The Constitution Development and Evolution

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• Lecture 4
• The Constitution Development and Evolution

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Influences of the Colonial Experience

• Articles of Confederation
• Problems under the Articles
• Money - No ability to raise revenue, coin money
• Trade
• Primary loyalty to states
• Quorum was rare
• Shays Rebellion
• The Constitutional Convention

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Constitutions, Institutions, and Governments

• The Constitution of a nation creates its
  governing institutions and the set of rules
  prescribing the political process these
  institutions must follow to reach and enforce
  collective agreements
• Institutions consist of roles that are designed
  and linked together with rules to perform some
  intended purpose. In government, roles are often
  formalized as offices positions that confer on
  their occupants specific authority and
  responsibilities
• A government consists of those institutions
  created by the constitution and charged with
  making and enforcing collective agreements.
• Authority is the acknowledged right of the office
  to make a particular decision for all participants

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• A constitution is a nations basic law. It
  creates political institutions, it allocates
  power within government, and it provides
  guarantees to citizens. A constitution sets the
  broad rules of the game of politics it allows
  certain types of competition among certain
  players.
• Point!
• These rules are never neutral

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Constitutional Convention Controversies
Representation

• The Virginia Plan
• Representation Allocated on the Basis of
  Population Power Drawn from the People and Not
  the Member States
• A Powerful Central Government with Three Branches
• Two Chambered Legislature
• Executive Chosen by the Legislature
• Judiciary Chosen by the Legislature

• The New Jersey Plan
• A Strengthening of the Articles of Confederation
• A One Chambered Legislature
• A Majority for Decisions (rather than a
  super-majority)
• The Power to Tax

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Controversies Representation

• The Great Compromise
• A Two Chambered Legislature with Equal
  Representation for states in the Senate and
  representation based on population in the House
• Either chamber may introduce legislation and both
  chambers must agree for it to pass

• The Three-Fifths Compromise
• (otherwise known as the not-so-great compromise)
• Slaves counted as three-fifths for purposes of
  allocation of representation

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Controversy Representation

• The Presidency
• The Electoral College as compromise between the
  large and small states
• Does not provide for direct election of the
  president by the people

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Constitutional Convention Principles

• Separation of Powers
• A balanced government avoids a concentration of
  power
• Checks and Balances
• Examples
• The presidents signature
• Judicial review
• Presidential veto
• Veto override
• Confirmation of nominees and ratification of
  treaties

• The powers of government should be so divided
  and balanced among several bodies of magistracy,
  as that no one could transcend their legal
  limits, without being effectually checked and
  constrained by the others. Thomas Jefferson
  Notes on the State of Virginia

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Constitutional Convention Principles

• Federalism
• Supremacy Clause (Article VI)
• Laws . . . Under the Authority of the United
  States shall be the supreme Law of the Land
• Powers reserved for the national government
• Elastic Clause (Article I)
• . . . All laws that are necessary and proper
  to carry out its responsibilities

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Constitutional Convention Principles

• Republican
• Democracies have ever been spectacles of
  turbulence and contention have ever been found
  incompatible with personal security or the rights
  of property and have in general been as short in
  their lives as they have been violent in their
  deaths. James Madison, Federalist, No. 10
• Representative government filters majority
  sentiment and protects the rights of minorities.
  This in turn protects the rights of the
  individual.
• Limited Government
• The Constitution identifies both what the
  government can do and what it cannot do. Both
  features limit government.

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Constitutional Convention Principles

• Majority Rule/Minority Rights
• Did this through 1) divided authority 2) formal
  boundaries on what the government may do 3)
  electoral rules
• Indirect Elections Senate, President, Judges
• Established Dates for Elections/Fixed Terms in
  Office
• Geographically Defined Representation