Historical Roots of American Government

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Chapter 2
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• Historical Roots of American Government

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Leading Up to the Declaration

• The Magna Carta (1215)

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Leading Up to the Declaration

• The Magna Carta (1215)
• First document to ever limit the power of a king
• Guaranteed some rights of citizens king could
  not punish someone without jury trial

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Leading Up to the Declaration

• John Lockes 2nd Treatise on Government
• Natural Rights men had rights given to them by
  God before governments were ever created.

Mack Daddy John Locke
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Leading Up to the Declaration

• Mans natural rights are
• LIFE
• LIBERTY
• PROPERTY
• Governments purpose is to protect these, not
  take them away!

Mack Daddy John Locke
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Britain Messes with the Colonies

• The Stamp Act 1765
• Required every published piece of paper to
  receive a British stamp of approval, and pay a
  tax with it
• True intention was likely to stop colonists from
  publishing essays and newspapers critical of
  Britains government

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Colonial Unity

• Stamp Act Congress (1765)
• 9 colonies joined together to protest Englands
  Stamp Act, and England repealed it

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Colonial Unity

• First Continental Congress (1774)
• Trying to repair relationship with Britain
• Sent a Declaration of Rights and Grievances to
  the king, boycotted trade with England

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Colonial Unity

• Second Continental Congress (1775-1781)
• Trying to defeat Britain
• Convened in the middle of the Revolutionary War

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Colonial Unity

• Second Continental Congress (1775)
• Elected George Washington Commander-in-Chief of
  the Army

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The Declaration of Independence

• July 4th, 1776

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Jefferson Explains the Trouble With Writing This
Thing
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Fundamentals of the Declaration

• Men have inalienable natural rights
• Governments exist by the consent of the governed
• Abusive governments can be replaced

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Our First Government

• The Articles of Confederation
• A huge mistake, but a good learning experience

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The Articles of Confederation
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The Articles of Confederation

• Was not a strong national government
• Rather, it was a firm league of friendship
  between 13 independent states

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Problems with the Articles

• National Government could not
• Collect Taxes
• Regulate Trade Between States
• Create a Court System
• Use Troops Without Permission from the States

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Problems with the Articles

• As a result
• States never sent the government any money
• States boycotted each others goods and currency
• States made trade agreements with foreign
  countries

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Features of the Articles Government

• Legislative Branch (Congress)
• Unicameral (One House)
• States could send as many or as few Reps. as they
  wanted
• Each state gets 1 vote regardless of number of
  Reps.
• Any change to the Articles required approval of
  all 13 states

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Features of the Articles Government

• Executive Branch
• No national executive branch
• All executive and judicial powers were given to
  the states

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Problems Lead to the Need for a Change
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The Constitutional Convention

• May 25th to September 17th, 1787

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The Constitutional Convention

• Original purpose was to slightly edit the
  Articles of Confederation
• What ended up happening was a secret meeting
  where the Founding Fathers created a brand new
  government

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Washington Okay, any suggestions on how to fix
this thing?
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Madison Aint gonna happen, Georgie.
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Hamilton Yeah, its time to smack it up, ballaz!
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Washington You know, I really like the Articles,
guys.
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Washington j/k, dawgs.
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lol )
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lol -gt
lol )
Ben Franklin Holla!
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The Framers

• Who were the Framers (Writers)?
• A gathering of 55 of the most brilliant minds in
  history?
• Most were in their 30s and 40s
• All upper class, well educated, white males
• Middle and lower classes, women and racial
  minorities were not given the opportunity to
  participate
• Most famous names George Washington, James
  Madison, Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton

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The Framers Demi-Gods?

• The Framers are really just men or
  politicians, even
• They are fighting with one another on every
  issue, and forming compromises to resolve the
  fights

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The Framers

• James Madison becomes known as the Father of the
  Constitution, as he became the leader of the
  convention, and did much of the writing

Mack Daddy James Madison
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I think we all know who the true Mack Daddy is.
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Two Competing Ideas

• The Virginia Plan
• The Big State Plan
• 3 Branches Legislative, Executive, Judicial,
  each with checks and balances against the others
• Bicameral legislature with representation based
  on population alone

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Two Competing Ideas

• The New Jersey Plan
• The Small State Plan
• Unicameral legislature with all states
  represented equally
• Executive would be three presidents, who chose
  the Judicial branch

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Compromises

• The Connecticut Compromise
• The Great Compromise
• Bicameral legislature, one house based on
  population, one on equality

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How the Great Compromise Works
State Population in House in Senate
California 35 million 53 2
Arizona 5 million 8 2
Wyoming 0.5 million 1 2
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Compromises

• The 3/5ths Compromise
• Southern states wanted to count slaves as part of
  their populations to get more votes in Congress
• Compromise allowed them to count slaves as 3/5ths
  of a person in the census
• Note - slaves did NOT get 3/5ths of a vote!

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Compromises

• The Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise
• Southern states feared that slavery would be
  banned by more heavily populated Northern states
  in Congress
• Compromise prevented Congress from acting on the
  matter of slave trade for at least 20 years

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Sources of the Constitution

• Framers pulled from a number of places to get the
  final product
• Ancient Greeces Democracy and Romes Republic
• John Lockes 2nd Treatise on Government
• Charles de Montesquieus ideas about separating
  the powers of government
• Great Britains government

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British Government Bicameral Legislature (House
of Lords and Commons) Strong Executive
(King) Royal Court System Federal Relationship w/
Colonies
New Constitution Bicameral Legislature (House and
Senate) Strong Executive (President) Supreme
Court System Federal Government
Articles of Confederation Unicameral
Legislature No Executive No Court
System Confederation of States
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Ratifying the Constitution

• Ratify vote on and pass
• Constitution required that 9 of the 13 states
  needed to approve it to take effect

Did someone say Ratify?
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Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists

• Federalists favored ratification of the
  Constitution and a new federal government
• Anti-Federalists - opposed the new Constitution
  on almost all grounds
• Especially wanted to add a bill of rights

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Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists

• Famous Federalists James Madison, Alexander
  Hamilton, John Jay, George Washington
• Madison, Hamilton, and Jay write The Federalist
  Papers persuasive essays to explain why the new
  Constitution can be effective and preserve
  personal liberty

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Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists

• Famous Anti-Federalists Patrick Henry, Richard
  Henry Lee, Samuel Adams, John Hancock

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And Now for Something Completely Different