by people based on population

• Senate:2/stateChosen by state legislatures

• More power to people who live in states with small populations

ASPECTS OF THE US CONSTITUTION:

Judicial Review

• The power of the courts to declare laws unconstitutional– EXPANDED in Marbury v. Madison

Amendment Process: Proposal

1. 2/3 vote of both Houses (all amendments used this

option)

OR

2. National Convention called by Congress at request of 2/3 of states

Amendment Process: Ratification

1. ¾ of states via legislatures (all, except 21st (repealed Prohibition) used this method)

OR

2. Special ratifying conventions in each state (21st amendment)

Informal methods of changing Constitution

• Judicial review

• Changing political practice: introduction of parties, electoral college feeling more loyal

• Technology: Mass media has great influenceBureaucracy grown in importance because it can

now do more for citizens (e.g., social security)Atomic weapons and other demands have increased

power of president

Federalism

• Political authority divided between national, state and local governments

BASIC CONTROVERSY

• Federalists (nationalists)

AND

• Anti-Federalists (states’ righters)

Anti-Federalists

• Only small republics work

• Loose confederation of states

• Increase size of House of Representatives

• Reduce the power of each of the three branches of government

• Include bill of rights

WHY THERE WAS NO NEED FOR A BILL OF RIGHTS?

1. Liberty not a priority

2. Most states had bill of rights

3. The framers thought there were creating a government with specific, limited powers

4. Guarantees already in constitution…see next series of slides….

Guarantees already in constitution

1. Habeas Corpus

• “You shall take the body”

• Accused must be brought in front of a judge and sufficient cause must be shown for why he is being held

• Can’t be suspended except during invasion or rebellion

2. No Bill of Attainder may be passed by Congress

• Person declared guilty without trial

3. No Ex Post Facto Law declared by Congress

• After the fact: Makes a legal act illegal, or Heightens penalty, or Changes rules of evidence

4 More Guarantees

• Trial by Jury

• Equal privileges across the states

• No religious tests for federal offices

• Laws cannot be created by the states to interfere with contracts.

NEED FOR A BILL OF RIGHTS

• Federal government must be restricted

• Must have the promise of a bill of rights to get the Constitution ratified. Especially in the large states

SLAVERY AND THE CONSTITUTION

• Greatest Compromise• Slavery is never mentioned by name in the

Constitution, but it is addressed 3 different places:

1. 3/5 representation2. Slave importation could not be ended until

18083. Escaped slaves had to be returned even from

free states

Madisonian Model• Limiting majority control: only House of

Representatives is directly elected by people; life tenure for judges; electoral college; staggered six year terms for senators

• Separating powers: shared, not absolute division

• Checks and balances:

• Federal system

Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists• Limiting majority control: only House of

Representatives is directly elected by people; life tenure for judges; electoral college; staggered six year terms for senators

• Separating powers: shared, not absolute division

• Checks and balances:

• Federal system

Anti-Federalists versus Federalists• Small farmers,

shopkeepers, laborers• Strong state government• Weak national government• Direct election of officials• Shorter terms• Rule by common man• Strengthened protection for

individual liberties

• Large landowners, wealthy merchants, professionals

• Weaker state governments• Strong, national

government• Indirect election of officials• Longer terms• Government by the elite• Less concern for individual

liberties• Madison, Hamilton, Jay

ECONOMIC MOTIVES

Charles Beard

• An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution

• Wealthy urban and commercial class people favored new Constitution because they held IOUs

Beard Challenged

• Individual interests of framers did not overly influence them except on the slavery issue

• Economic interests of states affected their votes at Constitutional Convention

• Economics played more of a role at state ratifying conventions

Constitutional Reform

• Ideas to reduce separation of powers:– Allow the president to dissolve Congress and call for a

special election

– Allow Congress to require a president who has lost its confidence to face the country in a special election before end of his term

– Have the president serve one six-year term only. Frees president from worrying about reelection

– House of Reps term goes to 4 years so entire House stands for reelection with the President

Constitutional Reform

• Making the system less democratic– The government attends to individual wants

with grant and loan aid programs. Few politicians want to do less for anybody, so more keeps getting done.

– Constitutional amendment to set a limit on how much money the gov’t can collect each year or require that each year the gov’t have a balanced budget

Line-Item Veto

• The ability of the executive to block a particular provision in a bill passed by the legislature

• Passed by Congress in 1996, but struck down by the Supreme Court in 1998. (Only power to eliminate individual items from appropriations bills.

• CANNOT give president full line-item veto power without amending the Constitution.