•The masses are turbulent and just create chaos
• You can’t change the basic nature of man – man is selfish (that is from the writer Hobbes)
•You can’t expect vice (evil) to be checked by virture (good) so you must check vice with vice
In the Confederation Congress (AOC)It was persistent absenteeism.It was utter disregard for the rising national debt.It was Rhode Island.
Joseph Ellis American Creation
He knew he had to get one man and one man only on board to complete what would
be a bloodless coup of the AOC.
That man had recently retired (for what would be the first of two retirements)
George Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention. Everyone behaves when George is around.
The Constitution’s Purpose•Effectively instill power in the hands of the
people (republicanism) without undermining the importance of central authority (federalism)
The Constitution•Clearly it will require checks and balances.
An idea courtesy of the Enlightenment philosopher __________________Baron de Montesquieu
The ConstitutionHow exactly will this look?
can’t trust the common man a.k.a. mobs
can’t trust the majority to not take advantage of its position of power....
Bicameralism
The principle of a two-house branch as a way to balance governmental power. Its concept is present in the legislative branch, with the separate units of Senate, which would represent individual states, and the House of Representatives, which reflected the population of the people.
3/5th Compromise
three-fifths compromise- Compromise agreement between northern and southern states at the Constitutional Convention, that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted for determining direct taxation and representation in the House of Representatives. The South had wanted to count slaves, so as to to gain seats in the House, but the North was against such a proposal due to their smaller slave population. Three-fifths was chosen to maintain the balance of power between the North and South representation.
It is called a federal system = where power
is shared between
federal/national govt and
state/local govts
This is the debate which occurred when they were trying to ratify or vote
on the Constitution.
People had rights guaranteed by their states (each state guaranteed
different rights) but there was no guarantee the federal govt would
protect those rights
Ratification
Ratification - Ratification is the approval of a nationally binding agreement; one of the first example is the Constitution. Today, ratification is applied to constitutional amendments or treaties.
The Federalist argued the way the Constitution was written, with its checks and balances, would be
enough to protect people’s rights
The Antifederalist will demand a Bill of Rights (the 1st ten amendments) must be added to the Constitution before
they will sign
The Federal Papers
The Federalist Papers were anonymous letters written in the big newspapers and they argued for the Federalist side