American National Government POLS 1101 Lecture 2

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American National Government POLS 1101 - Lecture
2

• The Constitution

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Historical Foundation for the Constitution

• John Locke and Natural Rights
• English Heritage
• Magna Carta
• English Common law
• Colonial Experience

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Taxation Without Representation

• 1764 Sugar Act
• 1765 Stamp Act
• 1767 Glass, lead, paint
• 1774 - Tea Tax
• 1774 - Boston Tea Party
• 1775 - The Coercive Act

4
The Initial Response

• First Continental Congress
• Unity
• United front
• Redress Grievances
• Rebellion
• Second Continental Congress
• Combat between colonists and England already
  occurring
• Primary purpose form a Continental Army
• Peace still sought
• Independence debated throughout the colonies
• Thomas Paine Common Sense - http//www.ushistory
  .org/paine/commonsense/index.htm

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Independence

• Declaration of Independence
• Justification for rebellion
• Grievances enumerated
• Revolutionary concepts
• Consent of the governed
• Government protection of natural rights (life,
  liberty, pursuit of happiness) of its citizens
• Right to revolt against a failed government
• Republican Philosophy

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Articles of Confederation

• Rise of the Confederation
• State power
• Centralized Control Limited
• Congress of the Confederation
• Executive committee of states
• Limited Achievements
• Resolution of land claims
• Northwest ordinance
• Key Weakness
• No independent source of revenues
• Action requires consent of 9
• Amendment process difficult
• No national court system
• A New World Order
• Shays Rebellion

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Drafting the Constitution

• The Framers Foresight
• The Bellwether Virginia
• Republicans versus Federalists
• The Constitutional Congress and Factions
• Setting the Agenda

8
The Virginia Plan

• Key elements include
• Bi-cameral legislature
• National executive
• National judiciary
• Primary Opposition
• Small states

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The New Jersey Plan

• Amendment of the Articles of Confederation
• Key elements
• One state one vote
• Congressional regulation of trade
• Congressional taxation power
• Acts of Congress supreme law of the land
• Internal congressional election of multi-person
  executive office
• Supreme Court appointed by the executive office
• Supremacy Clause

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Great Compromise

• Connecticut proposal
• Elements
• Bicameral legislature
• House of Representatives
• Senate
• Other Compromises
• No export taxes
• Court system

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Structuring the Government

• Madisonian Model
• Separation of powers
• Checks and balances
• Executive
• Electoral college

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Final Document

• Centralized Government
• Distrust of Government Remains
• 3 competitive branches of government
• State Supremacy Intact
• Diffusion of National Power
• Fundamental Principles
• Popular sovereignty
• Republican form of government
• Limited government with written laws
• Separation of powers with internal checks and
  balances
• A federal system that allowed for state
  sovereignty and states rights

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Ratification

• State approval required
• No public input
• Federalist papers
• Support ratification
• Theoretical underpinnings of proposed government
• Officially ratified June 21, 1788
• Functionally ratified July 26, 1788

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Amending the Constitution

• Formal
• Proposals
• Congress
• National Convention
• Ratification
• ¾ of the state legislatures
• ¾ of the states during national convention
• Informal
• Judicial review
• Claimed by the Supreme Court in Marbury v.
  Madison
• Federalist 78 - likely presumed as a judicial
  role by Founding Fathers give common law legal
  traditions
• Legislative and Executive Interpretation

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Final Compromise Bill of Rights

• Amendments 1 10
• Freedom of speech and religion
• Right to bear arms
• Quartering soldiers
• Search and seizure
• Grand jury, double jeopardy, due process, eminent
  domain
• Criminal court procedures
• Civil trial by jury
• Cruel and unusual punishment
• Rights of the people retained
• Reserved powers to the states

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Civil War Amendments

• 13th outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude
• 14th privileges and immunities due process
  and equal protection into the Constitution
• 15th Amendment voting rights

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Other Key Amendments

• Expanding the franchise
• Close to 20 of the amendments passed deal with
  expanding the franchise
• Clarifying governing roles and limiting power

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Notable Failed Amendments

• Balanced Budget Amendment
• Equal Rights Amendment
• Pro-life Amendment
• Prayer in Public Schools Amendment
• Prohibition Against gay Marriage Amendment

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