Article I Congress: the Lawmaking Branch of Government.

Article I

Congress: the Lawmaking Branch of Government

Questions, Concerns, Issues

1. “no person shall be a senator…and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen” (117) Does this mean that you can’t be the senator for your state? If so why would that be?

2. “Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.” (131) What are Imposts and Excises?

3. “the migration or importation of ‘such persons’ as any of the States…” how does this apply now?

4. Section 6 “No person holding any office under the united states shall be a member of either house during his continuance in office” Is this because the representative is holding a another position or because this gives too much power to the indivisual?

5. What does it mean that congress can call tribunals6. Why can’t the states tax individual vessels?

House of Representatives

• 435 members• 2 year terms• Must be a citizen of the US (for

7 years)• Must be at least 25 years

old• Must reside in the state

they represent• # is based on the state’s

population

Senate

• 100 members• 6 year terms• Must be a citizen of the US

(for 9 years)• Must be at least 30

years old• Must reside in the state

they represent• 2 per state

Powers of Congress

• Lay/collect taxes• Borrow money• Control trade• Print money• Punish counterfeiters

• Establish post offices• Declare war

Powers Denied the States

States do not have the power to:• Leave the union• Combine or split into smaller/larger states• Coin their own money• Grant titles of nobility• Make agreements with foreign countries• Fight wars without the consent of

Congress

Historical Memory and Changing Definitions

Different meanings of checks and balances:

The Founders: The separation of powers is meant to protect the government from the “democratic fervor” of the population and slow the incursion of “radical” ideas

Pre-1950s: They’re in place to check the power of any particular branch of the government over the people

Post-1970s: They’re in place to check the power of one branch of the government over another

Why was the Constitutional Convention held in secret?

Who invited the 55 people to the Constitutional Convention? How were they chosen?Wealth, property owners, landowners, slave owners, banking, lawyers

Who is Wilson (p 32) talking about when he says “property shouldn’t be the sole object of govt?”

From 1676 to1760 there were 18 uprisings to overthrow colonial governments, 6 slave rebellions and 40 riots

In 1775 Jefferson wrote a Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking up Arms (against the crown)

The Crown responds by…• Seizing American ships• Burning colonial towns• Sending war ships and troops• Offering freedom to slaves who join the British cause

On June 8, 1776 the Continental Congress votes to write a Declaration of Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.

“The people who own the country ought to govern it” John Jay

“There are combustibles [angry workers, farmers, slaves, the poor] in every State, to which a spark might set fire.” But, he argued, the convention should not produce a document merely to “please the people.” George Washington

“The most common and durable source of faction [class conflict] has been the various and unequal distribution of property [wealth]. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society…The first object of government is the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property.” James Madison

“The people should have as little to do as may be about the government.” Roger Sherman

“All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and the wellborn, the other the mass of the people…The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge right.” Alexander Hamilton

“The time is not distant, when this Country will abound with mechanics and manufacturers [working class] who will receive their bread from their employers. Will such men be the secure and faithful Guardians of liberty [private property/wealth]? The ignorant and dependent can be little trusted with the public interest.” Gouveneur Morris

At least half of the members of the Senate today are millionaires. That has changed the nature of the body. We’ve become a plutocracy. The dependence on party and leadership just isn’t there. The Senate was meant to represent the interests of the states; instead, it represents the interests of a class.

--Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), 1984

In the House the average winner spent $1.6 million, while the average loser shelled out almost $500,000.• In the Senate average winners put up $11.5 million and losers $7.5 million.

• Least expensive winning campaigns:• House: $200,000• Senate: $2.8 million

Candidates are allowed to spend as much of their own money on their campaigns, which gives wealthy individuals a major advantage in gaining party nominations for office ( since most PAC contributions go to incumbents, challengers have a much greater need of private wealth)• 0.4% of the population contributes 63% of the money that goes to political

campaigns (meaning candidates are far more interested in the needs/wants of the corporations/wealthy individual donors than the general populations they represent)

For more on campaign spending: opensecrets.org

Article II

Executive Branch: The Law-Enforcing

Branch of Government

To be the president or vice president, one must be:

• A natural-born citizen• 35 years old• Have lived in the US for 14 years• Should the president die or be

impeached, the VP will assume the presidency for the remainder of the term

Powers of the President

• Commander in Chief • Appoints a cabinet• Power to grant pardons• Make treaties with foreign countries (with the

consent of the Senate)• Appoints ambassadors• Appoints justices to the Supreme Court• Make other permanent/temporary appointments not

covered by Congress (with the Senate’s approval)

Duties of the President

• Must take an oath of office• Must see that the laws are carried out• Must give a state of the union speech• May convene or adjourn congress• Must receive ambassadors of other

countries and commissioning officers

Vice President

• Steps in if the president dies or is impeached• The Speaker of the House becomes

president if both the president and VP vacate the office

• Is the president of the Senate• Has no vote except in the case of a

tie

The Electoral College (Article II Sec. I)

Give an explanation of the Electoral College by answering the following:• What is it?• What does it mean to be an Elector?• How are they chosen?• How many are there?• Where do they meet?• Why is/was it considered necessary to have the EC?

• What are the potential problems of this institution?

Give a short description of 3 of the President’s current cabinet members• Who are they?• What are their main duties?

War Powers and the President

Who has the power to declare war?

The five official declarations of war:War of 1812

Mexican WarSpanish-American War

World War IWorld War II

Military interventions just in the period between the Spanish-American War (1898) and WWI (1917):

-China (1900): To help put down the Boxer Rebellion and carve out a sphere of influence-Panama (1903-1914): Intervened on the side of Panama in the civil war that broke Panama away from Columbia. Panamanian government immediately signed the rights of a proposed canal project to the US.-Dominican Republic (1904): Occupied the island to put down unrest and takeover the export bank at the behest of heavily invested US banks.-Cuba (1906-1909): Re-occupation for the purpose of overseeing a change in government.-Honduras (1907): US intervention in war between Honduras and Nicaragua.-Nicaragua (1910): Intervention in Honduras becomes an occupation of Nicaragua.-Cuba (1912-1923): Again a re-occupation to quell nationalist forces and install a pro-US government.-Honduras (1912): US forces occupy part of the country to protect American railways from government seizure.-Nicaragua (1912-1933): Occupied the country to quell nationalist forces.-Mexico (1914): Military occupation of Vera Cruz.-Haiti (1915-1934): Occupation to stop German trade and port deal that might provide a foothold for European imperialism in the Caribbean. Occupation led to the seizure of the Haitian foreign reserves which were brought back to the US as well as the Haitian banking sector. The US would ultimately write a new Haitian constitution and fight off a nationalist guerrilla insurgency.-Mexico (1916): Expeditionary force dispatched to put down Poncho Villa.-Dominican Republic (1916-1924): Occupation of the island to quell a nationalist revolt.-China (1916): US forces occupy portions of Nanking to quell anti-colonial rioting.

Why does Congress allow the President this power?

Article III

The Judicial Branch

US Supreme Court

9 JusticesChief Justice John Roberts

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (left counter to Roberts’ right-wing politics)

Anthony Kennedy• Swing vote• Appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1988

• At that time he represented the right-wing of the court, but with the general rightward trend in American politics he is now considered a moderate

Three-Tiered Federal System

Supreme Court

Circuit Courts (intermediary court of appeals) Appeals must make an argument that the trial court made an error of law (no room to introduce

evidence related to the case)

District Courts (trial courts)Courts at this level are the only ones with juries (guaranteed in Article III and the 6 th

Amendment)

Trials and Appeals: Burwell v Hobby Lobby

When the trial court ruled against Hobby Lobby, Hobby Lobby appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals• The 10th counteracted the ruling of the trial court

• And so, the trial court placed an injunction on the federal government

• The Obama Administration appealed to the US Supreme Court in September 2013• With a writ of certiorari (only 75-100 out of 10,000 cases is taken

by the Supreme Court)• In June 2014 the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of Hobby Lobby

that,• A closely held, for-profit corporation can be exempt from a law its

owners religiously object to

Ginsburg’s Dissent

The Supreme Court ruling,• Is an overhaul of corporate rights• The logic of the ruling can extend to corporations of any size• Opens the door for corporations to object to “countless” laws

Judicial Review (not in Article III, but implied)

The courts have the power to review the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress and the state legislatures• And, the actions of the executive of the US and of any state

This is done by first reviewing the law/action itself, then the Constitution and then considering the previous court’s action• The Supreme Court then makes a decision about the constitutionality

of the law or action and prescribes next steps• i.e. revising the law, repealing it, halting its implementation, etc...

Bill of Rights

When founder George Mason recommended a committee be formed to draft a bill of rights, the rest of the convention dismissed him and unanimously voted against such provisions.

It wasn’t until 1789 that the Congress met to add the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution, creating what we now call the Bill of Rights.

If the Constitution was as openly elitist as we’ve discussed, and the founders so

willing to dismiss the addition of common rights to the Constitution, how

did it gain ratification?

Two major reasons why the Constitution was ratified:

1. What did we say economic power can, and often does, translate into? • How might this have aided the founders/supporters of the

Constitution in seeing it ratified?

2. What about the rest of the people? The ones not in the convention, or friends/class compatriots with its framers?

• What ability did they have to influence this document? (hint: its not none)

Democratic Concessions in the Constitution

• The existence of a constitution itself, with specifically limited powers (an advance over autocratic forms of government)

• No property qualifications mandated for federal office (unlike England)• And salaries were provided for all officials (which rejected the

common practice of treating public office as voluntary service, which only the wealthy could afford)

• The president and all other officeholders were elected for limited terms. No life tenure.

• No religious test required for office or public job• Guarantee of a republican form of government is an advance from

monarchy and aristocracy (this was a provision clearly influenced by the people as more than 20 framers were in favor of a new monarchy)

• The Bill of Rights

When a majority is included in a faction, the form of

popular government, on the other hand, enables it to

sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public

good and the rights of other citizens. To secure the public

good and private rights against the danger of such a

faction, and at the same time to preserve the spirit

and the form of popular government, is then

the great object to which our inquiries are directed.

James Madison, Federalist 10

The mood of the Court’s 1883 Civil Rights Cases decision reflected a new coalition of northern industrialists and southern businessmen-planters and Justice Harlan’s dissent was unlikely to move them. The culmination of this mood came in the decision of 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson, when the Court ruled that a railroad could segregate black and white if the segregated facilities were equal: 

“The object of the amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have

been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from

political equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either.”

 Harlan again dissented, but the federal government had given its endorsement and thrown its weight behind an official legal system of white supremacy in the South.

From procedural due process to substantive due process

“Read narrowly, due process means only that government acts should conform ot recognized legal procedures. But when the Court reclothed due process in substantive dress, it gave a new

array of meanings to the two key words ‘liberty’ and ‘property.’ Some aspects of liberty and property were so fundamental that they could be insulated against

any effective government regulation, even when the actions affected, even when the actions affected were not explicitly recognized as constitutional rights.” (Rakove,

260&262)

Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896• The Supreme Court denied Plessy’s argument that the 14th Amendment

had been violated by the state of Louisiana. • This officially upheld Jim Crow and segregation

Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, 1886• Case involving the taxation of railroad properties. The Southern

California Railroad refused to pay taxes and demanded the rights of individuals to right off debts

• The Supreme Court decision decided that corporations could be considered individual persons with the rights accorded by the 14th Amendment

From 1886 to 1910 the 14th Amendment was invoked in 288 cases of corporate litigation and

only 19 cases of civil litigation.

If We Must Die (1922)

If we must die, let it not be like hogsHunted and penned in an inglorious spot,While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,Making their mock at our accursed lot.If we must die, O let us nobly die,So that our precious blood may not be shedIn vain; then even the monsters we defyShall be constrained to honor us though dead!

O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!What though before us lies the open grave?Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

- Claude McKay