Important Questions:
1. How were the federalists and antifederalists different? What specific issues were important to both and how did they reconcile their differences enough in order to create and pass the U.S. Constitution.
2. What were some of the limitations and powers of the articles of Confederation and what made the colonists decide they needed a stronger government?
3. What was the most likely reason a delegate at the Constitutional Convention would have considered approving the Three-Fifths Compromise?
2. What were some of the limitations and powers of the articles of Confederation and what made the colonists decide they needed a stronger government?
3. What was the most likely reason a delegate at the Constitutional Convention would have considered approving the Three-Fifths Compromise?
Terms:
- Bicameral
- Republic
- Articles of Confederation
- Ordnance of 1785
- Shay’s Rebellion
- Constitutional Convention
- Virginia Plan
- New Jersey Plan
- Great Compromise
- ⅗ Compromise
- Baron de Montesquieu
- John Locke
- Federal system - Federalism
- Legislative
- Judicial
- Executive
- Federalist
- Antifederalist
- Bill of Rights
End of the Articles of Confederation
The years between 1783 and 1787 is known as one of the most critical points in American history. Americans began to develop different ideas about the way the government and America should be governed. They knew that they wanted to develop a system based on federalism, or a government based on shared power between the nation, state, and local governments. The Articles of Confederation, set up in 1781, had created a loose alliance of thirteen very independent states that often could not get along with one another. The government set up by the Articles of Confederation had only part, a legislative branch made up of one house. There WAS NO PRESIDENT, no executive branch, no judicial branch. In the Confederation Congress, each state had only one vote regardless of population. The Articles government could not regulate trade nor create taxes to pay off the country's large war debt. Congress could not even enforce it's own laws, even when it managed to pass them.
One thing the Articles of Confederation government did manage to do was pass the Land Ordnance of 1785, which outlined a plan of land surveys and sales for the Northwest Territory (area of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan). It also set the foundation for the idea of a republic, a country in which power is in the people through the election of representatives.
Shay's Rebellion
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In 1786, a group of farmers in western Massachusetts became fed up with their state's attempt to collect more taxes on them that they believed they did not owe or should pay. Three counties united in rebellion against any government official in the state. Soon a ragtag army was formed under Daniel Shays. Shays and his army attacked the capital in Boston. Though they were eventually beaten by state militiamen, a lot of damage had been done. The Articles lacked the authority to create an army to put down the rebellion and preserve the property of its citizens, this convinced many that a stronger central government was needed, but how would they go about it?
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Creating the Constitution
In May 1787, under the leadership of James Madison, delegates from each colony (except Rhode Island), gathered in Philadelphia to at first look at the Articles to see if they could simply be reformed or if they actually had to be scrapped and a new government created. The Constitutional Convention was charged with replacing the Articles of Confederation with something more powerful and long lasting. George Washington presided over the convention, but James Madison was by far the most active participant of it. Madison wanted a Constitution that would ensure a "supremacy of national authority," which means he wanted a government that would no doubt be powerful enough to run the country.
Creating a Legislature
The members of the Constitutional Convention realized that government had to have powers to create taxes, laws, and enforce them. One of the first things they set out to do was to create a legislature, or law making body. Larger states, like Virginia, proposed a Congress made up of one house with representatives based on a states population, this was called the Virginia Plan. Smaller states like New Jersey felt this was unfair and wanted a house created based on equal representation from each state, this was called the New Jersey Plan. In the end a compromise was reached, called the Connecticut Compromise or Great Compromise, it said that Congress would be bicameral, or made up of two houses: One, the House of Representatives, would be based on population. The second, the Senate, would be based on two senators from each state. This was the first of many compromises.
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The debate over Congress wasn't over yet, though. Southern states were upset because they knew that Northern states had a lot more citizens, or higher population, than the South. They said this would make the House of Representatives unfair and threatened to not sign the Great Compromise. The answer to this, according to the South, was to allow 3/5 of all slaves to be counted as part of their population (3/5 Compromsie). So for every 5 slaves, 3 could be counted toward their population and thus be able to send more representatives to the House of Representatives. Northern states reluctantly agreed to the proposal.
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Separation of Powers
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Baron de Montesquieu - Montesquieu's views and studies of governments led to him to believe that government corruption was probable if a system of government didn't include balance of powers. He conceived the idea of separating government authority into the three major branches: executive, legislative and judicial. This perspective significantly influenced the authors of the Constitution in establishing laws and division of duties, and also in the inclusion of provisions to preserve individual liberties. This is where the framers of the Constitution got the idea of making sure there was a separation of powers in order to keep a balance of power that did not favor any one branch.
John Locke influenced the Constitution just as his ideas had influenced the Declaration of Independence. Locke stated that there should be a social contract between the government and the people that specifically addressed the role of government. Government was allowed to function because the PEOPLE allowed it to. It's primary objective was to ensure that citizens maintained their natural rights as citizens, should those be threatened, the people had the right to "redo" the government and set it on a better course. |
Baron de Montesquieu
John Locke
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Federalism
The framers did not just want to limit the power of the federal (national government) by creating a checks and balance system among the three branches, it also wanted states to be able to check the power of the national government. Thus, the framers set up a federalist style of government, called federalism. Federalism means different levels of government so that power is shared. They viewed the national (federal) government as an entity (thing) that could become too powerful. In order to keep this from happening, the framers ensured that certain rights would be retained for the states in order to be able to check the federal government. To take this idea even further, they wanted state governments to be accountable by sharing their power with county or local governments. These different levels of government that operate together is known as federalism.
The Two Viewpoints of the Constitutional Convention
Two distinct viewpoints emerged during the Constitutional Convention. One, the federalists, wanted a stronger central government with powers that were more powerful than the states, they were the biggest pushers of the Constitution itself. They were unafraid of the central government becoming too powerful. To them, the Constitution went far enough to make sure the branches of government did not devolve into a tyrannical government. Federalists were James Madison, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and many others. The opposing view to this were the antifederalists who distrusted a strong central government and were only luke warm about creating a powerful Constitution. Antifederalists were more interested in fixing the problems of the Articles of Confederation than they were creating a new government. In the end, the federalists were only able to get the antifederalists on board by creating a Bill of Rights (listed as the 1st ten amendments to the Constitution) to the Constitution which specifically spelled out the individual rights and freedoms of American citizens. Some of the antifederalists were Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. Southerners tended to be more antifederalist while Northerners tended to be more federalist.
The Three Branches of Government
The Legislature (Congress) - bicameral, two houses. The House of Representatives is considered the lower house. It's representatives are elected by the citizens of each state for two year terms (the number of representatives from each state is based on population - how do we know the population of a state...the census taken every ten years helps to determine population of each state). The upper house was called the Senate, it's members were supposed to be more elite group and could overpower the House when it needed to. Each state sent two Senators (at first those senators were chosen by state legislatures, but later on that was changed to where they are voted in by citizens of each state), for six year terms. There are no term limits on members of the federal Congress (only the executive branch on the federal level have term limits). Many believe this was one of the biggest mistakes made by the framers. Congress' main job is to create laws, declare war, make sure the executive branch is doing what it's supposed to do, levy taxes, create a budget, and many more jobs that we'll talk about later.
The Executive Branch (the Presidency) - The Constitutional Convention prob struggled the most over what and how much power this branch should have. Some wanted the president to be supreme over Congress and be able to veto, or send back, laws it created that were deemed unjust. Others only wanted the executive branch to simply execute and be a tool for Congress to use as it created laws. Benjamin Franklin even wanted the executive branch to be a plural position of several people instead of a single president. They eventually chose to go with a single president (much to the surprise of antifederalists who feared one single president might devolve into a king). The President is elected to a four year term, with two terms as a maximum. They can veto a law sent by Congress, BUT, Congress can overthrow the veto by a two-thirds vote in each house. The president must be at least 35 years old and have been born in the U.S. The president is to be country's chief diplomat (representative to nations abroad), commander in chief of the military, and has the sole responsibility of implementing the laws created by Congress. Some wanted the president to be directly elected by citizens, others wanted him to be appointed by Congress. In the end they chose to have the president elected by a special group of people based on the number of representatives sent to congress and the senate, it's called the electoral college.
The Judicial Branch (Courts) - The third branch of government is the judiciary branch, the Constitution calls for a supreme national court headed by a chief justice. The Supreme Court's job wasn't to make or enforce laws, but make sure that each law was applied so that each citizen received equal justice under the law. The Supreme Court was given the job of interpreting the Constitution and in settling constitutional disputes between states. The Supreme Court is made up of 9 justices, appointed by the president and confirmed by Congress. They are appointed for life so that they cannot be swayed with special interest groups during elections. The top justice of the court is the Chief Justice. In order to assist the federal government in declaring what laws are just and in order to make sure that federal laws passed by Congress are followed, the country was divided into districts with lower federal courts in each district to try federal cases. These federal judges are also appointed by the president and confirmed by Congress. In order to follow the federalist system of government, states, counties, and cities also set up their own court system, separate from that of the federal courts.
Limits to the Constitution
The Constitution did NOT cover every aspect of life in America. It left out the rights of African-Americans, Native Americans, and excluded women from participation. The Constitution does not mention slavery even once, until eventually when the 13th Amendment was added in 1865. Refusing to mention slavery was clearly a way the framers used in order to keep the Southern states interested in creating a constitution at all. The closest thing to the mention of minorities at all was in the 3/5 compromise. The Constitution reflects the ideas and perceptions of the elite "gentlemen" of the late 1700s. While slavery was present, as were women, they chose to keep both groups in the background as they did in normal society. Federalists understood that the South would never get on board to creating a Constitution with an limits on slavery, therefore they simply left it out.
The Federalist Papers
In order to get the general public on board for stronger central government, in 1787 and 1788, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, wrote 85 essays that lay out why there was a need for a strong central government. It argued different scenarios that some might argue against a Constitution and proved that those problems could be solved through a Constitution.