POSCI 3 : Discussion

Required Readings- Read the chapter on the constitution. Review the Lecture carefully, watch the videos and then answer these questions.

The Declaration of Independence advocates breaking with England. How did they justify doing so according to the document? In other words what were the classical liberal arguments for a revolution?

Define what the Separation of Powers concept means? This system is very different from the English System of integrated government.

How are checks and balances different from the separation concept? This system of checks was added to further limit power. Give at least three examples of checks , you have a table in the text that lists all of the checks and balances.

Go to article 1 of the constitution and copy 5 major enumerated powers. There are 17 legislative powers enumerated. Also what is the elastic clause and how does this provision expand the power of the legislative branch?

Why didn't James Madison like majoritarian democracy? How did he define factions?

The founders didn't want to concentrate much power in the national government, so they created a division of power between the newly created national government and the states. What do we call this power arrangement?

Complete an outline of the 7 articles, just provide the title of each article. Just provide the title of each article and very briefly explain its major features.

Out of the three values we are studying this semester which 2 values were stressed in the wording of the constitution. What modern value was largely ignored?

If you wanted to change any aspect of the constitution what would you change and how would you have worded the provisions you would replace it with?

 

 

short answers

1.Name three things that the Articles of Confederation lacked in order to have a new nation equipped to handle the problems of the day,

2. A constitution has three component parts. Identify the three parts.

3. What is the name of the major compromise that created our bicameral congress?

4. What article of the constitution specifies the qualifications for running for congress?

5. The founding fathers had three choices for the way power is divided up within the New Nation. What is the name of the system that concentrates all power in the national government?

 

Required Readings

Order v. Freedom:  Contemporary efforts to craft a constitution for the European Union raise the types of questions and challenges that Americans had to confront in the 1780s. The U. S. Constitution was designed to reconcile order with freedom, a problem this text calls the “original dilemma.” The founders recognized the need for government to protect life, liberty, and property, but they had just won their freedom from Britain, and they feared that a new, remote national government might threaten the very freedoms it was established to protect. In their first attempt to create a government under the Articles of

Confederation, they gave too little power to the national government. As a result, that government was unable to maintain order in the society or economy. In drawing up the Constitution, the founders looked for ways to maintain order through the national government while still safeguarding freedom. To achieve this end, they designed four principal tools: the separation of powers, checks and balances, republicanism, and federalism. Although the founders paid a great deal of attention to the conflict between order and freedom, they were not particularly concerned with the tension between freedom and equality—after all, as the authors of the text point out, that is a modern dilemma. The eighteenth-century document accepted slavery and left the qualifications for voting up to the states. As a result, African Americans, women, and poor people were all excluded from the political process. Only later did these matters of social and political equality become issues.

A Pluralistic Model:

With respect to the text’s second theme—the conflict between pluralist and majoritarian models—this chapter points out that the constitutional order was designed to be pluralist. The founders were afraid of majority rule and relied on factions counteracting one another—a mechanism characteristic of pluralism.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Creating a government and establishing the rule of law has challenged numerous philosophers and politicians. Securing liberty, establishing order and creating equality all need to be balanced, and then one has to anticipate future change and create a mechanism to deal with that. Although our American Constitution is very brief, very old, and very durable, it has provided a remarkably stable political framework. Our Constitution has survived numerous challenges to its authority, including a Civil War, but it also accommodated America’s growth and development from a collection of eighteenth-century agrarian states to a twentieth-century superpower. The document’s own historical roots grew out of three experiences: colonialism, revolution, and the failure of the Articles of Confederation.

The Revolutionary Roots of the Constitution

The colonists in America expected to enjoy the rights of Englishmen and the freedoms of being in America. These rights included not being taxed without being represented in the government. The colonists had their own colonial legislature, which legislated for them on domestic matters, but Britain controlled overseas trade and foreign affairs. When Britain decided to tax the colonists to pay administrative (including defense) costs, the colonists viewed it as a violation of their right not to be taxed without having representation. The colonies began to unite in their opposition to British policies, and in 1776, colonial delegates to the Second Continental Congress declared America’s independence from Britain. The Declaration of Independence set out the philosophical justification for the break. Following arguments developed by English philosopher John Locke nearly a century earlier, Thomas Jefferson asserted that the colonists had inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that people created governments to protect those rights; and that when a government threatened those rights, the people had the right to alter or abolish it. The declaration then listed a long series of charges against the king to show how he had violated the colonists’ rights, thus justifying their revolution.

From Revolution to Confederation The Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War established that the American colonies

would not be governed by England, but they did not determine how the new nation would be governed. In their first effort to structure a system of government, the newly independent Americans established a republic under the Articles of Confederation. This system created a loose confederation that protected the sovereignty of the individual states. The Articles had several major failings: the central government had no power to tax or to regulate interstate or foreign commerce; there was no real executive to direct the government; and any new laws or amendment to the Articles required unanimous consent of the state legislatures. These flaws crippled America’s new government, society, and economic prosperity. Events such as Shays’s Rebellion soon underscored the need for a new form of government better equipped to maintain order. Delegates met in Annapolis, Maryland in 1786 to discuss revising the Articles of Confederation. From the meeting in Annapolis, delegates formally arranged for a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia the next year to propose changes.

24 Chapter 3: The Constitution

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

 

 

From Confederation to Constitution

The delegates who met in Philadelphia quickly agreed that more than minor changes were required. They debated James Madison’s Virginia Plan, which included among its provisions a strong central government with three branches (legislative, executive, judicial); a two-chamber legislature, which could negate state laws (with representation in proportion to taxes paid or in proportion to the free population); and an executive selected by the legislature and limited to one term. Much of the Virginia Plan was adopted, but only after challenges and amendments. In particular, small states believed that the Virginia Plan did not represent their interests. One small-state challenge came in the form of the New Jersey Plan, which gave less power to the central government and proposed a one-chamber legislature in which states would have equal representation. To solve the conflict between the big and small states over representation, the delegates fashioned the Great (or “Connecticut”) Compromise. Under this arrangement, each state would have equal representation in the Senate and representation according to its population in the House of Representatives. Revenue bills would have to originate in the House.

Additional compromises resulted in a one-person executive who would serve a four-year term and be eligible for reelection. This executive (the president) would be selected by an electoral college, in which states would have the same number of votes as they have in the two chambers of Congress combined.

The Final Product

The Constitution begins with a preamble that creates a people, explains the reasons for the Constitution, articulates the goals of the government, and fashions that government. The Constitution is based on four major principles: republicanism, in which power resides in the people and is exercised by their representatives; federalism, which divides power between the national and state governments; separation of powers, which is the assignment of the law-making, law-enforcing, and law-interpreting functions of government to independent legislative, executive, and judicial branches in order to prevent the monopoly of power by one branch; and checks and balances, which give each branch some power to limit the actions of the other branches. The first of the seven articles of the Constitution establishes a bicameral (two-chambered) legislature endowed with eighteen enumerated powers, including the powers to tax and spend and to regulate interstate commerce. The “elastic clause” (Article I, Section 8) gives Congress the powers necessary to effect its enumerated powers. The office of the executive is created in Article II, which describes the qualifications required for the presidency and specifies the process for selecting the president by the Electoral College. Article II also lists procedures for removing the president by impeachment and describes the powers of the presidency. Article III establishes a Supreme Court and specifies the method of appointing and removing judges. Most of the details regarding the judiciary were left up to Congress. The remaining articles provide that each state must give full faith and credit to the actions of the other states. They also outline the procedure for admitting new states, establish the procedure for amending the Constitution, and specify that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Some authors argue that the framers of the Constitution may have been motivated in part by economic issues, but their most important source of motivation was the inability of the national and state governments under the Articles of Confederation to maintain order. Their desire to create a system that would maintain order was so strong that the framers readily compromised to allow the institution of slavery to continue.

The constitution: Essential Facts and Information you must learn and retain:

· What is a constitution- a constitution is the most important document that defines the form of government we have , a republic, it fully defines the powers of the national government, and it contains a bill of rights that protects us from abuses of power undertaken by the government. Civil Liberties are rights protected from arbitrary government intrusions in our lives.

· We started out as a colonial possession under the ownership of the British Empire. We had 13 colonies along the Atlantic Coast which later became states with their own constitutions after the American Revolution.

· The Declaration of Independence , a Classical Liberal Document, was a solemn declaration based on the meaning of the social contract that called for our right to revolt against tyrannical rule. A social contract according to John Locke and liberals in the 17th century was how political communities formed. This origination theory explained that communities needed government to protect property and maintain order. The members of the community would according to the theory would create a form of government, find a ruler, and create a contract limiting the power of the ruler. The members of the community would agree by contract that they retained all rights except the right to enforce the law. If the contract was breached by the ruler then it became incumbent on the community to oust the existing ruler and find another ruler. This theory based on the principles of limited government justified revolution . The right to revolution was used by the colonists to revolt against the king. Please read the full text of the declaration..The Declaration of Independence

· The states created a form of government called a Confederation of States. A confederation is a league of friendship between the several states with each state retaining Sovereignty over its internal affairs. The states were independent entities that could agree or disagree to follow the mutually agreed upon cooperative policies under the first constitution called the Articles of Confederation. There was no president or chief executive officer, no basis for collecting revenue, no defense system to protect the new nation from foreign invasions or domestic insurrections, and no regulation of trade between the states or with foreign nations. This form of government was lacking any central authority to manage the overall needs of the country especially during a crisis.

· So the leaders of the country wanted to establish a national government with limited authority to manage the needs of this new fledgling country and to create some growth, order, and stability in our new nation. These leaders meet to either amend the Articles or create a new form of government. They meet in Philadelphia in a closed session to come up with a grand design. As you read above they decided to create a new form of government. This form of government is a Federation.

· James Madison best expressed the theory behind the constitution in his explanation of factions. He expressed a sociological theory regarding human nature. He stated that humans are guided through self-interest and most of these motivations come from economic vantage points. He stated that people will form groups to promote these interests at the expense of the public good. He asserted that when these self-interests are organized by majoritarian groups adverse to the general interests of society, this results in the tyranny of the majority. How did he resolve this problem deeply embedded in human nature. He claimed that the new constitution and a large republic would nullify the baneful effects of human nature. By creating a form of government based on separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, within the context of a large republic would promote diversity and competition amongst multiple groups ,,The system will work effectively to promote the best interests of society. This theory of government is Pluralistic in nature. Countless groups vying for power will have to accommodate one another to get anything done. He also asserted that in a large federalistic system politicians will be elected by many constituencies. State politicians will be elected within the states, federal politicians will be elected within districts across the country, some politicians such as senators will be appointed by state legislative bodies across this vast country, and the president will be elected through an electoral college controlled by the states. The theory of multiple constituencies served to counteract the baneful effects of majoritarian control and produced a pluralistic society rife with many interest groups engaged in compromise and healthy competition with one another. So goes his theory. Read the full text of the Federalist Papers number 10 Madison and his theory of factions. federalist papers

· They had three choices of governance: keep the Confederation, establish a Unitary State, or create something in between which is a Federation. The Unitary model was rejected. This model would have given all the power to the national government. We are going to define this form of government as a centralized system. If we had this system the present pandemic would be the responsibility of the U..S. Government to manage and control. Now there is confusion as to what are the respective responsibilities of the states and national government. So the founding fathers adopted Federalism as our new form of government which created two levels of governmental control, that states and their constitutional powers, and the national government with their constitutional authority.

· The new constitution was designed to distribute power between the three branches of government, this is known as the Separation of Powers concept. In many European countries the executive and legislative branches are integrated and combined. In the parliamentary system the Prime Minister is the chief executive who is also in the parliament as the chief legislative officer. In our system the president cannot introduce legislation or control the legislative process. He does however have a veto power During election campaigns presidential candidates make many promises that can't become law because they have no legislative authority.. Beyond the separation of powers concept we have a system of checks and balances. This means that each separate branch of government has some control over the other branches. Some examples of this is when the courts declare acts of congress or presidential actions unconstitutional, this happens when the courts as guardians of the constitution declare acts of the other two branches null and void. Another examples is when the president vetos legislation as a check against legislative authority. The president through the appointment power has some control over the composition of the federal courts when he nominates court judges when vacancies occur. Congress can also check the nomination process by refusing to confirm the presidents nominees. See the video on the separation of powers conceptSeparation of Powers

· The constitution through the diffusion of power design makes it hard to pass legislation. To get reforms in place requires consensus from the branches of government. You have to realize how difficult it is to produce changes that are desperately needed. Legislative gridlock and party polarization contribute to countless delays in passing needed legislation. We have a bilateral congress and the presidential veto. This is precisely why we haven't been able to pass an immigration bill. Police reform under our federalist system requires that reforms must take place at the local level which means that reform has to occur in over 17,000 local enforcement agencies within states, cities, and counties in the United States. This is a problem that stems from federalism.

· Watch the video on the constitution and the compromises reached by the founding fathersconstitutional compromises

· Articles of the Constitution You Must Know

· The Articles of the Constitution are important sections created to give powers and regulations to each area of the Government. Articles of the Constitution Background

The Articles of the Constitution were written as guidelines for establishing and correctly functioning under the Constitution of the United States. Each one of these Articles gave special powers and regulations to each body of the Government to ensure power while regulating the amount.

Article 1

The First Article of the Constitution is the Article which outlines the powers of congress. Congress is the legislative branch of the national government. All legislation comes from congress. The article calls for an election of House of Representatives for two year terms. Senators were to be appointed. Candidates qualifications for office are defined in Article 1. The method of election for house members is defined in this article and election districts for the house are in a way defined. Election districts and apportionment of congressional members are also included in the article. Members of the senate serve for 6 years. The article doesn't mention whether you can run for reelection. The courts have ruled that congress members can be reelected. The powers of congress are called enumerated powers. Congress can pass laws that are not specifically enumerated under the necessary and proper clause. Congress has the power to appropriate funds for all programs and creates all programs of government.

The Second Article of the Constitution defines the powers of the Executive branch. The Executive Branch is made up of the President, Vice President, and other high-ranking Government officials. With the Second Article, the Executive powers are established and there is a line of succession of power, but it is regulated so as not to overpower other areas of Government. Presidential powers are specified in this article. We will fully explain these powers when we examine the chapter on the presidency. For now remember that the president as chief executive officer manages all the programs of government through his cabinet and the bureaucracy.

Article 3

The Third Article of the Constitution establishes the Judicial Branch of Government. This is where the judicial powers were outlined and the powers of the Supreme Court were defined in order to ensure that the Judicial Branch did not have too much power over other Government branches. The article created a U.S. Supreme Court and gives the court original and appellate jurisdiction over federal cases. Congress was given the power to create the inferior federal courts. The power of judicial review is not mentioned in this article but was conferred upon the court in a supreme court decision. So the Supreme Court has full power to interpret the provisions of the constitution through formal decisions.

Article 4

The Fourth Article of the Constitution is in regards to the States of the United States. This is where the legal interactions between states are mapped out. Furthermore, this is where it states that there can be more states added to the Union, but under specific circumstances or agreements. There are two important provisions in this article the Privileges and Immunities Clause which allows persons to retain their rights when they move from state to state, the other provision is the Full Faith And Credit Clause which requires states to fully honor legal documents and court decrees for all persons changing residency across all states. Freedom of movement in our country allows persons to retain their rights and legal papers when they move from state to state.

Article 5

The Fifth Article of the Constitution outlines the procedure for Amendments to be made to the Constitution. This is where it is explicitly outlined that each house of Congress must have a two-thirds majority affirmation before moving out for a three-fourths vote by the State legislatures.

Article 6

The Sixth Article of the Constitution outlines the issue of debts incurred by the United States before the establishment of the Constitution. It is also the Article in which outlines are made regarding agreements between nations and oaths taken by Government and judicial officials that have to be upheld in the spirit of the Constitution. The Supremacy Clause also asserts the power of the national government and its laws when they conflict with state laws.

Article 7

The Seventh Article of the Constitution is simply an Article that states that in order for establishment of the Constitution to occur, there had to be nine ratifications by respective State legislatures.

Notice there is no bill of rights, these were added during the first congressional session after the adoption of the constitution. The bill of rights was later added at the insistence of the Anti-Federalists who were wary of national power. They did not want the new national government to exceed its authority and arbitrarily remove the rights of the citizenry. The Anti-Federalists were a group of patriots who believed in states rights and individual freedom. They were skeptical about how far the national government would expand its power.

video On the Constitutional Articles