brutus 1

The constitution written by the convention in Philadelphia is

an attempt to solve those problems

If the new form of government is a good one,

many generations of people will be able to enjoy all of the blessings of liberty, the nation will grow and prosper, and people will advance in knowledge and virtue

If the new government leads to a loss of liberty,

then America, the place where liberty has the best chance to succeed, will fail and future generations will blame and despise us

The government under the articles of confederation was:

not strong enough to manage some of the problems the nation has experienced

The people must be careful about

parting with power (as in creating a strong central government) because they are unlikely to ever get it back

In the confederated government, (as in the articles of the confederation),

most of the power belonged to the states. In a consolidated government, (as in the constitution) most of the power belongs to the central, or national government

the new constitution

places so much power in a central government that the state governments may no longer be able to function as republics under the control of their citizens

the neccessary and proper clause and the supreme law of the land clause make

the central government an uncontrollable power over the topics that the constitution covers

it is true that

the constitution lists certain enumerated powers that will belong to the central government, reserving some minor power to the states, but all the important powers are delegated to the central government

there is no practical limit to

the national legislature’s power to tax because the legislature itself decides what is meant by common defense and general welfare

the authority to tax is

the most important power a government can be given because it is related to all other powers that governments can have

the central legislature’s power to

raise and maintain a standing army, especially in peacetime, can lead to destruction of liberty

federal courts will

destroy state courts

the legislature has

broad powers with few limits; the neccessary and proper clause invalidates any limits and may result in destroying the state governments

it is human nature that those who have power

try to increase it, and the central government will keep growing until all state authority is eliminated

everyone agrees that the government

should be a free one, controlled by a fair and equal representation of the people

in such a large country, it will be

too hard for the representatives, to really know the minds of the people. Writings from great thinkers and examples from history help prove this point

The diverse interest in a large republic will

continually argue against each other

standing armies in peacetime are

a danger to liberty

a free republic does not need a

standing army to enforce its law

because of all these problems, the people will have

little confidence in their legislature and will not support the laws it passes

the legislature cannot be large enough to

be truly representative of the people’s interests

representatives elected in such a large republic would soon be

beyond control by the people and abuse their power for selfish and corrupt purposes

powerful elective offices will

attract ambitions and sneaky men who are likely to abuse their power