AMERICA POST- REVOLUTION ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION-CONSTITUTION

The Democracy Conundrum  Direct Democracy - Citizens directly participate in political decision-making; No elected officials  PROBLEM: Are masses educated enough to make informed decisions?  PROBLEM: Majority Tyranny (James Madison)  Many Americans were in favor of a Republic : Government in which citizens rule though elected representatives  Colonial fears of democracy, combined with their desire to not give 1 entity too much power resulted in Articles of Confederation

Articles of Confederation  Est’d loose alliance between the 13 States  Each state had 1 vote in Congress regardless of population (Problem?)  National Government  Declare War  Sign Treaties  Borrow Money  Set Weights & Measures Standards  Establish Postal Service

Weaknesses of Articles  What does every government need in order to function?  TAXES (Congress could not enact or collect taxes)  No Taxes- No infrastructure, military, etc.  9 of 13 States had to consent to pass laws  All States must approve of amendments to A of C  NO EXECUTIVE BRANCH- Congressional laws not enforced  NO NAT’L COURT SYSTEM  Lack of National Unity in a new nation with several enemies  Result: 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, PA

FAIR REPRESENTATION  VIRGINIA PLAN  Proposed by James Madison  Called for bicameral legislature  Membership based on state’s population  More power to more populous states  NEW JERSEY PLAN  Proposed by William Paterson  Single-house legislature  Each state had equal vote  More power to small states

GREAT COMPROMISE  Roger Sherman - suggested ‘Great Compromise’  Bicameral legislative branch  Each state would have equal representation in Senate  State’s population determines the amount of congressional members in House of Representatives  Legislative Appointments:  H.O.R voted on by voters in state population  Senate members chosen by state legislatures (for now)  Problem: Slavery  Result: 3/5 Compromise- 3/5 of state’s slave population were counted as general pop.

AVOIDING TYRANNY  Constitutional framers leery of placing too much power in hands of single entity  Problem with A of C: No power for Federal government  Answer: Federalism: Division of power between national and state governments  Delegated Powers(Enumerated): Power granted to Nat’l Gov  Example: Foreign affairs, interstate commerce  Reserved Powers: Not specifically granted to Nat’l Gov, kept by States  Example: Education

3 BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT  Legislative Branch: Congress; create laws  Executive Branch: President; execute and carry out laws  Judicial Branch: Supreme Court; interpret laws based on constitution  Checks and Balances : System that prevented any one branch of government from controlling the other two branches

RATIFYING THE CONSTITUTION  9/13 States had to Ratify, or approve, the Constitution  2 Groups emerged that made ratification difficult  Federalists : Supporters of Constitution’s balance of power between state and federal government  Antifederalists: Opposed strong central government; against Constitution  Demanded Bill of Rights due to their fear of strong central government  Believed that Constitution did not provide for protection of individual or state rights  December 1791: 10 Amendments ratified to the Constitution  Known as the Bill of Rights