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GOVT. Chapter 2 The Constitution. Learning Objectives. The Beginnings of American Government. The First English Settlements. The first New England colony was founded by the Plymouth Company in 1620 at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
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GOVT Chapter 2 The Constitution
The First English Settlements • The first New England colony was founded by the Plymouth Company in 1620 at Plymouth, Massachusetts. • The settlers at Plymouth, Pilgrims, were a group of English Protestants who came to the New World on the ship Mayflower. • Before going ashore, they drew up the Mayflower Compact, which was essentially a social contract and was the first in a series of similar contracts among the colonists.
The First English Settlements, cont. • In 1639, some of the Pilgrims who felt that they were being persecuted by the Massachusetts Bay Colony (a trading post established in 1630), left Plymouth to settle in what is now Connecticut. • They developed America’s first written constitution, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. • By 1732, all thirteen colonies had been established, each with its own constitution.
Colonial Legislatures • By the time of the American Revolution, all of the colonies had representative assemblies, which consisted of representatives elected by the colonists. • Through their participation in colonial governments, leaders became familiar with the practical problems of governing and learned how to build coalitions and make compromises.
“Taxation without Representation” • In 1764, the British Parliament passed the Sugar Act, imposing a tax on all sugar imported to the American colonies. • In 1765, the Stamp Act imposed the first direct tax on the colonists. • The American colonists could not vote in British elections and were not represented in the British Parliament. They viewed Parliament’s attempts to tax them as contrary to the principle of representative government.
“Taxation without Representation” • In October 1765, nine of the thirteen colonies sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress in New York City, where they prepared a declaration of rights and grievances which they sent to King George III. • The British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act. • In 1767, laws that imposed taxes on glass, paint, lead, and many other items were passed.
“Taxation without Representation” • The British Parliament responded by passing the Coercive Acts (aka “Intolerable Acts”) in 1774, which closed the Boston Harbor and placed the government of Massachusetts under direct British control. • In 1773, anger over taxation reached a climax at the Boston Tea Party, in which colonists dressed as Mohawk Indians dumped almost 350 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor as a gesture of protest.
The Continental Congresses • The First Continental Congress met on September 5, 1774, in Philadelphia. • Only Georgia did not participate. • The congress decided that the colonies should send a petition to King George III to explain their grievances. • The congress also passed resolutions calling for the continued boycott of British goods and requiring each colony to establish an army.
The Continental Congresses • Britain responded with even stricter and more repressive measures. • Delegates from all thirteen colonies gathered in Pennsylvania less than a month later for the Second Continental Congress, which immediately assumed the power of a central government.
Breaking the Ties: Independence • One of the most rousing arguments in favor of independence was presented by Thomas Paine, who wrote a pamphlet called Common Sense. • He mocked King George III and attacked every argument that favored loyalty to the king. • He contended that America could survive economically on its own and no longer needed its British connection. • More than 100,000 copies were sold within a few months after its publication.
Independence – The First Step • On June 11, 1776, a “Committee of Five” was appointed to draft a declaration that would present the colonies’ case for independence. • The Declaration of Independence was formally adopted on the afternoon of July 4, 1776. • The concepts expressed in the Declaration of Independence clearly reflect Jefferson’s familiarity with European political philosophy, particularly with the works of John Locke.
Independence – From Colonies to States • In May 1776, the Second Continental Congress directed each of the colonies to form its own government. • Eleven of the colonies wrote completely new constitutions, while two made minor modifications to old royal charters. • All constitutions called for limited governments.
The Confederation of States • A confederation is a voluntary association of independent states. The member states agree to let the central government undertake a limited number of activities, but do not allow the central government to place many restrictions on the states’ own actions. • The Articles of Confederation, signed by all thirteen colonies on March 1, 1781, served as this nation’s first national constitution.
Powers of the Government of the Confederation • The central government created by the Articles of Confederation was quite weak. • The Congress of the Confederation had no power to raise revenues for the militia or to force the states to meet military quotas. This means that the new government did not have the power to enforce its laws.
A Time of Crisis – the 1780’s • Following the Revolutionary War, the states bickered among themselves and refused to support the new central government in almost every way. • The states increasingly taxed each other’s imports and at times even prevented trade altogether. • States started printing their own money, which caused inflation. Individuals who could not pay their debts were often thrown into prison.
A Time of Crisis – the 1780’s Shays’ Rebellion • In August 1786, Daniel Shays, along with approximately two thousand armed farmers in western Massachusetts seized county courthouses and disrupted the debtors’ trials. • Shays and his men launched an attack on the national government’s arsenal in Springfield. • Similar disruptions occurred throughout most of the New England states. These were an important catalyst for change.
A Time of Crisis – the 1780’sThe Annapolis Meeting • Five of the thirteen states sent delegates to Annapolis, Maryland on September 11, 1786 to consider extending national authority to issues of commerce. • In February of 1787, the congress called on the states to send delegates to Philadelphia “for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.” • The Philadelphia meeting became the Constitutional Convention.
Who Were the Delegates? • For the most part, the delegates to the convention were from the best-educated and wealthiest classes. • Nearly half were college graduates, thirty-three were lawyers, seven were former chief executives of their respective states, and at least nineteen owned slaves. • No ordinary farmers or merchants were present.
The Virginia Plan • Favored large states and called for: • A bicameral legislature, in which the lower house was to be chosen by the people and the upper house chosen by the elected members of the lower house. • A national executive branch, elected by the legislature. • A national court system, created by the legislature.
The New Jersey Plan • Favored the smaller states & proposed the following: • Each state would have only one vote. • Acts of Congress would be the supreme law of the land. • An executive office of more than one person would be elected by Congress. • The executive office would appoint a national supreme court.
The Compromises • The Great Compromise called for a legislature with two houses: • A lower house in which the number of representatives from each state would be determined by the population of that state. • An upper house which would have two members from each state; the members would be elected by the state legislatures.
The Compromises, cont. • The three-fifths compromise determined that each slave would count as three-fifths of a person in determining representation in Congress. • Slave importation was to be allowed until 1808, and escaped slaves who fled to the northern states were required to be returned to their owners.
The Compromises, Cont. • Banning export taxes was another compromise. Congress was given the power to regulate interstate commerce in exchange for the Constitution guaranteeing that no export taxes would ever be imposed on products exported by the states.
The Final Draft is Approved • The final draft of the Constitution was approved by thirty-nine of the forty-two delegates on September 17, 1787.
The Debate over Ratification • The debate was chiefly between two groups – the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. • The Federalists favored a strong central government and the new constitution. • The Anti-Federalists opposed a strong central government and the new constitution. • The Anti-Federalists had no knowledge of the arguments for or against the constitutional provisions because they had not attended the convention.
Ratification • The contest for ratification was close in several states, but the Federalists finally won in all of the state conventions.
Limited Government and Popular Sovereignty • The government can do only what the people allow it to do through the exercise of a duly developed system of laws. • Articles I, II, and III indicate exactly what the government can do; the first nine amendments list the ways that the government cannot limit certain individual freedoms.
The Principle of Federalism • In a federal system of government, the central government shares sovereign powers with the various state governments. • The Constitution gave the national government powers that it had not had under the Articles of Confederation. • Because the states feared too much centralized control, the Constitution also allowed for many states’ rights.
Separation of Powers • The powers of the national government were separated into different branches: • Legislative – passes the laws • Executive – administers & enforces the laws • Judicial – interprets the laws
Checks and Balances • A system of checks and balances was devised to ensure that no one group or branch of government could exercise exclusive control. • The president checks Congress by holding a veto power. • Congress controls taxes and spending, and the Senate must approve presidential appointments. • The Judicial branch acts as a check on the other branches through its power of judicial review.
The Bill of Rights • To secure ratification in several important states, the Federalists had to assure that amendments would be passed to protect individual liberties against violations by the national government. • By 1791, all of the states had ratified the ten amendments of the Bill of Rights.
The Constitution Compared to the Articles of Confederation • One of the weaknesses of the Confederation had been the lack of an independent executive authority. • The Constitution created an independent executive, the president, who is the commander in chief and given extensive appointment powers. • Another problem of the Confederation was the lack of a judiciary, independent of the state courts. • The Constitution established the U.S. Supreme Court.
Amending the Constitution • Methods of proposing an amendment: • A two-thirds vote in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. • If two-thirds of the state legislatures request a national amendment convention, then Congress must call one. • Methods of ratifying an amendment: • Three-fourths of the state legislatures can vote in favor of the proposed amendment. • The states can call special conventions to ratify the proposed amendment. If three-fourths of the states approve, the amendment is ratified.
Politics on the Web • www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html • www.constitutioncenter.org • www.thisnation.com/library/madison/index.html • http://wepin.com/articles/afp/index.htm • www.servat.unibe.ch/law/icl/index.html • www.cdt.org • www.findlaw.com/11stategov • www.law.yale.edu/library • www.4ltrpress.cengage.com/govt
