The American Constitution (1783-1789)
The degree of one’s understanding of the
Constitution is to a large extent the degree of
one’s understanding of the United States.
‘The Americans are the first people whom Heaven has
favored with an opportunity of deliberating upon, and
choosing the forms of government under which they
shall live. All other constitutions have derived their
existence from violence or accidental circumstances,
and are therefore probably more distant from their
perfection, which, through beyond our reach, may
nevertheless be approached under the guidance of
reason and experience.’
John Jay
After the Revolutionary War, the United States was
ruled by Articles of Confederation, drafted by the
Continental Congress. Problems such as the lack of
money and debts erupted, and some of the 13 States did
not obey the authority of the Congress. And the vision
of a "respectable nation" among nations seemed to be
fading in the eyes of revolutionaries such as George
Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Rufus King. Their
dream of a republic, a nation without hereditary rulers,
with power derived from the people in frequent
elections, was in doubt.
On February 21, 1787, the Confederation Congress
called a convention of state delegates at Philadelphia to
propose a plan of government. Unlike earlier attempts,
the convention was not meant for new laws or
piecemeal alterations, but for the "sole and express
purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation". The
convention was not limited to commerce; rather, it was
intended to "render the federal constitution adequate to
the exigencies of government and the preservation of
the Union."
On May 14th, 1787, the Convention officially opened.
It was the crowning of the American Revolution. The
members were not a random group, but the cream of
the revolutionary leadership. George Washington was
promptly and unanimously elected President of the
Convention for he was a war hero. They agreed in the
principle that the remedy for this infirmity was to set up
a strong national government consisting of a
supreme Legislature, Judiciary, and Executive.
The constitution was built on the ideas of:
• Federalism: A dynamic combination of nationalism and
localism in order to preserve freedom, equality, peace and
prosperity.
• Separation of Powers: Legislative, Judiciary, Executive
• Checks and Balances: Each power checks the other two
powers so that no power overpowers the others or abuses its
authority.
• Covenant: Since the early settlement by the Puritans,
covenant ideas formed a significant part of the foundation
of the USA around laws.
During the four years when the Constitution was prepared
and
discussed,
Federalists
two
political
entities
(pro-constitutionalists
and
emerged
for
a
:the
strong
centralized government) and the anti-Federalists (for
freedom of States rather than for a centralized federal
government) . They would later develop into political
parties . The anti-Federalists insisted on including a chapter
preserving individual freedoms. The latter was known as the
Bill of Rights and it consisted of 10 amendments.
Federal Government
Powers of Each Branch
The Principles of Separation of
Powers and Checks and Balances
• Click here for an explanatory video:
https://lawshelf.com/shortvideoscontentview/
the-american-system-of-governmentseparation-of-powers/
Click here for the full text of the Constitution:
https://constitutioncenter.org/media/files/con
stitution.pdf
The Constitution as it emerged between (1787-1791) crowned
the American Revolution and provided a safe compass for the
future. In theory, it settled all those problems, whether of
taxation, of foreign relations, of collective duties and
individual rights, of political and legal organizations, which
had proved so intractable that they had brought about the
downfall of the Old British Empire. It strongly resembled the
old order to which Americans, as inheritors of English
traditions and settlers in a wilderness, were accustomed, but it
had eliminated from that order all those features which seemed
obsolete or unjust in the New World.
The political thought on which it was based was realistic,
accepting that men were not angels, but that their
aspirations were mostly legitimate, and it was the business
of the political framework to give them scope. Liberty and
the rule of law were its two inescapable guiding lights; as
understood by the Founding Fathers they have served
America pretty well. One thing, the Constitution could not
provide of itself: permanence. The world- not just
America- was on the brink of an age of tumultuous change
of accelerated evolution
Biographies of Some
Influential Figures of the
American Revolution and
Constitution
George Washington (1789-1797)
George Washington (1732-1799), American soldier and politician,
was the first President of the United States (under the Constitution
of 1787), and he is considered as the Father of the country. Born in
Virginia, in the tobacco plantation of a reasonably wealthy family,
he worked as a surveyor and, during the French and Indian War of
1754-63, rose to rank of Colonel in the Virginia Regiment. His
patriotic spirit and military knowledge acquired during that war
meant that, when the Continental Army was organized in 1775, the
delegates assembled in Congress decided to elect him as its
commander-in-chief. His strategy on the battlefield and his ability to
negotiate effectively with his own revolutionary colleagues, allowed
him to bring about the eventual defeat of the British army in 1781.
After the peace treaty with Great Britain was signed in 1783, George
Washington resigned his military post and returned to his plantation in
Virginia. When the Constitutional Convention was organized in 1787,
Washington was first elected one of the Virginia delegates, and then was
unanimously chosen President of the Convention. After the ratification of
the new Constitution in 1789, George Washington was elected, again
unanimously, the first President of the United States of America and then
reelected for the following term. Washington did not run for a third term
alleging that, as he explained in his farewell address, “every day the
increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of
retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome.” His example was
one of the reasons adduced in the 20th century to limit to two the
Presidential terms.
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was a writer, pamphleteer and
American revolutionary. Born in England, he is famous
especially for his pamphlet Common Sense, published in
January 1776, in which he vehemently urged the colonies to
separate from Great Britain. For his contribution toward the
independence of the United States, Paine is considered one
of its Founding Fathers. Paine migrated to America in 1774,
and immediately joined the American revolutionaries. In
1777, he was appointed Secretary of the Committee on
Foreign Affairs of the Continental Congress, but because of
his indiscretions he was expelled from the Committee two
years later.
Nevertheless, in 1781 Paine participated in a mission to France to
get finance for the newly formed Union in their war of
independence, and returned to the United States with a grant of
several million pounds sterling. Congress rewarded Paine with
$3,000 for his services. In 1787, Paine returned to England, and two
years later he moved to France to participate in the French
Revolution. In spite of not speaking the language, in 1792 he was
elected as deputy to the French National Convention. The next year,
right in the middle of the Reign of Terror, Paine was arrested and
narrowly escaped the guillotine. In 1802 he returned to the United
States, remaining there until his death.
John Adams (1797-1801)
John Adams (1735-1826) was an attorney and American politician, second
President of the United States and one of the Founding Fathers. He was
born in Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard College. After studying
law in the office of a prominent local lawyer, he was admitted to the Bar in
1758. In 1765 he played an active role in the protests against the Stamp
Act. Elected to the legislative assembly of the Massachusetts Colony in
1774, he later became one of its delegates to the Continental Congresses.
John Adams was part of the committee that drafted the Declaration of
Independence. In 1779, Adams and James Bowdoin drafted the text of the
Massachusetts Constitution. Adams was one of the American delegates
who, in 1782, negotiated the Peace Treaty with Great Britain.
Subsequently, he was named Ambassador, first to The Netherlands
and then to Great Britain. These assignments prevented him from
participating in the drafting of the federal Constitution. John Adams
was elected Vice-President in the two presidential terms of George
Washington. After Washington’s decision not to run for a third term,
John Adams was elected President in 1796 as the candidate for the
Federalist Party. In the forthpresidential elections, of 1800, John
Adams was defeated by the candidate of the Democratic-Republican
Party, Thomas Jefferson, whereupon Adams retired from politics and
moved to Massachusetts, dying the 4th of July of 1826, the same
day as Thomas Jefferson did.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was an American politician,
diplomat, publisher, inventor, musician and writer. Born in
Massachusetts, within a humble family, he was self-taught, since he
had to leave school at the age of 10 years because his father could
not pay the teacher. Franklin worked first as a printer apprentice. At
the age of 17, he ran away to Philadelphia and then migrated to
London, where he worked as a typesetter. After returning to
Philadelphia, at age 21 he started The Pennsylvania Gazette, and at
25 he created the Library Company of Philadelphia. Although he
never patented any of them, several inventions are attributed to
Franklin, such as the lightning rod and the bifocal lenses.
In 1751, Franklin was elected as Representative to the Pennsylvania Assembly and,
three years later, he was part of the delegation sent to Albany, where he presented
his Plan of union of the colonies. In 1765, Pennsylvania colonists sent him to
London, to sue William Penn’s heirs for the proprietorship of the colony, returning
to America ten years later, when the Lexington and Concord battles had already
been fought. As a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Franklin was part
of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. In 1776, he was sent
as the Ambassador to France of the newly independent states, remaining there until
1785. After coming back from that post, he was elected President (governor) of
Pennsylvania, an office he held until 1788. In 1787, Franklin was one of the
delegates for Pennsylvania to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, but
owing to his age and medical condition, his participation was mainly testimonial.
Some 20,000 persons attended his funeral in 1790.
Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was an American erudite, politician,
diplomat, and statesman, and 3rd President of the United States.
Born in one of the most influential families of Virginia, in 1762 he
graduated in Laws from the College of William & Mary,
establishing a prosperous law practice. In 1769, Jefferson was
elected as a Representative to the House of Burgesses, and in 1774
drafted several resolutions against the Coercive Acts passed by the
British Parliament. Elected in 1775 as one of the delegates to the
Second Continental Congress, in 1776 he was the main drafter of the
Declaration of Independence.
From 1779 to 1781, Jefferson was the governor of Virginia, and in 1784 he was sent
as Ambassador to France, where he remained until 1789, not being able to
participate in the Constitutional Convention. George Washington, in his first term as
President, appointed Jefferson Secretary of State. From 1797 to 1801, during the
presidential term of John Adams, Jefferson was elected Vice-President. The main
candidate of the Democratic-Republican Party, Jefferson won the Presidential
election of 1800, serving two terms, until 1809. During his Presidency, the United
States carried out the “Louisiana Purchase” from France. Jefferson organized the
Lewis and Clark transcontinental expedition. Almost bankrupt as a result of the
poor administration of his estate, in 1815 Jefferson sold his library of more than
6,000 volumes to the Library of Congress, to replace the books that had been
burned by the British during the War of 1812. Jefferson died the 4th of July of
1826, a few hours before John Adams did.
James Madison
James Madison (1751-1836) was an American politician and 4th President
of the United States (1809-1817). Born in Virginia, he graduated in 1771
from the College of New Jersey (nowadays Princeton University). Elected
in 1776 to the Virginia House of Burgesses, Madison contributed to the
drafting of the Virginia Constitution. In 1777 he was elected a member of
the governor’s Council, where he met Thomas Jefferson, developing a
profound friendship with him. In 1780 he was elected delegate to the
Continental Congress, taking side with those proposing a strong central
government. In 1787 he was part of the Constitutional Convention of
Philadelphia. Madison is considered the father of the Constitution because
of his major advocacy of its principles.
Madison also drafted the Bill of Rights and wrote several of The
Federalist papers in support of the Constitution. In 1790 he
organized, with Thomas Jefferson, the Democratic Republican Party.
During his appointment from 1801 to 1809 as Secretary of State, he
was the defendant in the Marbury v. Madison case, in which Chief
Justice John Marshall stated the constitutional doctrine of the
judicial review. In 1808 he was elected President of the United
States, and during his mandate declared the War –of 1812– against
Great Britain, in which British troops captured the federal capital,
Washington, DC, and burned down the Capitol and the White
House. After his second term, James Madison retired from politics
and became a farmer.
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton (1755?-1804) was an American lawyer, soldier,
banker and politician. Born in the British colony of Nevis Island, in
the Caribbean, he was sent to study at King’s College (now
Columbia University), where he graduated in a single year. When
the American Revolution started, Hamilton joined the American
troops and shortly after became George Washington’s aide. In 1782
he was elected delegate for New York to the Continental Congress.
The following year, after three arduous months of self-tuition,
Hamilton was admitted to the New York Bar, where he practiced law
very successfully. In 1784 he founded the Bank of New York (the
oldest American bank in operation today).
In 1786 Hamilton went to the Annapolis Convention where he met
James Madison, contributing to the report sent to Congress by the
latter. Hamilton was one of the delegates to the Constitutional
Convention, contributing to it significantly. During the ratification
process, Hamilton wrote most of the essays of The Federalist.
George Washington appointed him Secretary of the Treasury, though
he felt obliged to leave that office in 1795, as a result of an
adulterous affair. As one of the leaders of the Federalist Party, in
1804 Hamilton campaigned bitterly against Aaron Burr, with whom
he had a personal vendetta. Burr challenged him to a duel in which
Hamilton was mortally wounded.
Thank you!