The U.S. Constitutional Framework

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The U.S. Constitutional Framework
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• 8 October, 2007

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Introduction to the course

• Course syllabus
• Readings
• Assessment
• Tutorials

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The U.S. Constitution
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• The U.S. Constitution lays out the principals and
  rules that define our political system
• At the time the Constitution designed in 1787 it
  was extremely innovative. The American political
  system is unique in the world most modern
  democracies are not designed this way.
• The U.S. Constitution was designed as an
  alternative to the Articles of Confederation
  which were written in 1777 and ratified in 1781
  and contained the rules that governed our nation
  until 1789.

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Emphasis on Individual Rights
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• The constitution is designed to favor protecting
  the rights of the individual over respecting the
  wishes of the majority.
• Tyranny of the majority refers to a situation win
  which the majority uses its advantage in umbers
  to suppress the rights of the minority.

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Protections Against Tyranny of Majority
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• Divides authority through separate institutions
  with shared powers and checks and balances.
• Organized elections
• Requires supra-majorities
• Reserves some power for states
• Set boundaries on the powers of government ie.
  Bill of Rights
• The Constitution is designed to preserve the
  status quo so it is very difficult to change.

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Divided Authority
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• Separate institutions
• Bicameralism
• Concurrent majorities
• Checks and balances
• Shared powers
• Federalism

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Separate Institutions
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• U.S. House of Representatives
• U.S. Senate
• Executive Branch
• Judiciary

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Separate Institutions with Shared Power

• Congress passes legislation but President can use
  a veto
• President appoints executive officers and
  negotiates treaties.
• Senate confirms top executive appointments and
  ratifies treaties
• Judicial review (established in Marbury vs.
  Madison, 1803)

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Examples of Supra Majorities

• Concurrent majorities (House and Senate)
• Treaty requires 2/3rds of approval by Senate
• Congress requires 2/3rds in both houses to over
  ride a presidential veto
• Constitutional amendments require 2/3rds approval
  by both House and Senate and 3/4ths of states or
• 2/3rds in both houses of Congress and ratified by
  conventions in 3/4ths of the states (used once
  21st Amendment--repealed prohibition)
• National constitutional convention call by 2/3rds
  of the state legislatures

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Process for Amendments
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Two things to take away

• One
• Does the Republic really need reforming? One
  argument to this question is that a certain
  amount of citizen suspicious is healthy in
  democracy. The Constitution was designed by
  people who were suspicious of government power,
  so another view to reform is that if Americans
  distrust their government, that may be an
  intentional result!

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Two things to take away

• Two
• America is not so much a democracy as it is a
  republic. The whole idea of the Constitution was
  to limit majority rule, to prevent tyranny of the
  majority. This is why we do not make laws
  directly, but elect representatives to do so, and
  supra-majorities or checks and balances are
  required in every step of legislation and
  execution.

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Does the republic need reforming?
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• Citizen dissatisfaction
• Low voter turnout
• Failure to achieve electoral majorities - Loss of
  mandate
• Lack of competitive elections mostly
  congressional level
• Crisis events 1998 Clinton impeachment and the
  2000 presidential election

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Reforms at the National Level

• The U.S. Constitution was designed to preserve
  the status quo. However, it does allow for
  changes to be made through supra-majorities.
• There have been a total of 17 Amendments since
  the original Bill of Rights
• Examples
• Voting extended to nonwhites (1870, 15th
  Amendment)
• Direct election of senators (1913, 17th
  Amendment)
• Women given right to vote (1920, 19th Amendment)
• Elimination of poll tax (1964, 24th Amendment)
• Extend voting rights to 18 yr olds (1971, 26th
  Amendment)

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Reforms at State Level

• More flexible
• Direct democracy initiative and recall
• Legislative term limits
• Electoral reform