Chapter 3

The Constitution

Chapter 3

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The RevolutionaryRoots of the Constitution

• Characteristics of the U.S. Constitution

– Just 4,300 words long– Divides the national government into three branches

– Describes the powers of those branches and their connections

– Outlines the interaction between the government and the governed

– Describes the relationship between the national government and the states

– It is the supreme law of the land.



• Freedom in Colonial America

– American colonists in the 18th century enjoyed a degree of freedom denied most people around the world

– But there was a high cost: colonists needed protection from the French and their Native American allies during the Seven Years’ War

– The English wanted the American colonists to pay for that protection

• The Road to Revolution

– The catalyst: taxation by a government in which the colonists had no representation

– The First Continental Congress was convened in Philadelphia in September 1774



• Revolutionary Action

– By early 1775, the fighting had already begun

– The Second Continental Congress remained in session to serve as government to the colony-states

• The Declaration of Independence

– Thomas Jefferson took the first official step toward revolution and independence by drafting the Declaration of Independence: the document that proclaimed the right of the colonies to separate from Great Britain

– The Declaration was based in social contract theory: the belieft that the people agree to set up rulers for certain purposes and thus have the right to resist or remove rulers who act against those purposes

– The war lasted until October 1781 with the Lord Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown, Virginia


From Revolution to Confederation

• A republic was created

– A government without a monarch

– A government rooted in the consent of the governed, whose power is exercised by elected representatives responsible to the governed

• The Articles of Confederation

– Confederation: a loose association of independent states that agree to cooperate on specified matters

• Each state has supreme power within its borders

• The central government is weak

– Articles of Confederation: the compact among the 13 original states that established the first government of the United States


From Revolution to Confederation

• The Articles of Confederation failed

– The national government had no power to tax

– There was no independent leadership position to direct the government

– The national government could not regulate interstate and foreign commerce

– The Articles of Confederation could not be amended without the unanimous agreement of the congress and assent of all state legislatures

• Disorder Under the Confederation

– Shays Rebellion highlighted the impotence of the confederation

– The government needed to be able to suppress insurrections and maintain domestic order


From Confederation to Constitution

• A convention was convened to revise the Articles in Philadelphia in 1787

– 12 of the 13 states sent delegates

– Delegates were highly educated but also practical politicians

– Almost immediately, they began to work on a new document



• The Virginia Plan– Three separate branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial

• Legislative: the law-making branch

• Executive: the law-enforcing branch

• Judicial: the law-interpreting branch

– A two-house legislature: the lower house chosen by popular election; the upper house chosen from candidates nominated by state legislatures

– Each state’s representation in the lower house would be determined in proportion to the taxes it paid to the national government or in proportion to its free population

– An executive, consisting of an unspecified number of people, be selected by the legislature and serve for a single term

– The national judiciary should include one or more supreme courts and other lower courts, with judges appointed for life by the legislature

– The executive and a number of national judges would serve as a council of revision, to approve or veto legislative acts, subject to override by a vote of both houses of the legislature

– The scope of powers of all three branches be far greater than the previous powers under the Articles of Confederation and that the legislature be empowered to override state laws



• The New Jersey Plan

– A single-chamber legislature has the power to raise revenue and regulate commerce

– That the states have equal representation in the legislature and choose its members

– A multiperson executive be elected by the legislature, with powers similar to those in the Virginia Plan, but without the right to veto legislation

– That a supreme tribunal be created, with limited jurisdiction (no national court system)

– The acts of the legislature be binding on the states with the option of force to compel obedience



• The Great Compromise

– A bicameral legislature

– The House of Representatives is apportioned according to population

– The states are represented equally in the Senate

• Compromise on the Presidency

– Delegates rejected the idea of popular election

– Created the electoral college: a body of electors chosen by voters to cast ballots for president and vice presiden

– Involved both the legislature and the judiciary in the presidential removal process, and demanded an extraordinary majority vote to remove the executive


The Final Product

• The Basic Principles

– Republicanism: a form of government in which power resides in the people and is exercised by their elected representatives

– Federalism: the division of power between a central government and regional units

– Separation of Powers: assignment of the lawmaking, law-enforcing, and law-interpreting functions of government to independent legislative, executive, and judicial branches

– Checks and Balances: a government structure that gives each branch of government some scrutiny of and control over the other branches


The Constitutionand the Electoral Process


Separation of Powersand Checks and Balances


The Final Product

• Article I: The Legislative Article

– Article I, Section 8 establishes the principle of enumerated powers in which Congress may exercise only the powers that the Constitution assigns to it by the “necessary and proper clause”

– The last clause of Article I, Section 8 is the “necessary and proper clause,”

• Establishes Congress’ implied powers

• Implied powers: those powers that Congress needs to execute its enumerated powers


The Final Product

• Article II: The Executive Article

– Establishes the president’s term of office– Establishes the procedure for electing the president

through the electoral college

– Describes the qualifications for becoming president

– Defines the president’s duties and powers


The Final Product

• Article III: The Judicial Article

– Left purposely vague due to disagreement over its provisions

– Congress established a system of federal courts, separate from state courts

– Article III does not explicitly give the courts the power of judicial review or authorize the court to invalidate congressional or presidential actions


The Final Product

• The Remaining Articles

– Article IV

• Requires that the judicial acts and criminal warrants of each state be honored in all other states

• Forbids discrimination against citizens of one state by another state

• Allows the addition of new states

• Stipulates that the national government will protect the states against foreign invasion and domestic violence

– Article V: Method for Amending the Constitution

– Article VI: Contains the supremacy clause: national laws take precedence over state and local laws when they conflict

– Article VII: Ratification


The Final Product

• The Framers’ Motives

– Charles Beard argued that the Constitution was written by wealthy men to advance their own interests

– Research has shown that government was not created to protect the wealth of the founders

– Single most important issue: inability of national or state governments to maintain order under the Articles of Confederation


The Final Product

• The Slavery Issue

– Question could not have been resolved at the Constitutional Convention

– Came to the surface in the debate on representation in the House (resolved by the “3/5 clause”)

– Another central issue: the slave trade

• Compromise: it would not be ended before 20 years had elapsed

• Fugitive slaves would be returned to their masters

– The founders essentially condoned slavery without mentioning it by name

• Many of them agonized over it, but few did anything – they expected it to “wither away”

• They were unable to transcend the limitations of the age in which they lived


Selling the Constitution

• Federalists and Anti-federalists debated the merits of the new Constitution, as evidenced by the writings contained in the Federalist papers

• The Bill of Rights emerged as a concession to gain the required number of votes needed for passage

– The first ten amendments to the federal constitution

– Prevent the national government from tampering with fundamental rights and civil liberties

– Emphasize the limited character of the national government’s power


Constitutional Change

• The Formal Amendment Process

– Requires a two-stage process, proposal and ratification

– Both are necessary for an amendment to become part of the Constitution

• Interpretation by the Courts

– Marbury v. Madison (1803) declared courts have power to nullify government acts that conflict with the Constitution

– Has influenced the meaning and application of provisions of the Constitution

• Political Practice

– Has altered distribution of power without changing the Constitution

– Example: President has come to overshadow Congress


Amending the Constitution


An Evaluation of the Constitution

• Constitution lays out simple STRUCTURAL framework for government

• Freedom, Order, & Equality in the Constitution

– Provides a judicious balance between order and freedom

– Pays virtually no attention to equality

– Social equality is implicitly addressed in the 16th Amendment, permitting national income tax

– Political equality is addressed in 14th, 15th, 19th, 23rd, 24th, 26th and 28th Amendments

• The Constitution and Models of Democracy

– Well-suited to pluralist model

– Often at odds with majoritarian model

– Created a REPUBLIC, based on majority consent -- not a DEMOCRACY, based on majority rule

Chapter 3

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