3. Our Political Beginnings
• Basic Concepts of Government
– Ordered Government: An orderly regulation of
people’s relationship with one another
– Limited Government: The idea that government is
not all powerful
– Representative Government: The idea in which the
government serves the will of the people
• These concepts can be traced to several
landmark documents from English history
4. Our Political Beginnings
• The Magna Carta (1215): A document limiting the power of
the English monarch
– Introduced: trial by jury, due process of law
• The Petition of Right (1628): document brought about by the
parliament of England limiting kings power and putting him
under laws of land
– 1. Stated political critics could not be imprisoned without a jury
trial
– 2. Martial law could not be imposed during peace time
– 3. Troops could not be quartered in homes without consent
– 4. Taxes could not be levied without consent of parliament
• The English Bill of Rights (1688):
– 1. Maintain standing army during peacetime
– 2. Fair Trials
– 3. Freedom from excessive bail
– 4. Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment
– 5. Freedom to petition government for any grievance
5. Our Political Beginnings
• 13 colonies: 13 schools of government
• Each colony was established on the basis of a
charter: a written grant of authority from the king
– Gave colonists a grant of land and some governing
rights, while the crown retained a certain amount of
power over the colony 3 different types of colonies
would develop
• 1. Royal: subject to direct control of the king (through advisors)
• 2. Proprietary: King gives the land to an individual and he is
able to govern as he pleases with aide of legislatures
– Unicameral: One house legislature
• 3. Charter: Allowed the colonists to govern themselves
(governors) under the terms of the original charter granted by
the monarch
– Bicameral: Two house legislature
6. The Coming of Independence
• Mid 1700s: Colonies and Britain basically federal
• Then King George III came to power 1760: started
to deal more harshly with colonies
– Restrictive trading acts, new taxes = “Taxation without
representation”
– Britain didn’t care colonists were upset = colonists must
choose submit to king or revolt
– Attempts are made to promote
Cooperation between colonies
7. The Coming of Independence
• Albany Plan of Union: Proposed by Ben Franklin in
1754, aimed to unite the 13 colonies for trade,
military, and other purposes
– The plan was turned down by colonies and crown
• Stamp Act Congress: Nine colonies meet in 1765,
wrote Declaration of rights and grievances against
new British policies, sent to king
– First time colonies joined to oppose the King
– Resulted in Parliament repealing
taxes against the colonies
8. The Coming of Independence
• First Continental Congress (Sept 1774)
– Intolerable Acts: new laws hated by colonists called
them to get together again
– Sent another declaration of rights hoping for repeal
– Called for a second Congress to be called in May
• Second Continental Congress (May 1775)
– British refused to compromise treated colonists even
worse Revolution had already begun
– Became first national government, acted as such
– Washington appointed commander of new army
– Declaration of Independence (July 1776) – Articles of
Confederation (march 1781)
9. Declaration of Independence
• Slightly more than a year after Revolution
• Written mostly by Jefferson (influenced heavily by
Locke)
• Was a proclamation of independence from Britain
“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 abolish it, and to
institute a new government, laying its foundations on such
principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them
shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”
10. Declaration of Independence
• Sections of Declarations:
– 1. Principles of American democracy
– 2. A list of grievances against King George III
• This is largest section of DOI
– 3. Explanation of American colonists efforts to a peaceful
settlement, to achieve liberty, and British stubbornness
to allow liberty
• Results: Explained why we wanted break from
Britain, rallied world sentiment in favor of US
colonists, helped unify public opinion, colonist were
seen as traitors
• July 4, 1776
11. The Coming of Independence
• State Constitutions: 1776-1780 all states adopted
written constitutions
• Common Features of state constitutions:
– 1. Popular Sovereignty—government can exist and function
only with the consent of the governed. The people hold the
power and the people are sovereign.
– 2. Limited Government—the powers delegated to
government were granted reluctantly and hedged with many
restrictions.
– 3. Civil Rights and Liberties—it was made clear that the
sovereign people held certain rights that the government
must respect at all times. (7 of them contained a bill of
rights)
– 4. Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances—the new
state governments were purposely divided among three
branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Each branch was
given powers with which to check the other branches of the
government.
12. The Critical Period
• Articles of Confederation
– Confederation: form of political organization in which
sovereign states delegate power to a central government
for specified purposes
– Set up: Unicameral Congress, 1 vote per state in
Congress, each year Congress would pick a person as
president
– Problems AOC addressed:
• 1. Fear of strong central government: Many colonists believed
strong central government would act like King they just
separated from
• 2. Fear that some states would dominate others: through
population, money, land mass, etc
13. The Critical Period
• Weaknesses and resulting failure of the AOC
– 1. No power to tax
– 2. No national court system
– 3. No executive to enforce acts of Congress
– 4. No regulation of foreign and interstate commerce
– 5. Needed 9/13 state majority to pass laws
• Chaos erupted
– 1. States bickered among themselves: they grew jealous and
suspicious of one another
– 2. Refused to support a new central government
– 3. Some made agreements with foreign countries
– 4. Each state taxed one another's goods driving the prices up
– 5. All debts went unpaid and people started losing
possessions
– 6. Resulted in political and economic instability
14. A stronger government is needed
• Due to instability people demanded a stronger
government
• 1st: In 1785 Maryland and Virginia have successful
meeting about trade, setting in motion process to
update AOC
• 2nd: Washington calls for all colonies to send
delegates to a joint meeting in Annapolis, Maryland
– only 5 show up
• 3rd: In 1787, Philadelphia, called for another
meeting of delegates only 7 show up
• Later that month, representatives sent word to
remaining states to send reps 5 more went sent
THIS BECOMES THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
15. Creating the Constitution
• The Framers:
– 55 men represented 12 of the 13 states; Rhode Island boycotted the
convention
– Washington was named the President of the convention
– Influenced by Montesquieu “The Spirit of the Law”, Greek and Roman
governments, British documents, and the failure of the AOC
• Procedures adopted:
– A majority of the states would needed in order to conduct business
– Each state delegation was to have 1 vote on matters
– Majority of votes cast would carry any proposal
– Keep everything secret (Madison kept a journal though)
– Plan was to revise AOC, but eventually decided they were going to
create a new government for the US
• Madison: brilliance and knowledge in history and government
led the others to respect him greatly.
– Became the convention’s floor leader and contributed more to the
Constitution than any other.
– Deserves the title “Father of the Constitution”.
16. Constitutional Proposals
• Virginia Plan (proposed by large states; Madison):
– Strong National government, state and national governments, bicameral legislature, Senate and Reps elected based on population
• New Jersey Plan (proposed by smaller states):
– Similar to AOC, legislature appoints people to executive, executive appoints judicial branch, unicameral legislature, states represented equally in
legislature having equal power
• Connecticut Compromise = Great Compromise
– Compromise between the VA and NJ plans to make small and large states
happy
– Upper House (SENATE) would have equal representation and each state would
get 2 members in the Senate
– Lower House (House of Representatives): would be based on population of the
state
• 3/5ths Compromise: SLAVERY
– Delegates agreed that 3/5ths of the slaves would be counted in population
figures – both for representation and taxes (Every 5 slaves counted as 3)
– Many framers did not like slavery, but new that the survival of the new
government hinged on this issue and compromise for now
• Commerce and Slave Trade:
– North states wanted Congress to control trade between states and countries,
but economy of South depended on slave trade and exports
– So Congress was forbidden to tax exports and forbidden to pass laws against
the slave trade for 20 years
17. Ratifying the Constitution
• September 17, 1787: New Constitution was written
and most delegates signed it
– Said 9/13 states had to agree, they knew this would be
difficult
– Had to have NY and VA in order for it to pass
• Even though framers had eliminated weaknesses of
the AOC Many people opposed the new
Constitution and ratification – give formal approval
• Two groups emerged: Against ratifying Constitution
– Anti-Federalists VS For ratifying Constitution –
Federalists
18. Two groups emerged
Federalists-favored ratification Anti-federalists-who opposed ratification.
a. Many who
attended the
Convention
b. Stressed
weaknesses of
articles
c. New government
(constitution)
could overcome
weaknesses.
5 issues they had:
1. The ratification process
itself
2. Absence of any mention
of God
3. Denied states power to
print money
4. Increased powers of
central government
5. The most important-----
Lack of a bill of rights.
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19. The Federalist Papers
• The Federalist Papers were a series of articles written under
the pen name of Publius by Alexander Hamilton, James
Madison, and John Jay.
• The entire purpose of The Federalist Papers was to gain
popular support for the then-proposed Constitution.
– Some would call it the most significant public-relations campaign
in history
• Anti-Federalist Papers written in response to Federalist
Papers: arguments against the ratification of the
Constitution
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20. THE CONSTITUTION
• Ratified on Sept 13,
1788
– 11 of 13 states in
support
– RI and NC would come
on board 2 years later
• Congress chose NY to
be the first temporary
capital
• Pres: Washington, VP:
Adams
