The Constitution Our govt’s owners manual

HOW PEOPLE FELT BACK IN THE DAY

The masses are turbulent and just create chaos You can’t change the basic nature of man – man is selfish (that is from the writer Hobbes) You can’t expect vice (evil) to be checked by virture (good) so you must check vice with vice

Meet the founder and creator the of the Constitution

The Ultimate Game Strategist Ambition must be made to counteract ambition

In the Confederation Congress (AOC) It was persistent absenteeism. It was utter disregard for the rising national debt. It was Rhode Island. Joseph Ellis American Creation

He knew he had to get one man and one man only on board to complete what would be a bloodless coup of the AOC. That man had recently retired (for what would be the first of two retirements)

George Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention. Everyone behaves when George is around.

THE US CONSTITUTION

The Constitution’s Purpose Effectively instill power in the hands of the people (republicanism) without undermining the importance of central authority (federalism)

The Constitution Clearly it will require checks and balances. An idea courtesy of the Enlightenment philosopher __________________ Baron de Montesquieu

The Constitution How exactly will this look? can’t trust the common man a.k.a. mobs can’t trust the majority to not take advantage of its position of power....

Bicameralism The principle of a two-house branch as a way to balance governmental power. Its concept is present in the legislative branch, with the separate units of Senate, which would represent individual states, and the House of Representatives, which reflected the population of the people.

Va Plan + NJ Plan = Connecticut or Great Compromise (by Roger Sherman)

3/5th Compromise three-fifths compromise- Compromise agreement between northern and southern states at the Constitutional Convention, that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted for determining direct taxation and representation in the House of Representatives. The South had wanted to count slaves, so as to to gain seats in the House, but the North was against such a proposal due to their smaller slave population. Three-fifths was chosen to maintain the balance of power between the North and South representation.

THE BIG DEBATE

Who will have the power?

It is called a federal system = where power is shared between federal/national govt and state/local govts

FEDERALIST VS ANTIFEDERALIST

This is the debate which occurred when they were trying to ratify or vote on the Constitution. People had rights guaranteed by their states (each state guaranteed different rights) but there was no guarantee the federal govt would protect those rights

Ratification Ratification - Ratification is the approval of a nationally binding agreement; one of the first example is the Constitution. Today, ratification is applied to constitutional amendments or treaties.

The Federalist argued the way the Constitution was written, with its checks and balances, would be enough to protect people’s rights The Antifederalist will demand a Bill of Rights (the 1 st ten amendments) must be added to the Constitution before they will sign

Federalists James Madison Alexander Hamilton

Anti- Federalists Thomas Jefferson Patrick Henry

Jefferson (AF) vs. Hamilton (F)

The Federal Papers The Federalist Papers were anonymous letters written in the big newspapers and they argued for the Federalist side

Bill of Rights Bill of Rights - The 1st ten amendments to the US Constitution are called the Bill of Rights, which were proposed by James Madison – they were ratified in 1791