Origins of American Government

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Origins of American Government

• Chapter 2 Notes and Review

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Our Political Beginnings (2.1)

• Our nations original English colonists brought
  with them a rich history of political experiences
  and ideas
• Those experiences and ideas would help to shape
  the political landscape of our nation, both then
  and now

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Three Big Ideas

• 1. Ordered Government
• An orderly regulation of the relationship between
  themselves and their government
• 2. Limited Government
• Govt. should not be all powerful
• Protection of rights
• 3. Representative Govt.
• Govt. should represent the will of the people
• People should have a voice in what their govt.
  does

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Landmark English Documents

• Magna Carta (1215)
• First documents outlining basic individual rights
• Trial by jury
• Due process of law
• Protection of life, liberty and property

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• Petition of Right
• Freedom to criticize the king could not be
  imprisoned without jury trial
• No martial law during peacetime
• No quartering of soldiers
• English Bill of Rights
• No army during peacetime
• Free elections
• Fair and speedy trial
• Excessive bail / cruel punishment

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Unicameral and Bicameral

• Unicameral a one house legislature (law making
  body)
• Bicameral a two house legislature

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What was Accomplished at the First Continental
Congress (1774)

• Sent a declaration of rights to King George III
• Urged all colonies to boycott English goods
• Local committees to enforce the boycott

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What Was Accomplished at the Second Continental
Congress (1775)

• First real National Government
• Continental army and navy was formed
• Adopted the Declaration of Independence
• Fought a war
• Created a Monetary system
• Made treaties with foreign powers

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The Articles of Confederation

• Our Nations first constitution
• Very weak document and was not effective
• Had no strong central government to enforce
  policies between the states
• A new constitution would be necessary

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A New Constitution Was Necessary!

• Problem How should the States be represented in
  Congress?
• Some States were large with many people and some
  were small with few people
• What about slaves?

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The Virginia Plan

• States would be represented in Congress based
  upon their population or the amount of money sent
  in support of the Central Govt. (Taxes)
• Virginia loves the plan, they are a big state
• Small states hate the plan

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The New Jersey Plan

• All States were to be equally represented without
  regard to population or availability of money
• New Jersey was a small state loved the plan
• Large States like Virginia, New York and
  Pennsylvania hated the plan

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THE CONNECTICUT COMPROMISE(AKA THE GREAT
COMPROMISE)

• A bicameral legislature
• The smaller Senate would be represented equally
• The larger House of Representatives,
  representation would be based on population
• Oh NO!!! What about slaves? Are they to be
  counted as population? Another major battle!

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The Three-Fifths Compromise

• Southern slave states wanted slaves to be counted
  as population (even they had no rights)
• Northern non-slave states objected
• Compromise
• All free persons are to counted, and so should
  three-fifths of all other persons
• Reality A slave only counted as 3/5 of a person
• An ugly part of our history to be sure, but it
  settled the dispute
• 3/5 Comp. was abolished along with slavery later
  on.

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The New Constitution was completed!

• Now it had to be sold to the people for approval!

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Federalists and Their Main Argument

• Federalists favored ratification (formal
  adoption) of the new constitution
• Stressed the weakness of the Articles of Confed.
• All of those problems could be fixed by the new
  constitution

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Anti-Federalists and Their Argument

• Objected to the ratification (formal adoption)
  process
• Objected to the absence of the word God
• Denial of some previously held states rights

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Two Main Issues Being Argued Over the New
Constitution

• 1. The greatly increased powers of the central
  government
• 2. The lack of a Bill of Rights
• Solutions
• The Federalist Papers were distributed to help
  explain the limited power of the new central
  government
• The adoption of the first ten amendments the
  Bill of Rights

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Finally a New Constitution was Won and has lasted
for over 200 years!!!