1. 2 The Constitution

2. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.2 - 2 Intent of the Framers How to protect liberty and ensure order -Oliver Wendell Holmes: “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins." Completely unique solution: combine popular consent, separation of powers, and federalism

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4. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.2 - 4 Map 2.1: North America in 1787

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10. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.2 - 10 Compromise from: Connecticut Delegation. Result: the present system.

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14. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.2 - 14 The Motives of the Framers A. Acted out of mixture of motives: economic interest played modest role B. Economic interest at the convention 1.Economic interest of framers varied widely 2.Charles Beard: those who supported Const. expected to benefit economically from it 3.But no clear division along class lines was found by later historians 4.Recent research: state economic considerations outweighed personal consideration a. Exception: slaveholders voted to minimize national government influence over slaveholding C. Economic interests and ratification 1.Economic factors played larger role in state-ratifying conventions 2.More likely to vote in favor of ratification: merchants, urban, owned western land, held government IOUs, and did not own slaves 3.Less likely to vote in favor of ratification: farmers, held no government IOUs, owners 4.David Hackett Fischer’s Albion’s Seed D. The Constitution and equality 1.Contemporary critics: government today is too weak a.Bows to special interests that foster economic inequality b.Changing views of liberty and equality are reflected in this criticism 2.Framers were more concerned with political inequality- they wanted to guard against political priviledge

15. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.2 - 15 Map 2.2: Ratification of the Federal Constitution by State Conventions, 1787-1790