Chapter 2 Objectives
%%Key Terms:%% Separation of Powers, Shay’s Rebellion, Bill of Rights, Reserved Powers
While the Constitution created a strong government, the Articles of Confederation created a system of government with many weaknesses. Among these weaknesses were a lack of a centralized military, power to tax, regulation of interstate commerce, and a need for unanimous votes from states to amend the Articles. Another weakness of the Articles of Confederation was a lack of separation of powers. There was only one, legislative, branch of government with no executive or judicial branches, thus not having a separation in the powers held in government. Another weakness of the Articles of Confederations was a lack of a Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights, or the first 10 amendments to the constitution granting citizens basic individual liberties, was not present when the Articles were created. This was a weakness in government under the Articles in that there was little protection of individual liberties given by the government to protect its citizens. An example of the shortcomings of the government under the Articles of Confederation can be seen through Shay’s Rebellion. Shay’s Rebellion, led by Daniel Shay, was a rebellion of poor farmers which the government was too weak to put down due to the shortcomings of the Articles. The Articles of Confederation, created to form a union of sovereign states, also had a great deal of emphasis on reserved powers, or powers given to the states, rather than enumerated powers (given to the federal government) or concurrent powers (shared by federal and state governments). This lack of unity in power was a weakness of the Articles in that the lack of cohesive government caused issues such as irregulated commerce and the like, which ultimately worked against the country and hindered progress.
%%Key Terms:%% James Madison, aristocracy, direct democracy, Federalist No.10
The writers of the Constitution tended to be lawyers, and mostly very wealthy and experienced people. Because of this, the writers were often distrusting of the common people and their “uneducated” ideas and thoughts, which they feared would turn into law. Writers like James Madison believed, as shown in Federalist No. 10, that a large republic is beneficial due to the fact that larger groups of people will naturally be more diverse in thought, which would prevent majorities from dominating the government, thus preventing mob rule by lower class, “uneducated” people. The writers were distrustful of democracy, especially direct democracy, in which the people voted on issues themselves rather than picking a representative, partially due to their fear of mob rule but also due to their concern over democracy by a select majority turning into tyranny or aristocracy, in which government is ruled by the nobility/a small group of people.
%%Key Terms:%% Edmund Randolph, House of Representatives, Senate, William Patterson, Separation of Powers
The Virginia Plan, proposed by Edmund Randolph, one of the Virginian delegates to the Constitutional Convention, outlined a large part of what would later be said to be the U.S. government in the Constitution. The plan was to have a bicameral legislature and a form of separation of powers by having a legislative, judicial, and executive branch, as well as to have state representation in legislature be based off of population. The New Jersey Plan, proposed by William Patterson, suggested there be one house and equal representation for states so that small states may not be outnumbered by representatives of larger states with larger populations. These plans led to the Great Compromise in that the Great Compromise was a mix of both plans. The New Jersey Plan's equal representation and the Virginia Plan's representation based on population combined in the Great Compromise to create a bicameral legislature with both features; one house (Senate) based on Equal Representation, and one (House Of Rep.) based on Representation based off of population.
4. Show how James Madison’s notions of human nature played an important role in the framing of the \n Constitution.
%%Key Terms:%% Bill of Rights, Madisonian View, factions, Federalist No. 10
James Madison believed that it was in human nature to be self-serving and corrupt. Thus Madison proposed government that did not conform to these flaws, but that combated them. In this Madisonian View, Madison also shows that promoting virtue would create an extremely strong government that would violate the natural rights of its citizens and therefore government should not conform to the flaws of humanity, but it should not force people to fix these flaws either. Madison’s belief in these rights also prompted the creation of the Bill of Rights, which lists basic liberties the citizens of the United States are granted by the government. Madison believed people were bound to form factions, or groups with distinct political interests, and therefore he believed the Constitution should accommodate/reflect that, which can be seen in Federalist No. 10, where it is proposed that large republics are beneficial due to the diverse set of thoughts and ideas within them, and therefore due to these diverse ideas it is less likely for one single faction to dominate government.
%%Key Terms%%: 3/5ths Compromise, Bill of Rights, Constitutional Convention, Federalists, Anti-Federalists, House of Representatives
The Constitution did not include a Bill of Rights, or a document outlining the basic rights of the citizens, because the Federalists, or supporters of stronger national government, thought it was unnecessary at first. The Bill of Rights was only passed after the Constitution’s ratification depended on its existence. This impacted the creation of the Constitution in that without this compromise, the Constitution would not have been ratified. The Constitution did not specifically mention slavery because if restrictions were placed on slavery, many believed certain southern states would not ratify the Constitution. Therefore, the Constitution itself does not say the word “slavery,” although it does allude to it. This impacted the creation of the Constitution in that the way the issue with slavery was handled would determine whether or not a new government would be created and the American experiment would work. Because of this, the 3/5th Compromise, through which representation for the House of Representatives, which bases representation off of population, would be decided by the population of free people and 3/5ths of the not-free population.