Module 2: The Constitution

Myths About Constitution vs Constitutionalism

• Constitution and Constitutionalism are the same

• Constitution vs Democracy

EXAM: What is constitutionalism versus constitution?

constitutionalism: restraint of political power

constitution: written document

• Constitution/Democracy =/= Constitutionalism

Are all constitutions an example of constitutionalism?

No, because you can still write a constitution without having a restraint of political power.

Is constitutionalism only reserved for democracy?

No, you can have constitutionalism without democracy.

• a monarchy can still have constitutionalism as long as there is a restraint of power on the monarch

How is the Magna Carta an example for constitutionalism?

King John signs a FEUDAL (king and nobles) document restraining his power and recognized certain rights of the landed aristocracy (the elite).

• first constitutional document

• every king after King John recognized the Magna Carta until the 17th century

  • kings started rejecting it and claim “divine right”

Myth of the Magna Carta

Assumed that it was the first massed-based constitution in the English language

• it’s NOT MASS-BASED because it only protected rights of a small group (aristocrats)

How did the relationship between Parliament and the King change?

• began in 13th century as a forum to raise revenue for the crown

• during war between France, Parliament became stronger, King became weaker

  • King gets soldiers in exchange for land and representation

• Parliament and King eventually get equal share in power

What was the Social Contract Theory?

• a political philosophy that emerged from a series of civil wars in English society during the 17th century

  • political power came from the people and not god

  • government is formed by mutual consent of governors and governed

  • defects in human nature create the need for government

EXAM: What is Thomas Hobbes’s primary political value?

Order + Security

• we need government to protect us from ourselves

• evil = insecurity; good = security

• giving up freedom for protection

  • EXAM: Freedom and Equality are valuable ONLY if you have Order

What is Thomas Hobbes’s view on government and religion?

Lived through religious civil wars in England which influenced his idea that…

• government and religion should be separate

• rejected Divine Right of Kings

Why are religious wars different from other wars?

Wars can either be about INTEREST or VALUES. Religious wars are about VALUES.

This makes religious wars problematic because…

• INTEREST doesn’t change who people are

• VALUE does change who people are

  • religious wars are about VALUES

    • can’t negotiate VALUES because it changes who people are

EXAM: What system of government does Thomas Hobbes believe in?

Monarchy, because he believes it’s the most efficient.

EXAM: How does Thomas Hobbes view the government as?

Has a utilitarian view:

• government is a tool (is it useful?)

  • government is not moral or immoral

  • used to perform tasks of Order and Security

  • if government can’t provide for safety, people have a right to create a new government that will

How do liberals and conservatives differ in their utilitarian view of the government?

• liberals: wants government to spend money on Equality

• conservatives: wants government to spend money on Order

EXAM: What does Thomas Hobbes believe would happen if government would not exist?

State of Nature: what life be like without government

• struggle for survival/perpetual state of war

  • because you don’t know if people are safe, you have to assume the worst of people

• humans are rational creatures, but are also emotional

EXAM: How has John Locke impacted Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence?

• both valued Freedom

• government should protect liberties

Locke: life, liberty, property

Jefferson: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness

• 14th Amendment: Due Process Clause

  • Government cannot deprive people of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law

EXAM: Similarities Between John Locke and Thomas Hobbes

Similarities:

• people are better off government than without

• State of Nature imperfections in human nature would be magnified

• government is a tool

Differences:

• Locke believes that people are basically good

• Locke’s State of Nature:

  • life would be unfulfilled, not a perpetual state of war

  • people are endowed with natural rights

    • no Rule of Law; good people would struggle pursuing natural rights and freedoms

What does Locke think the government’s primary goal is?

To protect the natural rights of the people (especially property rights).

EXAM: American Revolution is a ___ Revolution (And why?)

American Revolution is a Lockean Revolution

• Jefferson argues that Britain has deprived their natural rights (Britain has not fufilled their Social Contract with the US)

  • they have the right + moral duty to revolt and make a new government that protect those natural rights.

EXAM: What government does Locke prefer?

Limited parliamentary republic with legislative branch being the leading and most powerful in government (founding fathers thought Congress would be leading branch)

EXAM: Who is the author of the Declaration of Independence?

Thomas Jefferson

How is Montesquieu different from Hobbes and Locke?

Instead of being interested in the conditions that created government…he was more interested in how a republic should operate.

What does Montesquieu believe is the best form of government?

Limited republic

EXAM: How was Madison influenced by Montesquieu?

Madison borrowed Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances from Montesquieu

What was the impact of the colonial era?

• lasted over a century and a half

• strong regional identities

  • explains Articles of Confederation

    • strong tradition of states’ rights

EXAM: Why wasn’t there a revolution between Britain and its colonies at first?

• relationship was mutually beneficial

  • British saw the colonies as a captive market and source of raw materials

  • Colonist got protection and lived under a rule of law

What did the colonies copied from the British?

their bi-cameral legislative system

EXAM: How did the British view the colonies?

As profits, prestige, and power

• thought that colonists had no independent authority, only had the powers granted by the British government

How did the British and the colonies fall apart?

7 Year War

• British wins

  • however, they are bankrupted

    • direct taxation on colonists

    • expanding presence of British troops in the colonies

EXAM: What was the first proposed direct tax on the colonies?

The Stamp Act

• formation of “Sons of Liberty“

• governor of Massachusetts gets his house burned down

• stamps were burned

• British ended up withdrawing this tax

What was the difference in perception between the Stamp Act versus the Sugar Act?

Sugar Act passed before the Stamp Act

• colonists didn’t see it as a tax, but as a navigation duty of cost of doing business

• colonists HAD to buy stamps for any written goods

  • saw it as unnecessary

What replaced the Stamp Act?

Townshend Act

• general import tax on everyday items (ie. glass, lead, paper, paint, tea)

  • colonists were buying from other colonists instead of Britain

  • or they would by substitute products from other countries

  • Britain lost profits so they removed all taxes except for TEA

EXAM: What was the significance of the Boston Tea Party?

It was the event that hardened the relationship between colonists and Britain.

• signaled that revolution was likely

• ideas → revolutionary calls → mass action

  • 2 significant documents

    • Common Sense (Paine)

    • Declaration of Independence (Jefferson)

EXAM: What was the significance of Common Sense?

• question legitimacy of monarchy

  • legitimacy: belief that one’s rule is rightful

• Common Sense was the prerequisite to the Declaration of Independence

What are the three important ideas in the Declaration of Independence?

1) people are given with god given rights (inalienable rights) → life, liberty, pursuit of happiness

2) Social Contract: government gets its authority from the consent of the governed

3) people have the right to revolt if their rights are taken away

EXAM: What was the first constitution of the US?

Articles of Confederation

What are the two perspectives on the success/failure of the Articles of Confederation?

the most common perspective: the Articles was a failure

Randall’s perspective: it was a pre-req to the modern constitution

Why was the Articles of Confederation created?

Crisis of Identity

• didn’t want to repeat the mistake of British tyranny

• people identified with their state instead of a nation of government

EXAM: The Articles of Confederation was a ___ centric system.

The Articles of Confederation was a STATE centric system.

• determined to invest sovereignty/political power in the hands of the state

  • due to the people fighting in the Revolutionary War were fighting for their state

What happened during the weeks leading up to the Declaration of Independence?

• Continental Congress urged the colonies to adopt new constitutions in anticipation of statehood

  • constitutions limited powers of governors

  • Pennsylvania Constitution was drafted by Benjamin Franklin

What was the Pennsylvania Constitution?

• drafted by Benjamin Franklin

• unicameral legislative

• no executive

• dominant legislatures

  • governors serving 1 year term elected by legislature

What lesson was learned from the Pennsylvania Constitution?

An unchecked legislature could be as tyrannical as an unchecked executive.

EXAM: Structure of government under Articles of Confederation

1) no federal court system, only state court systems

• no actor capable of resolving disputes between states

2) Only a ceremonial executive officer without modern powers of the office

• ex) President can’t veto, no appointment powers

3) EXAM: Congress

• unicameral legislature: 1 house

• representation based on geography

  • 1 state = 1 vote

  • 2/3 of states were needed to pass laws

  • all states needed to pass constitutional amendments

What did Alexander Hamilton claim were the two most essential power of any government? What did the Articles of Confederation lack?

Two most essential power of any government is purse (money) and sword (military). Articles of Confederation lacked both.

3 Weaknesses of Articles of Confederation

1) Inability to tax

• could ask states for money

  • can’t force them to pay

• caused country to be on a verge of national bankruptcy

2) inability to regulate interstate commerce

• no national court system

• couldn’t solve conflict between states

3) inability to raise an Army or Navy

EXAM: What weakness of the Articles of Confederation did Shay’s Rebellion highlight?

Inability to raise an Army or Navy.

Event is important because it symbolized the possibility of societal anarchy to many, especially those representing banking and merchant interests.

Background:

• Massachusetts rewrote their Constitution

  • created by bankers and merchants

    • collected taxes after war

      • 2000+ farmers and Revolutionary War veterans were facing foreclosure

        • led to a revolt

          • it was not successful, governor put it down