Obamacare shall be the law of the land.

1. Obamacare shall be the law of the land. Virginians will not be subjected to Obamacare! But my family wants Obamacare!! Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli V V

2. JAMES MADISON: FEDERALIST #39 In which Madison attempts to ease Anti-Federalist fears that the Constitution creates a unitary central government.

3. MADISON’S VOCABULARY • National: One central government for the entire nation with direct authority over citizens. • Federal: State governments that have direct authority over citizens with a central government that is a creature of the states. • Compound: Both national and federal

4. JAMES MADISON: FEDERALIST #39 Describe the origins of sovereignty in our FEDERAL system, as described by Madison. In what two ways does the government derive its sovereignty? “it appears, on one hand, that theConstitution is to be founded on the assent and ratification of thepeople of America, given by deputies elected for the special purpose… …but, on the other, that this assent and ratification is to be given bythe people, not as individuals composing one entire nation, but ascomposing the distinct and independent States to which they respectivelybelong… …The act, therefore, establishing the Constitution,will not be a NATIONAL, but a FEDERAL act.”

5. JAMES MADISON: FEDERALIST #39 2. Identify the features of a FEDERAL system that are built into the Constitution. “The House of Representatives will derive its powers from the people of America. So far the government is NATIONAL, not FEDERAL… …The Senate, on the other hand, will derive its powers from the States, as political and coequal societies; and these will be represented on the principle of equality in the Senate, So far the government is FEDERAL, not NATIONAL… …The executive power will be derived from a very compound source.”

6. JAMES MADISON: FEDERALIST #39 3. In the preceding paragraph, Madison concedes that the new government appears to be NATIONAL in character. By what criteria does he say it could be judged as a NATIONAL government? In “the OPERATION OF THE GOVERNMENT...the powers operate...on the individual citizens composing the nation in their individual capacities. On trying the Constitution by this criterion, it falls under the NATIONAL, not the FEDERAL character...”

7. JAMES MADISON: FEDERALIST #39 4. After conceding that the new government might appear NATIONAL, Madison insists that it is in fact FEDERAL. Explain his reasoning. “Among communities united for particular purposes... the local or municipal authorities form distinct and independent portions of the supremacy, no more subject, within their respective spheres, to the general authority, than the general authority is subject to them, within its own sphere. In this relation, then, the proposed government cannotbe deemed a NATIONAL one; since its jurisdiction extends to certainenumerated objects only, and leaves to the several States a residuaryand inviolable sovereignty over all other objects.”

8. JAMES MADISON: FEDERALIST #39 5. Madison explains the necessity of a court (tribunal) as part of the “general” government to settle disputes between the states. What potential consequences did he foresee if there was no such court? “an appeal to the sword and a dissolution of the compact “

9. JAMES MADISON: FEDERALIST #39 • 6. What is Madison’s conclusion about the structure of the new government? Is it federal or national? • In its foundation: federal • In its sources of power: part federal, part national • In its operation of powers: national • In the extent of its powers: federal • In the mode of introducing amendments: neither wholly federal nor wholly national.

10. DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE(1838)

11. ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE • French aristocrat who traveled the U.S. for about nine months in late 1831 and early 1832. He was 25 at the time. • Stated purpose was to study the U.S. prison system but was more eager to explore American political culture. • Was enthusiastically received by the elite of Boston, New York and Philadelphia. • Interviewed two presidents: John Quincy Adams (ex) and Andrew Jackson (current)

12. ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE

13. ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE • Democracy in America is a very important description of American political culture. • Topics are still relevant today: economic individualism, religion, the press, social class structure, racism, the role of government, the judicial system, etc. • Scholars consider it to be one of the most insightful descriptions of American political culture.

14. DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE 1. How are European confederations like the American system? “They confer upon the central power the same rights of making peace and war, of raising money and troops, and of providing for the general exigencies and the common interests of the nation.” Exigency: (def) something that is required in a certain situation.

15. DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE 2. What was “novel” about the American federal system? “The American states which combined in 1789 agreed that the Federal [central] government should not only dictate the laws, but execute its own enactments.”

16. DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE 3. What was the main problem of the Articles of Confederation and European confederations? How does the American federal system remedy the problems? “In all the confederations that preceded the American Union the federal government, in order to provide for its wants, had to apply to the separate governments; and if what it prescribed was disagreeable to any one of them,means were found to evade its claims…” “Its force is not borrowed but self-derived; and it is served by its own civil and military officers, its own army, and its own courts of justice.” “...the Federal power has the means of enforcing all it is empowered to demand…”

17. DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE 4. Why, according to de Tocqueville, are small states best for the people? “...all the efforts and resources of the citizens are turned to the internal well-being of the community and are not likely to be wasted upon an empty pursuit of glory... Mediocrity of fortune makes the various conditions of life nearly equal, and the manners of the inhabitants are orderly and simple.” “...we shall generally find more persons in easy circumstances, more contentment and tranquility, in small nations than in large ones.”

18. DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE • 5. List the four reasons why a country will become tyrannical as it moves from being a small state to a large one. • “...a great republic will always be exposed to more perils than a small one.” • “The ambition of private citizens increases with the power of the state,” but love of country does not. • “Great wealth and extreme poverty, capital cities of large size, a lax morality, selfishness, and antagonism of interests are the dangers...” • …. In great republics, political passions become irresistible, not only because they aim at gigantic objects, but because they are felt and shared by millions of men at the same time.

19. DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE • 6. What are the advantages that “great states” have over “small nations? • “...the love of glory is also more developed in the hearts of certain citizens, who regard the applause of a great people as a reward worthy of their exertions and an elevating encouragement to man…” • “...most important discoveries demand a use of national power which the government of a small state is unable to make...” • Small nations “are apt to suffer more acutely from the calamities of war than those great empires whose distant frontiers may long avert the presence of the danger...” • “Political strength thus becomes a condition of national prosperity...”

20. DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE 7. What, according to de Tocqueville, are the advantages of the American federal system? “The federal system was created with the intention of combining the different advantages which result from the magnitude and the littleness of nations; and a glance at the United States of America discovers the advantages which they have derived from its adoption.”

21. DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE 8. What are the disadvantages of the American federal system? “The most prominent evil of all federal systems is the complicated nature of the means they employ. Two sovereignties are necessarily in presence of each other... The federal system … rests upon a theory … which demands the daily exercise of a considerable share of discretion on the part of those it governs...” Summary: It is a complex system that requires knowledgeable people who have experience governing themselves.

22. DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE 9. What is the ultimate outcome of the American federal system for the inhabitants of the United States? “...the federal system, which I hold to be one of the combinations most favorable to the prosperity and freedomof men.” “But such is the admirable position of the New World that man has no other enemy than himself, and that, in order to be happy and to be free, he has only to determine that he will be so.”

23. DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE 10. In your humble opinion, is de Tocqueville’s description of the American federal system accurate today? Explain.