Alexander Hamilton

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Alexander Hamilton

• Background
• Convention
• Federalist Papers
• Attitude toward the rich
• Role in Cabinet

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Hamilton cont.

• Accomplishments
• a. Redeemed continentals
• b. Assumed states debts
• c. Assumed control of western
• lands
• d. Central bank
• e. Helped manufactures

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Hamilton created a strong central
governmentLeader of the Federalists
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Thomas Jefferson

• Background
• Accomplishments
• a. Separation of church and state
• b. Anti-slavery
• c. Public education
• d. Freedom of the press

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Jefferson believed in an agrarian societyLeader
of the Anti-FederalistsWrote Declaration of
Independence
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Jefferson
ELITE

• strict interpretation of the Constitution
• limited government
• states rights

MASSES
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Hamilton
ELITE

• flexible interpretation of the Constitution
• strong central government

MASSES
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Jefferson

• Locke
• Rousseau

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Hamilton

• Hobbes

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The Constitution

• To be ignorant of the Constitution is to be
  ignorant of all things your country is . . . .
  and of the truths its people have believed to be
  above all others in the relationships between
  human beings and government.
• Floyd G. Cullop

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The Origins of a New Nation

• Colonists came to the New World during the 1600s
  for a variety of reasons including
• to escape religious persecution
• find plentiful land
• and to seek a new start in life.
• The colonists were allowed significant liberties
  in terms of self-government, religious practices,
  and economic organization.

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Trade and Taxation

• The British followed a national policy of
  mercantilism.
• The colonists were outraged. Violent protests
  began.
• The Sons of Liberty were organized by Samuel
  Adams and Patrick Henry to act out against the
  Crown.

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The First Continental Congress

• The Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in
  September and October 1774.
• They were not yet thinking of open rebellion.
• They called for colonial rights of petition and
  assembly, trial by peers, freedom from a standing
  army, and the selection of representative
  councils to levy taxes.

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The Second Continental Congress

• King George refused the demands of the
  Continental Congress.
• Thus the Second Continental Congress convened on
  May 10, 1775, and were united in their hostility
  toward Britain.
• King George sent 20,000 more troops and the
  Revolutionary War had begun.

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The Declaration of Independence

• On July 2, 1776 the colonies voted for
  independence (except New York which abstained).
• On July 4, 1776 the Congress adopted the
  Declaration of Independence penned by Thomas
  Jefferson.
• The philosophies that shaped the Declaration of
  Independence form the theoretical basis for the
  new government.

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The Articles of Confederation

• The colonists wanted a constitution--a written
  document that defines rights and obligations and
  puts limits on government.
• The colonists created a loose league of
  friendship under "The Articles of Confederation.
• The Articles were created predominantly as
  reaction to the unitary system used in Britain in
  which all of the power and sovereignty is vested
  in the central government.

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The Articles of Confederation

• The government created under the Articles saw the
  new country through the Revolutionary War.
• However, once the British surrendered in 1781,
  the country was no longer united by a common
  enemy and quarrels escalated among the states.
• Under the Articles the Congress had trouble
  getting a quorum of nine states to conduct
  business. Even when quorum was made, the states
  did nothing but bicker.

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Problems Under the Articles of Confederation

• The Congress had no power to tax. States coined
  their own money and trade wars erupted.
• Congress had no power to regulate commerce among
  the states or ensure a unified monetary system.
• States conducted foreign relations without regard
  to neighboring states' needs or wants. Duties,
  tariffs, and taxes on trade proliferated with
  different ones in each state.

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Failure of the Articles

• The economy began to deteriorate. Several years
  of bad harvests ensued. Farmers went into
  ever-deeper debt.
• Many leaders worried about questions of defense,
  trade, and frontier expansion.
• Under the Articles, the central government was
  not strong enough to cope with these problems.
• By 1786, several states had called for a
  convention to discuss ways of strengthening the
  national government.

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Daniel Shays Rebellion

• Before that convention could meet, unrest broke
  out in America. In Massachusetts, banks were
  foreclosing on farms and the Massachusetts
  legislature enacted a new law requiring all debts
  be paid in cash.
• Daniel Shays, a Revolutionary War veteran, was
  outraged and frustrated with the new law and the
  huge debt burden of farmers.
• Shays led a group of 1500 armed and disgruntled
  farmers to the capital, Springfield. They
  forcibly prevented the state court from
  foreclosing on their farms.

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Shays Rebellion

• Congress authorized the Secretary of War to call
  up a national militia to respond and appropriated
  530,000 for the purpose. Every state except
  Virginia refused.
• Finally, a private army put down Shays's
  Rebellion.
• This failure of Congress to protect the citizens
  and property of Americans was a glaring example
  of the weakness of the Articles.

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Writing the Constitution

• On February 21, 1787, Congress called for a
  Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia "for
  the sole and express purpose of revising the
  Articles of Confederation.
• In May, the convention met and the Virginia
  delegation suggested they throw out the Articles
  and devise a new system of government!
• This act could be considered treason, so they
  adopted a pledge of secrecy.

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The Constitutional Convention
The TaskWhile the ostensible goal of the 1787
Constitutional Convention was to revise the
Articles of Confederation to create a stronger
government, several delegates hoped that they
would be scrapped altogether. The
Participants The fifty-five men who served as
convention delegates came from a narrow band of
American society the elite aristocracy.
However, nearly all of them had extensive
governmental experience as governor of their
state and/or service in Congress.
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The Constitutional Convention

• The Major Players
• Proponents for a stronger national government
  were led by Virginias James Madison.
• William Paterson of New Jersey headed the group
  that wanted to protect state sovereignty.
• Roger Sherman of Connecticut helped broker the
  compromise between the two sides.
• Plans for a New Government
• The Virginia Plan called for, among other things,
  three branches of government with a bicameral
  national legislature whose members would be
  selected on the basis of population.
• The New Jersey Plan called for, among other
  things, a unicameral legislature where each state
  would have one vote.

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The Constitutional Convention

• Debate and Compromise The Turning Point of the
  Convention
• The question of how states would be represented
  in the national legislature bitterly divided the
  delegates.
• The Great Compromise called for the lower house
  of the legislature to represent the people based
  on the population of each state, something the
  delegates from larger states favored.
• The upper house, in turn, would represent the
  people by giving each state equal representation,
  which is what delegates from the small states
  wanted.

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The Constitutional Convention

• The Issue of Slavery
• Slavery vexed the convention almost from the
  beginning.
• Bowing to pressure from southern delegates, the
  convention ultimately resolved to count slaves as
  three-fifths persons for the purposes of
  representation.
• The Nature of the Presidency
• The convention adopted the single executive model
  for the presidency, which gave the president a
  four-year term and considerable constitutional
  powers.
• An additional compromise between the large and
  small states resulted in the creation of the
  electoral college to select the president.

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The Miracle Results of the Convention

• A Republican Form of Government
• The founders created a system of government where
  representatives protect the interests of those
  who elected them.
• Amendments to the Constitution have expanded the
  voting base, thus giving many more people a
  direct voice in their government.

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Ratification The Battle for the Constitution

• The Federalist Papers
• Written under the pen name Publius by James
  Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, this
  series of essays, published in New York
  newspapers, was designed to sway public opinion
  toward ratification of the Constitution.
• In our day, these essays are viewed as the most
  important works of political theory in U.S.
  history.
• Federalists vs. Antifederalists
• Less well known to most people were the efforts
  of opponents to the new Constitution.
• This group, commonly known as Antifederalists,
  was particularly concerned about the strong
  national government outlined in the Constitution.
  

Question for Reflection Would the current labels
of Republican and Democrat still fit their
earlier descriptions?
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Ratification The Battle for the Constitution

• Ratification by Way of Compromise A Bill of
  Rights
• As a condition for ratification, the
  Antifederalists insisted that there be some
  protection for citizens rights against the
  strength of the new national government.
• Federalists finally agreed that the first
  government would propose a set of amendments
  securing these rights
• Politics the Old-Fashioned Way A Look at the
  Battle for Ratification
• The battle over ratification was intense and was
  characterized in many states by harsh rhetoric
  and strong-arm political tactics.
• Adoption of the Bill of Rights
• These first ten amendments are called the Bill of
  Rights.

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History - summary

• 1774 - First Continental Congress
• 1775 - Second Congress
• July 4, 1776 - Declaration of
• Independence
• 1777 Articles of Confederation
• U.S. Constitution - 1787
• Federalists
• Anti-Federalists
• Bill of Rights - 1791

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Constitution - our social contract

• Preamble - the introduction

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The Basic Principles of the U.S. Constitution

• Federalism - power is divided among the states
  and the national government.
• Separation of Powers power was divided
  vertically through federalism and horizontally
  through separation of powers among the three
  branches of government.
• Checks and Balances - The power of each branch of
  government is checked or limited and balanced by
  powers held by other branches.

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The Governmental Powers

• Horizontal Powers
• Governmental powers are apportioned horizontally
  across the legislative, executive, and judicial
  branches and have built-in checks and balances,
  so that no one branch could become too powerful.
• Judicial ReviewThe judiciary has the power to
  interpret laws or use their power to judge the
  constitutionality of, and thereby check the
  actions of, the other branches.
• Writ of habeas corpusa judicial order enabling
  jailed prisoners to come to court or to return to
  court after being convicted and sentenced, in
  order to determine the legality of their
  detention.

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Figure 2.1 Constitutional Powers The blue
portions of this figure display the powers
allotted to each of the branches and show the
separation of powers. The remainder of the
diagram indicates the powers that each of the
branches holds as a check on the other branches.
While each of the branches has primary
responsibility in the executive, legislative, or
judicial realms, each also shares powers with the
other two branches.
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The Governmental Powers

• Vertical Powers
• Governmental powers are also apportioned
  vertically between the state and national
  government. This is called federalism.
• FederalismRelatively strong central government.
• Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Section 2)
  Important powers assigned to the national
  government
• Elastic Clause (Article I, Section 8) States
  remain important

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The Governmental Powers
The Articles of the Constitution The Constitution
is comprised of seven sections that outline the
powers and responsibilities of government in
general and each branch in particular.

• Article Isets forth the powers of the
  legislative branch.
• Article IIsets forth the powers of the executive
  branch.
• Article IIIsets forth the powers of the judicial
  branch.
• Articles IV-VIIestablish guidelines for
  interstate relations, for amending the
  Constitution, for federalism and the Supremacy
  Clause, and for the process of ratifying the
  Constitution.

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Basic Principles cont.

• Popular Sovereignty - all political power rests
  with the people.
• Limited Government - govt may only do what the
  people give it the authority to do.
• Judicial Review- power of the Court to
  determine constitutionality of a govt action.

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Updating the Constitution

• Updating the Constitution through the Amendment
  Process
• Amending the Constitution consists of two steps
• The proposal stage requires a two-thirds vote of
  both the House and the Senate or an application
  from two-thirds of the states for a
  constitutional convention.
• It must then be ratified by the legislatures in
  three-fourths of the states or by a
  three-quarters vote of specially-created state
  ratifying conventions.
• Updating the Constitution by Judicial
  Interpretation
• The power of judicial review allows the Supreme
  Court to overturn the actions of the other
  branches of government and, in doing so, give new
  meaning to the Constitutions phrases and
  provisions.

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Methods of Amending theU.S. Constitution

• Formal Method
• Article V creates a two-stage process for
  amending the Constitution proposal and
  ratification.
• An amendment can be proposed by two-thirds of
  both houses of Congress or
• by two-thirds of state legislatures requesting
  Congress to call a national convention to propose
  amendments.
• An amendment can be ratified by a favorable vote
  in three-fourths of all state legislatures or by
  such a vote in specially called ratifying
  conventions called in three-fourths of the
  states.

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Proposal - National Level

• Ratification - State Level

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Informal methods of amending the Constitution

• Basic legislation
• Executive Action
• Court Decisions
• Political Party Practices
• Custom