 To understand, need to put self in 1780’s.
(the mentality of the Founders).
 It had been a world of emperors – not
democracies.
 The US was down the list of powerful
countries – surrounded by enemies.
 They had to conduct a “political cleansing”.
 Spain was the most hated.
 The US hated Roman Catholicism.
 Spain was the evil empire.
 The Mississippi River belonged to Spain.
 US had no navigational rights to the river.
 On the homefront, each state had to chose
between anarchy and tyranny.
 Should the new government be federal or
national?
 Should this new government be controlled by
large or small states?
 How powerful should it be?
 These were totally different terms in the 18th
century. Everyone wanted a republic (for the
public good) and there were two types:
 Federal; federated republic; confederated
(Federalist Papers #9). Works to control states,
not the people (the United Nations is an
example)
 National, unitary, consolidated republic.
(Federalist Papers #17) The states would vanish;
nothing between national government and the
people.
 Federal – government of and by the states
 National – government by the people; by the
people making the nation.
 Therefore, a central government can be a
federal style or a national style.
 Resolution by Richard Henry Lee, June 11,
1776, created the United States. Say we need
a new government – a plan of confederation
to be drafted and written out.
 Britain was a national government.
 The King and Parliament had power over all
individuals – and the founders did not want
this.
 states remained (absolutely) sovereign over
their own affairs. (Articles II and III)
 they did surrender limited powers (Article
IX). An example was power over the
Indians.
 State governments stood between Congress
and individual citizens. (Art. VIII, para 2)
 established a government that could
coordinate resources
 did not threaten the sovereignty of the
states
 did so without threatening the lives,
liberties and property of the citizens
 territory – can’t defend – Northwest
Territories still had British; Spain was in the
South and Southwest.
 The Continental Army had disbanded.
Unpaid soldier mutinied.
 Bits of states tried to secede (ex: Vermont;
and State of Franklin in Western NC)
 British sold tons of cheap goods to America;
there was no power of protective tariffs. So,
going deep in debt to the British. Domestic
industries were going bust
 British closed the West Indies to trade
 States acting on their own – ex R.I. created
inflation to help debtors. Creditors hated it.
Shays’ Rebellion – merchants in Boston
hired an army
 Dickinson and others began to feel that a
federal government was not working and
sought a national government.
 There were various ideas.
 Varying degrees of nationalism.
 A more unitary government.
 It began at Mount Vernon (Trade
convention) and moved on to the Annapolis
Convention and then Philadelphia.
 February 21, 1787 – a resolution in Congress
called for revising the Articles (sole and
expressed purpose was revision). Some
refused to attend. Henry, Lee, Rhode Island.
They “smelled a rat”.
 Every member was a variant of a nationalist.
The term Federalist was not used until the
ratification phase.
 From the start, it was a stacked deck.
 How strong shoud it be? Memories of the
British remained strong!!
 Randolph (Virginia) Plan
 Paterson (New Jersey) Plan
 Hamilton Plan – didn’t get very far
(Gunning Bedford and Alexander Hamilton
– sir, we don’t trust you! A matter of trust!!)
 There were two forms of dividing power:
equal or proportional.
 Equal – 27% of the population were in the 7
smallest states
 Proportional – 47% of the population were
in the 3 largest states
 Weeks of debate!
 legislative branch
 choosing a president
 Electoral college: compromise between
supporters of equal and proportional plans.
If a tie, House of Reps would vote with each
state receiving only one vote.
 Ratification process:
 Each state voted individually – 9 states
needed
 Legislative Powers: enumerated,
unenumerated, with limitations
 Executive
 Judicial
 Congress has the lion’s share of power
 can shut down the President and Supreme
Court
 limited by elections every two years
 the Constitution was the “supreme law of
the land”
 Nationalists didn’t want to call themselves
nationalists (government directly over the
people – no states).
 The term Federalist began as supporters of
the Constitution – a nationalist
constitution.
 The Anti-Federalists were the true
federalists. (state sovereignty)
 tyranny - arbitrary or oppressive exercise of
power – the absence of a bill of rights.
 consolidation – consolidation of the states
into a single, national, system
 Evidence of tyranny – the absence of a bill of
rights. There was no provision of civil trials.
So, Article III, Sec 2.
 Also, the government could not grant any
title of nobility, Article I, Sec 9.
 If we have to tell them this, what else do we
need to tell them?
 The Federalist Papers #10.
 It was powerful, but could never become
tyrannical:
 (a) the US is too big for consensus, and
 (b) the balance of power prevents it from
becoming tyrannical.
 a. “We the people” – states have vanished
(look at Articles of Conf.)
 b. Congress shall have power…general
welfare…common defense (Sec 8)
 c. militia
 d. Supreme Court – one national court
 e. Article III, Sections 1 and 2
 f. Supremacy clause
 It wasn’t really a national government and
provided examples:
 the foundation – from the states
 the source – senate, elected by the state legislatures
 these are restrictions on its power
 amendment process (states, again)
 The deciding element – “pass it and we’ll
amend it to fix it”
 The amendments addressed tyranny – just
because we forgot it doesn’t mean it doesn’t
exist. These are not all the liberties.
(Federalists #9)
 Amendment 10 addresses the fear of
consolidation. It reserves the power to the
states.
 But, Madison left out the word “expressly” as
in Article II of the Articles of Confederation.
 Federal power comes from the elastic clause.