Framing the Constitution Notes PDF

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These are the notes taken from Dr. Mitchener's lecture on the framing of the US Constitution and the details surrounding it....

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American culmination (founding of the country) Declaration of independence, July 4th 1776, concept of inalienable rights. Basic concept provides what can be described of one half of the American united states understanding of the social contract. U.S. Articles of confederation, first constitution of the new states. 1781. Number of problems with them, government created under them were difficult to work under. U.S. federal constitution 1788-1789. 2nd half of American understanding of the social compact. Provides concepts of federalism and checks and balances. U.S. Bill of rights. Adds to the constitution, US statement and list of basic human rights. Roots of constitutionalism What was in the minds of the founders after the articles of confederation proved to be unworkable? Constitutional Convention Called: Mount Vernon Conference: George Washington, mount Vernon, beside Potomac river. Interested in trade with the west. State of Maryland claimed navigation rights on the Potomac, prohibiting Washington from trading. Under the articles of confed. there was no way for the states to work out their differences on boundaries of navigational rivers. 1785, Washington called a meeting for delegates from Maryland and Virginia to get together and settle disputes over trading on the Potomac as well as the Chesapeake bay. Navigation rights. Annapolis Convention: The mount Vernon conference was a success and the states negotiated their differences. 1786, Annapolis Maryland, conference to discuss problems with navigation, invites all the states. Idea of James Madison. Only five states attended. Hamilton, delegate of Annapolis Convention, urged the conference to adopt a resolution and called congress to summon another convention for the next year where commercial problems would be discussed. Hamilton wanted ways and means to improve the national government to be debated. Held in Philadelphia. Congress was reluctant, only one house under the articles of confed. It was considered important to at least try to find willingness to address important issues that were the basis of conflict in the country. Feb, 1787, congress made the decision that they would meet in May in Philadelphia. All states would send delegates to this Constitutional Convention except for Rhode Island as it was a small state and the politicians believed that the larger states would cause problems for the smaller states. Constitutional Convention: Convened at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, May of 1787. Half of the delegates were lawyers or planters or merchants. Benjamin Franklin was 81 years old and was the oldest man at the

convention. Wide range of ages at the convention. 73 delegates named, 55 would attend, 39 signed constitution. Constitutional Compromises: Convention was called to revise the articles of Confed. Revision was taking place outside of the rules in the confed. Delegates agreed that there was no way to revise the document and so they decided to frame a new constitution. Closed off to begin work. Serious differences arose during discussions that threatened the success of the discussion. 3 compromises. Representation in congress. Virginia Plan- Rep. should be based on population. Most of the money that flows into the government came from Virginia, a populous state. New Jersey PlanNo matter how many reps there are from each state, there should be equal rep from each state. Solution- Connecticut Compromise, 2 houses of congress, one is equal, Senate, and one is based on population, House of Representatives. Southern States wanted to obtain the maximum rep for themselves in the house of rep but minimize their taxation per head. They argued that their slaves should be counted as part of the population but they should not be counted when counting per head for taxation purposes. The north opposed the idea. Solution- Three-Fifths Compromise. Every 5 slaves would count as 3 persons for both representation and direct taxation. Southerners benefitted some but not as much as they had originally wanted, they compromised. Northern manufacturing and shipping interests vs. Southern agricultural interests. The northerners wanted a centralized government to regulate interstate and foreign commerce. The south feared that if congress had that power that it would use that power to tax agricultural exports. Solution- Commerce Compromise. Congress was given the power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce. Congress could not tax exports, helping the South. It could also not restrict the import of slaves for a period of 20 years. Features of the Constitution: The Preamble: A statement of the general purposes and intentions of the document. “We the people…” Separation of Powers: 3 Branches of Government. Legislative branch, job is to make laws, congress with two houses. Executive branch, enforce laws passed by legislature. President, vice president and executive assistants appointed by resident, the cabinet. Judicial Branch, interpret laws made by legislature. Consists of supreme court and lower federal courts. Checks and Balances:

Legislative Checks: vs. executive: could refuse to appropriate money for an executive department. It could refuse to create additional administrative agencies and abolish existing ones. The senate can reject treaties made by president. It could reject presidential appointments by majority vote. House of rep has the power to impeach the president. Senate has the power to try the president on charges. Vs. Judicial: power to create or abolish lower federal courts, impeach federal judges. House of rep. vs. senate: A bill must be passed by both houses of congress to become law. Executive Checks: vs. legislative, President can veto bills. Vs. judicial, power to appoint federal judges and may pardon persons convicted by courts. Judicial Check: Judicial Review, power to declare acts of congress and actions of the president as unconstitutional. Checks on the people: Terms of office are varied, reps serve 2 years terms, presidents serve 4 and senators serve 6 year terms. Many delegates at the convention distrusted the people’s ability to choose the officials wisely so under the constitution, the president would be elected indirectly by the electoral college. It is not by popular vote but by who amasses the most number of electoral votes. Judges are appointed, not elected. Senators were chosen at the beginning by state legislatures. Not until 1913 that senators were open to popular vote by people of the vote. National vs. State Governments: Framers aimed at creating a strong central government and provide adequate authority to the states. States gave up certain specific powers to national government, enumerated powers. States retained certain specific powers, residual powers. National government concerned with the whole, states were concerned with local matters. Federal system of government. Enumerated or Delegated Powers: Levy and collect taxes uniformly throughout the country. The gov. could borrow money. It could coin money and regulate the value. Establish post offices. Regulate interstate and foreign commerce. Control the seat of national gov. and protect fed. Property. Authority to declare war. Make treaties with foreign nations. Raise and support armies, provide and maintain a navy. Establish rules for the naturalization of aliens. Make laws that are “necessary and proper ” for carrying out the foregoing powers- The “Elastic Clause”. Powers reserved to states: Many people feared the federal government and that it would get rid of the state’s power. 10th Amendment added in 1791 made it clear that powers not delegated to the fed. Gov. were reserved to the states. Powers exercised by the states:

Provide for a system of education. Make laws on marriage and divorce. Establish voting qualifications. Provide for local government. Pass local laws for health, safety and welfare of the people. Punish crimes w/in state. Regulate business w/in state borders. Construct roads, bridges, parks and other public works w/in state. Concurrent Powers: May be exercised by both federal and state governments. Collecting taxes, borrowing money and establishing courts. Powers Denied to fed. Gov.: The fed. Gov. cannot levy Texas on exports. It is not supposed to in deed or in word favor one state over another. It is not supposed to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. Powers denied to the states: Levy taxes on imports or exports. Coining money. Making treaties with foreign countries. Engaging war unless invaded. Maintain an army or navy in time of peace. Powers denied to both federal and state gov.: Grant titles of nobility. Pass an ex post facto law, a law that punishes a past action that was not unlawful when it was committed. Pass a bill of attainder, a law that deprives a person of his or her civil rights without a trial. Amending the constitution: The articles of confed. were impossible to repair and amend. The constitution was a more flexible document than the articles. Constitution submitted to states: Sent in September of 1787 for ratification. It was deemed that approval of 9 out of 13 states was needed before it was put into effect. Divided into 2 factions, federalists and anti-federalists. Federalists were wealthy landholders, merchants and professionals. They thought the constitution would help bring more money to the gov. Anti-feds thought that the states should keep maximum power and independence as they were mostly small farmers, frontier settlers and debtors. A promise of a bill of rights being added after adoption was what won a number of anti-federalists in the favor of the constitution. Constitution adopted: 1788. State of Delaware was the first to ratify, followed by Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia and Connecticut. After political struggle, Massachusetts approved it in a close vote. Then Maryland and south Carolina. New Hampshire was the 9 th state in June 1788. That assured the adoption of the constitution. Virginia ratified thereafter. It was difficult in new York. Hamilton, Madison and Jay wrote anonymous letters to New York newspapers in favor of the constitution. Eventually published as a book called The Federalist. New York ratified in July, 1788. North

Carolina and Rhode Island were the last states to ratify, already after the new national government had gone into operation....