Presentation by Eric Miller, Blinn College, Bryan, Texas.

Constitutional Democracy: Promoting Liberty and Self-Government

CHAPTER 2

FISHER AMES

The people must be governed by a majority,

with whom all power resides. But how is the sense of this majority to

be obtained?

INTRODUCTION

• Liberty

• Framers wanted to protect liberty

• Sought to restrain political power

• Limited Government

• Gov. is subject to strict limits on its lawful use of power

• Self-Government

• Gov. is subject to the will of the people as expressed through their votes

BEFORE THE CONSTITUTION• “The Rights of Englishmen”

• French and Indian War

• led to taxes on colonists

• Stamp Tax

• Tax on colonial newspapers & business documents

• led to cry of “no taxation without representation”

• Townshend Act

• more taxes; paper, glass, & tea

• George III sent troops to enforce it

• Boston Tea Party

• First Continental Congress- Philadelphia 1774

• Called for free assembly, end to British occupation, colonial councils for imposition of taxes, trial by local juries…

• Colonists rebelled because they thought their rights as British subjects were being violated

BEFORE THE CONSTITUTION• 2nd Continental Congress- The Declaration of Independence

• Locke: inalienable rights- “natural rights”

• Jefferson: (primary author)

• paraphrased Locke’s philosophy

• Call to revolution–not a framework of government

• Liberty, equality, individual rights, self-government, lawful powers

BEFORE THE CONSTITUTION

• The Articles of Confederation

(Our nation’s 1st plan of gov.)

• Writers were leery of a powerful central government

• Each state retained its “sovereignty, freedom, and independence”

• Congress to provide for national defense but no power to do so

• Congress was not allowed to interfere with states’ commerce

BEFORE THE CONSTITUTION

• Shay’s Rebellion-

(A sign that the national gov. was too weak)

• Late 1786 in Massachusetts, mostly farmers

• Farmers faced loss of property and new taxes on farms

• Congress and the army were weak and action was needed as anarchy was feared

• Annapolis meeting did not achieve any results

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION• Philadelphia 1787

• George Washington presided

• Given power to fix the Articles

• Came up with a new plan of government

• 55 delegates known as “the Framers”

• Madison, Franklin, Hamilton…

• Important figures NOT there

• Jefferson, Adams, Paine…

• Produced the Constitution

NEGOTIATING TOWARD A CONSTITUTION

• The Great Compromise:

• A Two-Chamber (bicameral) Congress

• The Virginia Plan

• The New Jersey Plan

• The Great Compromise

NEGOTIATING TOWARD A CONSTITUTION• The North-South Compromise: The Issue

of Slavery

• North-South Compromise on economic issues

• No taxing exports, but allowed taxing imports

• Three-Fifths Compromise

• Applied to both taxation and representation

NEGOTIATING TOWARD A CONSTITUTION• A Strategy for Ratification

• Would others share the writer’s views?

• Designed a new ratification process

• Must be approved in at least 9 state conventions

• The Ratification Debate

• Anti-Federalists

• Federalists

NEGOTIATING TOWARD A CONSTITUTION• The Framers’ Goals

• Stronger national government

• Preserve states as viable governments

• Preserve liberties through checks and balances on power

• Based on popular sovereignty

• Restricted in uses of power

• Give the people a voice in government

PROTECTING LIBERTY

• Grants and Denials of Power

• Grants of power

• Article I, Section 8 for powers of Congress

• Denials of power

• Writs of habeas corpus

• Ex post facto laws

• Difficult to amend

• Limited government

PROTECTING LIBERTY

• Using Power to Offset Power• Separation of powers

• Federalist #10

• “Mischiefs of faction”

• Separated Institutions Sharing Power• Montesquieu-

• Separation of powers

• Checks and Balances

• Shared Legislative Powers

• Shared Executive Powers

• Shared Judicial Powers

PROTECTING LIBERTY

• The Bill of Rights

• Existed in many state constitutions

• Jefferson argued for a federal constitution

• Judicial Review

• Marbury v. Madison (1803)

• Precedent for court interpretation of the constitution

PROVIDING FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT• Democracy Versus Republic

• Democracy

• Republic

• Representative Democracy

• Trustees

PROVIDING FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT• Limited Popular Rule

• House of Representatives–direct popular election

• Senators–appointed by legislatures

• Presidents–elected by Electoral College

• Judges–nominated by President and confirmed by the Senate

PROVIDING FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT

• Altering the Constitution• Jeffersonian Democracy: A Revolution of the Spirit

• Jacksonian Democracy: Linking the People and the Presidency

• Proposed that states should choose their electors by popular elections

• The Progressives: Senate and Primary Election

• More popular control:• Primary Elections

• Initiative and referendum

• Recall elections

STATES IN THE NATION

11

14

25

States with the Referendum and/or Initiative process

Both Either Neither

STATES IN THE NATION