The Constitution

Key Concept 3.2: The American Revolution’s democratic and republican ideals inspired new experiments with different forms

of government.

• II. After declaring independence, American political leaders created new constitutions and declarations of rights that articulated the role of the state and federal governments while protecting individual liberties and limiting both centralized power and excessive popular influence.

• Delegates from the states participated in a Constitutional Convention and through negotiation, collaboration, and compromise proposed a constitution that created a limited but dynamic central government embodying federalism and providing for a separation of powers between its three branches.

• The Constitutional Convention compromised over the representation of slave states in Congress and the role of the federal government in regulating both slavery and the slave trade, allowing the prohibition of the international slave trade after 1808.

Essential Questions

• Was the Constitution a conservative backlash to the excesses brought on by the Revolution?

• To what extent was the Constitution a radical departure from the Articles of Confederation?

Do Now

• Analyzing point of view -Questions Ch.9 (pp.169-180)

-I.3.b-I.6.d-I.7

• in revising the foederal system we ought to inquire 1. into the properties, which such a government ought to possess, 2. the defects of the confederation, 3. the danger of our situation & 4. the remedy.

Analyze Minutes of the Constitutional Convention

• According to Randolph, what should a national government be able to do?

• What are the problems with the Articles of Confederation?

p179

• After experiencing the limitations of the Articles of Confederation, American political leaders wrote a new Constitution based on the principles of federalism and separation of powers, crafted a Bill of Rights, and continued their debates about the proper balance between liberty and order.

Table 9-1 p170

What problems did the new nation face in the 1780s?

• the system for raising money was breaking down• the central government was almost bankrupt. When

an import tax was proposed to raise revenue, Rhode Island and NY rejected it.

• states quarreled over boundaries• states were levying duties on goods from their

neighbors• British manufacturers were flooding the American

market. British Navigation Acts barred Americans from trading with the British West Indies

Foreign Policy Problems

Britain, France, Spain, and North Africa

• See AP College Board info from essay on the Constitution. (2011, Form B)

• http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap11_us_history_form_b_q3.pdf

• Delegates from the states worked through a series of compromises to form a Constitution for a new national government while providing limits on federal power.

The Great Compromise

• Randolph’s proposal:• the rights of suffrage in the National Legislature ought to be

proportioned to the Quotas of contribution, or to the number of free inhabitants

• the National Legislature ought to consist of two branches. • the members of the first branch of the National Legislature

ought to be elected by the people of the several States • the members of the second branch of the National

Legislature ought to be elected by those of the first, out of a proper number of persons nominated by the individual Legislatures,

NJ Counters

• unicameral legislation with equal representation.

The Compromise

• bicameral legislature• equal representation in the upper house

(Senate)• representation based upon population in the

lower house (House of Representatives)– tax bills or revenue measures had to begin in the

lower house

Table 9-2 p173

Safeguards for Conservatism

• Agreement among delegates was large:– Economically, they demanded sound money and

protection of private property– Politically, they favored a strong government with

three branches, and with checks & balances– Rejected manhood-suffrage democracy

– Erected safeguards against excesses of “mob”:• Federal judges were appointed for life• President to be elected indirectly by Electoral College• Senators were chosen indirectly by state legislatures

(see Art. I, Sec. III, para. 1)• In House of Representatives, qualified (propertied)

citizens permitted to choose their officials by direct vote (see Art. 1, Sec. II, para. 1).

Democratic Elements

• Stood on two great principles of republicanism:

• Only legitimate government was one based on consent of the governed• Powers of government should be limited—in this case

by a written constitution• Virtue of the people, not authority of the state, was

ultimate guarantor of liberty, justice, and order

• After 17 weeks—May 25 to September 17, 1787—only 42 of original 55 remained to sign Constitution

• 3 of 42 refused to sign• https://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-constit

ution-amendments/those-who-didnt-sign-the-constitution/

Assignment

• Using your chart of the problems facing the new nation, identify specific aspects from the Constitution (referencing articles) that can be used to address each problem.

Map 9-4 p174

Table 9-3 p175

p176