PSCI 2.3-2.6 Lecture

Quiz Review

Order of events

Seven Years War> Declaration > Articles of Confederation> Constitution

An “appeal to heaven” is just the cry for war and the need for a mediator. Without the mediator, they take full accountability to the point of death.

Lecture

  • Nov 1777, the Continental Congress approved a framework for a new govt under the Articles of Confederation

    • No central govt

  • Articles required approval of all 13 colonies; Mayland withheld approval; until March 1781

  • After many defeats by the colonial army and its French ally, the British army surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, in October 1781, thus ending the American Revolution

  • W/ the ratification of the Articles of Confederation and the end of the AR, the 13 original states had to create a working govt under the terms of the Articles

  • The Articles of Confederation provided for strong self-gov states and a weak central govt

  • States agreed to cooperate at the national level in limited areas.

  • Nat govt was prohibited to make an army or navy

    • the nat govt couldn’t provide troops to secure the western frontier; even after the AR, British forces stood stationed in these areas

  • The currency was worthless bc most states preferred local currencies

    • some states didn’t trust other states’ currency so interstate commerce was stagnant

    • the national govt was unable to impose tariffs or to regulate interstate commerce (making economics worse)

Points of contention

  • strengthening national govt but maintaining power

    • some delegates favored a strange national govt w/ the power to tax, raise a standing army and navy, and regulate interstate commerce

    • Delegates from other states geares that a strong national govt could be used to deprive citizens of individual liberties

  • protecting the [power of small states in this new govt

    • populous v unpopulous states fighting for equitable representation

    • The Virginia Plan - rep in a bicameral national legislature with the number of representatives from each state based on population

    • New Jersey Plan - unicameral national legislature with an equal number of representatives from each state

  • continuing to permit slavery

    • after the AR, the legislatures of some northern states required the immediate or gradual abolition of slavery

    • Southern states, however, called for retaining slavery to support their agricultural economies and for the apportionment of taxes and representation

Separation of powers and checks and balances

  • the debate over the power of the national govt was a major discussion at the CC, due to different ideas about a strong centralized govt

  • Delegates resolved the debate by implementing a separation of power and a system of checks and balances

    • SOP is not complete because of overlap (without the overlap they can’t check each other

there are many articles in the constitution to guide us on what topic is being targeted

The three branches

  • the legislative branch: Article 1 provides for a bicameral legislature- the U.S. Congress_ comprised of the House of Representatives and the Senate

  • The executive branch: Article 2 provides for the U.S. president to serve as the head of state, head of government, and commander of U.S. armed forces

  • The Judicial branch: Article 3 provides for the establishment of the Supreme Court of the United States and allows the creation of lower federal courts through congressional action

    • the Supreme Court’s function is to interpret laws and to determine if they are constitutional

    • Has to be in cases and not in an arbitrary manner

Checks and Balances

  • constitution provides a system m of checks and balances to ensure that one branch of gvt does not exceed its authority

  • While Congress has the power to pass legislation to become law, the president is authorized to veto the legislation and prevent it from becoming law; the Constitution, however, grants Congress the power to override a presidential veto with a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate

  • Congress may also check the president’s authority as commander-in-chief by rejecting a presidential request to declare war or refusing to provide military funding

  • Congress may also limit the president’s otherwise expansive powers over foreign policy by rejecting the president’s nominees to ambassadorships and by refusing to ratify a treaty with a foreign govt signed by the president

Impeachment and removal

  • The legislative branch most powerful to restrict the power of the executive branch lies in the congressional power to impeach and remove the president (and other officers of the executive branch) from office

  • Article 2, Section 4 of the constitution states that Congress may impeach and remove a president, vice pre, fed judge, or other executive officer from office for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors”

  • The Constitution requires the House of Representatives to draft articles of impeachment, which must be approved by a simple majority of House members present and voting

  • Following impeachment by the House, the Senate may then convict and remove the impeached official from office with a 2/3 majority

Judicial review

  • the federal judiciary serves as a check on the actions of both the legislative and executive branches through a process called judicial review

  • Although the Constitution did not specifically vest the judiciary with the power of judicial review, it is a power that flows naturally from the role of the courts in trying cases under federal law, including the Constitution, which serves as the supreme law of the nation

  • In 1803, the Supreme Court firmly established the power of judicial review in Marbury v. Madison

Fed power vs. state power

  • Know enumerated powers and reserved powers

    • enumerated are explicitly stated in the constitution

    • reserved area govt/people powers that have not been given to the fed govt

  • The Constitution established a federal system of government in which power is divided b/n the national govt and the state govt

  • The national (or federal) govt may only act within specific areas in which the constitution explicitly grants the national govt power; these are known as enumerated power

  • all the powers not explicitly granted to the fed govt are reserved for the states, or to the people; these are known as reserved powers

Supremacy Clause

In areas in which both the federal and state governments have the power to act, the Supremacy Clause (ArticleVI, Clause 2) states that the U.S. Constitution, federal laws, and treaties made by the United States are the “supreme Law of the Land.”

  • Fed Law, therefore, supersedes any law or action that conflicts with the U.S. Constitution, a federal law, or the U.S. treaty

The ratification process

  • although delegates to the Constitutional Convention approved the final draft of the U.S. Constitution in September 1787, the terms of the Constitution itself prevented it from entering into force until 9/13 states had ratified it.

  • States convened ratification conventions to debate the merits of the Constitution and vote on it

The Ratification Campaign

  • Delegates to state ratification conventions debated many of the issues that proved problematic during the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia

  • The power of the federal government and whether the Constitution went far enough to protect individual liberties were sources of strong disagreement

Federalists vs Anti-Federalists

  • Delegates to the ratification conventions, government officials, and citizens split into two camps

    • Those who favored ratification were known as the Federalists, and those opposed were known as the Anti-Federalists

  • Hoping to sway the public opinion and the votes of delegates, both the Federalists and Anti-Federalists wrote numerous newspaper articles and pamphlets arguing for and against ratification

    • Prominent Federalists Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison pseudonymously published a series of essays in support of the Constitution and Federalism, which became known as the Federalist Papers.

  • Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments

Proposing Amendments

Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution provides for the proposal of amendments

  • Congress may propose an amendment

The amendment process

  • a major flaw of the Articles of Confederation was its requirement that amendments to

  • The Constitution has 27 amendments