John Locke

• believed in the state of nature

  • even though there is no government, individuals still have rights

  • life, liberty, and property

• limited government - government only has certain powers allowed by the U.S. Constitution

• natural rights - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

• labor theory of property - whatever you make is automatically yours and your rights to own it

• popular sovereignty - people are the source of government power

• social contract theory - an implicit agreement among the people in a society to give up some freedoms to maintain social order

  • we do have to give up some freedoms in order to maintain social order

• liberalism - concerned primarily with the personal and private rights of individuals

  • without interference of the other individuals or the government

  • `based off of constitutionally guaranteed rights of individuals (modernized thinking)

  • formulated during and after the enlightenment era by John Locke and John Stuart Mill

  • Locke influences Declaration of Independence

• republicanism - a theory of government that emphasizes the participation of citizens for the common good of the community

  • needs of community are superior to individual

  • citizens should participate in public affairs

  • political and civic unity are valued more than diversity or pluralism in the community

  • popular sovereignty is the foundation of good gov.

  • citizens can self rule and are capable of civic virtue and can cultivate it

  • derived from European origins (Montesquieu and Rousseau put forward republican political ideas)

• US combined ideas of republicanism and liberalism in constitutional government designed to guarantee the inherent and inalienable rights of individuals

• constitutional convention had to organize the slave states and ultimately get rid of slavery ; how states should be represented

Articles of Confederation

successes -

Northwest Ordinance/Land Ordinance [chartered a government for the Northwest territory, provided a method for admitting new states to the Union from the territory, and listed a bill of rights guaranteed in the territory]

kept states together

Treaty of Paris (1783)[between the American colonies and Great Britain ending the American Revolution and formally recognizing the U.S. as an independent nation]

federal aid to education (NW Ordinance)

failures-

Members often failed to attend Congress

Barbary pirates raided shipping

British retention of forts in Northwest

Inability to repay French loans

Boundary disputes between states

Inability to protect settlers from Indian attacks

No separate executive

One vote per state

No federal courts

No regulation of interstate commerce

No power to tax

States taxed each other's goods

No standard national currency (sts had own as well)

Spain’s denial of right of deposit at New Orleans

Little trade with Britain

Could not draft troops

9 states required to pass legislation (⅔)

Structure of the AOC

No separate executive

One vote per state

No federal courts

9 states required to pass legislation (⅔)

13 states required to amend

What is Shay’s Rebellion?

• under the AOC —> the country was in debt and the national government had no way to raise money to repay this debt

  • the responsibility fell to the states who passed new taxes to try and raise money to meet these obligations

• A group of farmers and American Revolution war veterans in Massachusetts became increasingly angry at their state government

  • faced higher taxes they couldn’t pay, loss of property, and even the possibility of debtor’s prison

  • this group under shay’s leadership called for an end to the heavy burdens as well as demanding debt relief

  • 1787 —> the rebellion march into an armory and the government’s militia put down the rebellion

• caused the founding fathers to realize that a stronger government was needed

  • led to the adoption of the Constitution of the Revolution

the idea of liberalism (founded by John Locke); he claimed that all men have the right to life, liberty, and property

• Thomas Jefferson enhanced Locke’s philosophy by including it in the Declaration of Independence

Compromises

Great (Connecticut) Compromise - 

Was a compromise between:  Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan (big states and small states) big states wanted votes based on population (HOR) and small states had 2 senators per state (Senate). 

Compromised by:

Senate

There would be equal representation of the states under the Senate. 

House of Representatives

A bicameral legislature (which is a 2 house legislative system) was proposed so that the House of Representatives would have proportional representation, which is where an electoral system in political parties can gain seats proportional to the number of votes in favor of them. 

North - slaves did not count

South - slaves counted

⅗ Compromise - 

Was a compromise between: 

The plan was compromised between Northern and Southern states as well as the farmers who were the most important people to approve of these measures. This compromise would be primarily placed upon the enslaved people on the farming plantations. 

Compromised by:

⅗ of the enslaved population were accounted for determining a state’s representation and taxation status. 

North -slaves should count

South - slaves should not count

Slave Trade Compromise - 

Was a compromise between: 

The compromise was between Northern and Southern states on the issue of slave trade. 

Compromised by:

The North and South shared very different views on the topic of slave trade. The compromise stated that the North would receive a $10 tax per slave, therefore the South could keep the slave trade. There could also not be a vote on the matter for at least another 20 years. 

For 20 years Congress could not touch the international slave trade, after 20 years they could. 

Electoral College - Good Resource to explain why it was a compromise

Was a compromise between: 

The Electoral College was a compromise between the election of the President by Congressional vote and the election of the President by the popular vote of eligible citizens. 

Compromised by:

Depending on how many electoral votes are in each state that determines the next president of the U.S. 

Electoral College: state legislatures select electors to electoral college; electors vote for Pres. majority of electors win 

• Preserves separation of powers

*popular vote is technically not in the constitution

Federalism is the division of power between the state and national government

Necessary and Proper Clause (or Elastic Clause) - passes laws to carry out, execute, enumerated powers

• Ex : National Bank and Federal Reserve

• enumerated powers include taxation, borrowing money, regulating interstate commerce, naturalization (the process of citizenship), coining money, establishing lower courts, declaring war, and raising an army and navy

Take Care Clause - Pres. must take care that the laws are faithfully executed

• bureaucracy

supremacy clause - if the national government is properly operating and state has differing laws, the national government wins

judicial review - can declare a law unconstitutional then the law is not valid (null and void)

• Marbury v. Madison