American Government Chapter 2 - The Constitution - PDF

**Wilson- American Government Chapter 2 - Th Constitution** The term *government* refers to the institutions and procedures through which a land and its people are ruled. **Government provides services** - Provides national security and directs the military - Funds public education - Ensu...

**Wilson- American Government Chapter 2 - Th Constitution** The term *government* refers to the institutions and procedures through which a land and its people are ruled. **Government provides services** - Provides national security and directs the military - Funds public education - Ensures food safety - Oversees road construction and maintenance **Government is best defined as the institutions and procedures by which a territory and its people are ruled.** - The federal government is the nation's largest employer. - Today, the federal government is an enormous institution that creates a large number of programs affecting virtually all Americans. - Approximately 40 percent of the world's population currently lives in a constitutional democracy. **What do Americans expect from the government? Which of the following is a service or a program people expect the government to provide?** - National Security - Primary/ Public Education - Safe Food Supply A table shows the presence of government in the daily life of a student at "State University." The data from the table is as follows: 7:00 AM: Wake up. Standard time set by the national government. 7:10 AM: Shower. Water courtesy of local government, either a public entity or a regulated private company. Brush your teeth with toothpaste whose cavity-fighting claims have been verified by a federal agency. Dry your hair with an electric dryer manufactured according to federal government agency guidelines. 7:30 AM: Have a bowl of cereal with milk for breakfast. "Nutrition Facts" on food labels are a federal requirement, pasteurization of milk required by state law, freshness dating on milk based on state and federal standards, recycling the empty cereal box and milk carton enabled by state or local laws. 8:30 AM: Drive or take public transportation to campus. Air bags and seat belts required by federal and state laws. Roads and bridges paid for by state and local governments, speed and traffic laws set by state and local governments, public transportation subsidized by all levels of government. 8:45 AM: Arrive on campus of large public university. Buildings are 70 percent financed by state taxpayers. 9:00 AM: First class: Chemistry 101. Tuition partially paid by a federal loan (more than half the cost of university instruction is paid for by taxpayers), chemistry lab paid for with grants from the National Science Foundation (a federal agency) and smaller grants from business corporations made possible by federal income tax deductions for charitable contributions. Noon: Eat lunch. College cafeteria financed by state dormitory authority on land grant from federal Department of Agriculture. 12:47 PM: Felt an earthquake! Check the U.S. Geological Survey at www.usgs.gov to see that it was a 3.9 on the Richter scale. 2:00 PM: Second class: American Government 101 (your favorite class!). You may be taking this class because it is required by the state legislature or because it fulfills a university requirement. 4:00 PM: Third class: Computer Lab. Free computers, software, and Internet access courtesy of state subsidies plus grants and discounts from IBM and Microsoft, the costs of which are deducted from their corporate income taxes; Internet built in part by federal government. Duplication of software prohibited by federal copyright laws. 6:00 PM: Eat dinner: hamburger and french fries. Meat inspected for bacteria by federal agencies. 7:00 PM: Work at part-time job at the campus library. Minimum wage set by federal, state, or local government, books and journals in library paid for by state taxpayers. 8:15PM: Go online to check the status of your application for a federal student loan (FAFSA) on the Department of Education's website at studentaid.ed.gov. 10:00 PM: Go home. Street lighting paid for by county and city governments, police patrols by city government. 10:15 PM: Watch TV. Networks regulated by federal government, cable public-access channels required by city law. Weather forecast provided to broadcasters by a federal agency. 10:45 PM: To complete your economics homework, visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics at www.bis.gov to look up unemployment levels since 1972. Midnight: Put out the trash before going to bed. Trash collected by city sanitation department, financed by "user charges." **Public trust of government** Drop in trust in recent years Faulty intelligence information led to the war in Iraq Intense partisan conflict in Congress - partisan battles over raising national debt limit - deep partisan divisions over **taxing and spending** - sharply divided on the Affordable Care Act In general, Americans' trust in their government has fallen sharply since the 1960s after the Civil War, Republicans attempted to enfranchise newly freed slaves in order to maintain Republican control over the defeated southern states. African Americans and Latinos express greater levels of trust in government than whites. **In the absence of trust, government cannot function effectively** - The public may refuse to pay taxes for needed programs - Government may be unable to attract workers - It may become more difficult to defend national interests - The economy and national security may be jeopardized - The fact that the tax code in the United States is more advantageous to wealthy citizens than that of almost any other Western nation supports the claim that Americans generally tolerate economic inequality **Political Efficacy** **Political Efficacy:** belief that citizens can influence what government does - Since 1960, Americans' sense of political efficacy has decreased considerably. - A decline in political efficacy is likely to lead to a decline in political participation and a withdrawal from political life. - Individual political rights are a protection against the tyranny of the majority Belief in the ability to influence what government does. - 1960 poll - 25 percent of respondents said that elected officials did not care what citizens like themselves thought - 2015 poll - 76 percent of respondents now thought the same thing. You may want to flesh out the discussion of efficacy a bit more for the students. A key point to stress is that what is important is that citizens *believe* that they have efficacy, not whether a particular person actually *does*. This is so because if people do not believe they have efficacy, they will not get involved. Getting involved may in turn lead to a given individual having more efficacy over time as she learns the ins and outs and what forms of communication are more effective than others. One place to start the conversation is to note that when pollsters attempt to measure efficacy, they sometimes ask if the respondent believes that writing a letter to a member of Congress makes a difference, and then they will ask the same about making a donation, working on a campaign, or attending a rally. You might also note that having a sense of personal efficacy is closely correlated to levels of education, with college-educated individuals having significantly higher levels of personal efficacy. You could ask students why that might be. **Citizenship** Began with the ancient Greeks - **"enlightened political engagement."** - Involved public discussion, debate, and activity to improve welfare of community Citizenship was defined as **informed and active membership** in a political community. Citizenship refers to informed and active membership in a political community. These are theoretical ideas about what being "a productive citizen" means; obviously, this is not the formal definition (based on who holds an American passport, etc.). The text defines citizenship as "informed and active membership in a political community." You might start a brief discussion by asking students what kinds of activities this might entail besides voting and what kinds of knowledge are needed for those activities. **Citizenship requires political knowledge** Citizens make more informed decisions when they have a knowledge of government rules and structures. - Knowledge of the political process allows citizens to identify the best ways to act on their interests. - Knowledgeable citizens tend to be more attentive and engaged in **politics.** **Politics** Conflict over the leadership, structure, and policies of governments - **is informed and active,** - **keeps leaders aware of their preferences, and** - **holds elected officials accountable at elections.** In order to be a good citizen, it is most critical to possess political knowledge. Americans are not very knowledgeable about their government. It is important for Americans to have ***political knowledge*** so that they will be better able to understand various policy proposals and their implications on society. In order to increase **political efficacy**, it is necessary to increase **political knowledge**. People must know the rules of the game in order to engage or influence the outcome. Political knowledge includes knowing the limits on (as well as the possibilities for) pursuing an individual's own interests through political action. **Digital citizenship** Refers to the ability to participate in society online. - In a 2015 survey - 65 percent of respondents reported using the Internet to find data or information about the government - Digital citizens are more likely to - be interested in politics - discuss politics with their friends, family, and coworkers - Digital citizenship is the ability to participate in society online, and it is increasingly important in politics. - some groups are excluded from online participation in society Just as all Americans have the right to a public education and to be taught to read and write, should all Americans have access to the Internet and be taught skills to access and use information online? *Use the opening questions to discuss Thomas Jefferson's observation that he believed the best government was the one that "governed least".* [**Authoritarian** \[*uh*-thawr-i-**tair**-ee-*uh*n\] **Governments**] **Government by a single ruler or a small group** Recognize no limits on their authority but are constrained by other institutions, such as a business or church a system of rule in which the government recognizes no formal limits but may nevertheless be restrained by the power of other social institutions. The willingness to be restrained by the power of social institutions, but not political or legal institutions, is a hallmark of this regime. A type of regime in which only the government itself is fully controlled by the ruler. A system of rule in which the government recognizes no formal limits on its power and seeks to absorb or eliminate other social institutions that might challenge it. A government that is not constrained by legal limits and also seeks to eliminate any challenges to its authority. [**Totalitarian** \[toh-tal-i-**tair**-ee-*uh*n\] G**overnments** ] **Recognize no limits on their own authority and seek to eliminate other institutions that might challenge it.** A form of government that controls all aspects of the political and social life of a nation. (Example ***Germany, from 1933 to 1945***, ***Nazism*** took over the country and all political parties were banned except for their own German Nationalist Party) Social and economic institutions exist that are not under the government's control. (***Cuba***, there is one supreme leader that rules the country. They do not allow freedom of speech, religion, or press.) **[Autocracy Government]** A **single, nonelected leader** (e.g., a *king, queen, or dictator*). **Autocracy: **a form of government in which a ***single individual***---a king, queen, or dictator---rules - Egyptian kings and queens. Authoritarian ---A type of regime in which only the government itself is fully controlled by the ruler. Social and economic institutions exist that are not under the government's control. (Iraq, there is one supreme leader that rules the country. They do not allow freedom of speech, religion, or press.) **[Oligarchy \[ol-i-gahr-kee\] Government ]** **Small group** that is not accountable to the citizens (e.g., military officers or wealthy landowners). **oligarchy:** a form of government in which a small group---landowners, military officers, or wealthy merchants---controls most of the governing decisions ***oligarchy*** occurs when a small group of wealthy landowners and corporate leaders control the government. "Rule by a few." (GET Info) are often controlled by a few powerful families whose children are raised and mentored to become inheritors of power, often at some sort of expense to those governed. In contrast with [aristocracy](http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-aristocracy.htm) --- or government by the \"best\" --- this power might not always be exercised openly, with some oligarchs preferring to remain \"the power behind the throne,\" exerting their control through economic means. Oligarchy is not always a rule by wealth, either, because oligarchs can simply be a privileged *cadre*. It also has been suggested that most [communist](http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-communism.htm) states fit the definition of oligarchies. **England in the 1200s** Oligarchies also might become instruments of transformation, insisting that monarchs or dictators share power, thereby opening the door to power-sharing by other elements of society. One example of this process occurred when English nobles banded together in 1215 to force a reluctant King John to sign the [Magna Carta](http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-magna-carta.htm) (Latin Greater Charter, limit kings power to protect citizen rights), a tacit recognition both of the king\'s waning political power and of the existence of an incipient oligarchy. As English society continued to grow and develop, the Magna Carta was repeatedly revised over the next decade, guaranteeing greater rights to greater numbers of people, thus setting the stage for British constitutional [monarchy](http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-monarchy.htm). **South Africa in the 1900s** A modern example of oligarchy could be seen in 20th-century South Africa, where the basic characteristics of oligarchy were particularly easy to observe, because the **South African form of oligarchy was based on racism.** After the Boer War, a tacit agreement was reached between English-speaking and Afrikaans-speaking whites. Together, they made up about **20 percent of the population**, but this small percentage had access to virtually all the educational and trade opportunities, and the minority proceeded to deny these opportunities to the black majority even more than before. Although this process had been going on since the mid-18th century, after 1948, it became official government policy and became known worldwide as apartheid. This lasted until the arrival of democracy in South Africa in 1994, transition to a democratically elected government that was dominated by the black majority. **Democracy** **Government by the Many** **democracy: **a system of rule that permits citizens to play a significant part in the governmental process, usually through the election of key public officials. A system of rule that permits citizens to play a [significant part in the governmental process.] **[Constitutional Governments]** are the norm in a democracy. - they are limited both in what they can do (substantive limits) and the methods they can employ (procedural limits) The essential documents of the American founding are the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. - When ultimate power rests with the citizenry, this is called ***popular sovereignty*.** - **popular sovereignty:** a principle of democracy in which political authority rests ultimately in the hands of the people - **majority rule: **the democratic principle that a government follows the preferences of the majority of voters but protects the interests of the minority **Constitutional Government:** a system of rule in which formal and effective limits are placed on the powers of the government. - government that is formally limited by ***laws and rules\\*** - Anarchy---\[an-er-kee\] Condition of no government. **The key force in limiting government power.** The rise of the **bourgeoisie** [ ] **bour·geoi·sie bo͝orZHwäˈzē/ (*noun)*** French word for **"freeman of the city,"** or middle class Embraced limits on government Advanced principles of individual liberty - Freedom of Speech - Freedom of Assembly - Freedom of Conscience - Freedom from arbitrary Search and Seizure The middle class, typically with reference to its perceived materialistic values or conventional attitudes (in Marxist contexts). The capitalist class who own most of society\'s wealth and means of production. - The key group in Europe that pushed for limited government. - The bourgeoisie sought to change parliaments into an instrument of political participation. **Political participation gradually spread, making politics increasingly relevant to all** **Politics:** conflict over the leadership, structure, and policies of any organization to which people belong **Politics also involves [Power]** - Influence over a government's leadership, organization, or policies Politics is not just conflict; it is also cooperation, negotiation, compromise, and choices related to leadership, structure, policies, and institutions. - conflicts over the character, membership, and policies of any organization to which people belong. Having some share or say in the composition of a government's leadership, how it is organized, or what its policies are going to be is **power.** The **goal of politics** is to have a say in a government's leadership, organization, and policies. **Politics is shaped by the system of government in place, especially in democratic governments.** **Representative Democracy (Republic)** - Government run by elected officials who **represent the interests of their constituents.** **Direct Democracy** - The citizens themselves vote on laws and policies. Examples: town meetings, referenda **\"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the [republic] for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.*"*** A representative democracy is a system of government that gives citizens a regular opportunity to elect top government officials. Democracy in the United States, some state and local governments allow direct democracy, but the federal government does not. - a system that allows citizens to vote directly for laws and policies. Ballot Initiatives are instruments of **direct democracy**. Citizens in a state approving the use of medical marijuana through a popular referendum is an example of the process of **direct democracy.** Native Americans became U.S. citizens in 1924. Most people of African descent were not officially citizens until 1868, when the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution conferred citizenship on the freed slaves. The power of the federal government began to expand after 1933 in response to the stock market crash of 1929, the Great Depression, and the run on banks of 1933. **Diverse Nation** **http://wwnorton.com/common/mplay/6.8/?p=/college/polisci/common/coursepack/vid/&f=DiverseNation-WAA&ft=mp4&cdn=1&cc=1**  ***SOURCE:** Department of Homeland Security, 2013 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, August 2014, www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/ois\_yb\_2013\_0.pdf (accessed 4/10/16).* **Immigration policy** As the U.S. **population grew more diverse**, anxiety about Americans' ethnic identity mounted. - Could the nation absorb large numbers of immigrants? - Were the immigrants' political and social values compatible with American democracy? - Could the immigrants learn to speak English? Several laws have been passed over the years to limit immigration into the United States The notion that ethnic and racial groups are national threats is not a new phenomenon. Since its inception, America has grappled with these ideas and has embraced them at times. The National Origins quota system allowed a large quota of new immigrants from northern European countries but only a small quota of new immigrants from eastern and southern European countries. The foreign-born population in the United States reached an all-time low of 5 percent in 1970 because the National Origins quota system placed strong restrictions on the number of immigrants who could enter the United States. **Immigration policy has been historically biased against nonwhites.** Naturalization Laws in the United States prior to 1870, only free whites could become naturalized citizens. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 outlawed the entry of Chinese laborers into the United States. Immigrants from Asian countries were largely prohibited from entering the United States prior to the 1940s. Many students will not know how to read a table like this, so the first step is to walk them through it. One way to do this is to have them explain out loud what the first column means, and then explore when groups from other parts of the world began to emigrate to the United States. Where did most immigrants come from at the start of the twentieth century? How does that compare with immigration in the twenty-first century? **Twenty-First Century Americans** By 1965, Congress had lifted many of the strict immigration limits This resulted in new waves of immigration from Asia and Latin America Current population (2014 U.S. census) - **White: less than two-thirds of the population** - **Asian: 5 percent** - **Black/African American: 13 percent** - **Latino/Hispanic: 17 percent** There are approximately million people living in the United States without legal authorization and the majority of these people are from Mexico and Central America. Progressives support women's suffrage in the early twentieth century, The Progressives believed women would support their reform movement. It may be worth pointing out that population shifts are due not only to immigration, but also due to differences in birthrates between various groups and, of course, differences in mortality rates as well. **Immigration patterns have diversified the nation, not only by race and ethnicity, but also by religion.** - **80 percent of the adult population was Protestant** in 1900, compared to 47 percent in 2014. **Other Religions:** - Catholics: 21 percent - Jews: 2 percent - Muslims: 1 percent A growing percentage of Americans report no church affiliation (29 percent) At the time of the founding of the republic, approximately 80 percent of non--Native American inhabitants of the thirteen states were of European ancestry. About 75 percent of the American adult population identifies with the Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish faiths. **The age distribution, geography, and socioeconomic status of a population can all impact politics.** Different age groups have different needs for public services. Increasing numbers of Americans live in urban areas. - Issues of concern are often different than in rural areas. Economic inequality is on rise and incomes of people in the middle class have largely stagnated. U.S. Constitution create a system that underrepresents urban areas, It provides each state with two **U.S. Senators**, regardless of population. The **U.S. House of Representatives** was designed to ensure majority rule. Discuss how these different blocs of voters can have different sets of interests, which, in turn, can affect the voting behavior of each bloc.  All numbers are approximate. Graph 1: The vertical axis is labeled "Family Income (in dollars)" from 0 to \$225,000 in increments of \$25,000. The horizontal axis shows the years 1950 to 2010 in increments of 10 years. In 1950, family income for the 95th percentile was \$72,000. It increased quickly and fairly steadily to \$213,000 by 1999. It then stayed fairly steady up to 2012. In 1950, family income for the 80th percentile was \$42,000. It increased fairly steadily to \$123,000 by 1999. It then stayed fairly steady up to 2012. In 1950, family income for the 60th percentile was \$32,000. It increased fairly steadily to \$81,000 by 1999. It then stayed fairly steady up to 2012. In 1950, family income for the 40th percentile was \$25,000. It increased fairly steadily to \$48,000 by 1979. It then stayed fairly steady up to 2012. In 1950, family income for the 20th percentile was \$13,000. It increased fairly steadily to \$27,000 by 1969. It then stayed fairly steady up to 2012. Graph 2: The vertical axis is labeled "Share of Total Income" from 0 to 100 percent in increments of 10 percent. The horizontal axis shows the years 1929, 1944, and then 1950 to 2010 in increments of 10 years. In 1929, the lowest fifth had 6 percent of total income. It has remained fairly steady but declined to 4 percent by 2012. In 1929, the second fifth had 10 percent of total income. It has remained fairly steady but declined to 8 percent by 2012. In 1929, the third fifth had 14 percent of total income. It increased slightly to 16 percent by 1970, but then decreased slightly to 14 percent by 2012. In 1929, the fourth fifth had 20 percent of total income. It increased slightly to 24 percent by 1960, remained stable until 1980, but then decreased slightly to 23 percent by 2012. In 1929, the top fifth had 51 percent of total income. It increased slightly to 59 percent by 1960, remained stable until 1980, but then decreased to 49 percent by 2012. A bracket at 2010 stretches from 30 percent to 100 percent. Text next to it reads, "The top 40 percent of the population has 70 percent of the total income." The graph shows that while the income of most Americans has risen only slightly since 1950, the income of the richest Americans (the top 5 percent) has increased dramatically. What are some of the ways in which this shift might matter for American politics? Does the growing economic gap between the richest groups and most other Americans conflict with the political value of equality? Dollar values are given in constant 2014 dollars, which are adjusted for inflation so that we can compare a person's income in 1950 with a person's income today. ***SOURCE:** U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/historical/inequality/index.html (accessed 1/18/16).*  **Prior to imposing these new taxes, the merchants and wealthy planters were content with British colonial rule.** But the new taxes came at a high cost to their wealth. The new taxes led to a coalition of different interests. - The merchants and planters joined together with the lower classes. This coalition was organized in protest. - It was unified against the purchase of stamps; it also promoted a boycott of molasses. **French and Indian Wars (1756--1763),** Also known as the **Seven Years' War**, this New World conflict marked another chapter in the long imperial struggle between **Britain and France.** What led British officials to raise taxes on the American colonists during the 1760s, deficit that was incurred as a result of the ***French and Indian War.*** **The Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770** ***The Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770, occurred*** when five colonists were killed by British soldiers outside of the seat of the colonial government in Boston. John Adams defended the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. **In 1770, Crispus Attucks**, a black man, became the first casualty of the American Revolution when he was shot and killed in what became known as the Boston Massacre. Although Attucks was credited as the leader and instigator of the event, debate raged for over as century as to whether he was a hero and a patriot, or a rabble-rousing villain. \ \ Crispus Attucks is thought to have been born around 1723 in Framingham, Massachusetts. His father was likely a slave and his mother a Natick Indian. A 1750 ad in the *Boston Gazette*sought the recovery of a runaway slave named \"Crispas,\" but all that is definitely known about Attucks is that he was the first to fall during the [[Boston Massacre]](http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/boston-massacre) on March 5, 1770. I As British control over the colonies tightened, tensions escalated between the colonists and British soldiers. Attucks was one of those directly affected by the worsening situation. **Seamen like Attucks constantly lived with the threat they could be forced into the British navy, while back on land British soldiers regularly took part-time work away from colonists.** On March 2, 1770, a **fight erupted between a group of Boston rope makers and three British soldiers**. Conflict was ratcheted up three nights later when a British soldier looking for work reportedly entered a Boston pub, only to be greeted by furious sailors, one of whom was Attucks. The details regarding what followed have always been the source of debate, but that evening, a group of Bostonians approached a guard in front of the customs house and started taunting him. The situation quickly escalated. When a contingent of British redcoats came to the defense of their fellow soldier, more angry Bostonians joined the fracas, throwing snowballs and other items at the troops. **How Did Crispus Attucks Die?** Attucks was one of those at the fore of the fight amid dozens of people, and when the British opened fire he was the first of five men killed. His murder thus made him the first casualty of the [[American Revolution]](http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution). In the murder trial of the soldiers who fired the fatal shots, John Adams, serving as a lawyer for the crown, reviled the \"mad behavior\" of Attucks, \"whose very looks was enough to terrify any person.\"\ \ Twenty years earlier, an advertisement placed by William Brown in the Boston Gazette and Weekly Journal provided a more detailed description of Attucks, a runaway: \"A Mulatto fellow, about 27 Years of Age, named Crispus, 6 feet 2 inches high, short curly hair, his knees nearer together than common.\" \ \ Attucks father was said to be an African and his mother a Natick or Nantucket Indian; in colonial America, the offspring of black and Indian parents were considered black or mulatto. As a slave in Framingham, he had been known for his skill in buying and selling cattle.\ \ Brown offered a reward for the man\'s return and ended with the following admonition: \"And all Matters of Vessels and others, are hereby cautioned against concealing or carrying off said Servant on Penalty of Law. \" Despite Brown\'s warning, Attucks was carried off on a vessel many times over the next twenty years; he became a sailor, working on a whaling crew that sailed out of Boston harbor. At other times he worked as a ropemaker in Boston.\ \ Attucks\' occupation made him particularly vulnerable to the presence of the British. As a seaman, he felt the ever-present danger of impressment into the British navy. As a laborer, he felt the competition from British troops, who often took part-time jobs during their off-duty hours and worked for lower wages. A fight between Boston ropemakers and three British soldiers on Friday, March 2, 1770 set the stage for a later confrontation. That following Monday night, tensions escalated when a soldier entered a pub to look for work, and instead found a group of angry seamen that included Attucks.\ \ That evening a group of about thirty, described by John Adams as \"a motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes and molattoes, Irish teagues and outlandish jack tarrs,\" began taunting the guard at the custom house with snowballs, sticks and insults. Seven other redcoats came to the lone soldier\'s rescue, and Attucks was one of five men killed when they opened fire. \ \ Patriots, pamphleteers and propagandists immediately dubbed the event the \"Boston Massacre,\" and its victims became instant martyrs and symbols of liberty. Despite laws and customs regulating the burial of blacks, Attucks was buried in the Park Street cemetery along with the other honored dead.\ \ Adams, who became the second American president, defended the soldiers in court against the charge of murder. Building on eyewitness testimony that Attucks had struck the first blow, Adams described him as the self-appointed leader of \"the dreadful carnage.\" In Adams\' closing argument, Attucks became larger than life, with \"hardiness enough to fall in upon them, and with one hand took hold of a bayonet, and with the other knocked the man down.\" The officer in charge and five of his men were acquitted, which further inflamed the public.\ \ The citizens of Boston observed the anniversary of the Boston Massacre in each of the following years leading up to the war. In ceremonies designed to stir revolutionary fervor, they summoned the \"discontented ghosts\" of the victims.\"\ \ A \"Crispus Attucks Day\" was inaugurated by black abolitionists in 1858, and in 1888, the Crispus Attucks Monument was erected on the Boston Common, despite the opposition of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the New England Historic Genealogical Society, which regarded Attucks as a villain.\ \ The debate notwithstanding, Attucks, immortalized as \"the first to defy, the first to die,\" has been lauded as a true martyr, \"the first to pour out his blood as a precious libation on the altar of a people\'s rights.\" **Britain sought to impose new, though relatively modest, taxes on the colonists, which included the requirements of** **The Sugar Act of 1764** - It taxed sugar, molasses, and other commodities **The Stamp Act of 1765** - It required printed materials to have a stamp on them. The Stamp Act was a tax on commerce. Colonial protesters of the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act rallied around which slogan ***"no taxation without representation"*** **The Stamp Act, and other** **taxes on commerce**, such as the **Sugar Act of 1764**,  which **taxed sugar,molasses, and other commodities**, most heavily affected the  two groups in colonial society whose commercial interests and activities were most extensive---the New England merchants and the southern planters.  - United under the famous slogan **"No taxation without representation,"** the merchants and planters sought to organize opposition to these new taxes.  - Colonial protesters of the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act rallied around no taxation without representation. In the course of the struggle against British tax measures, the planters and merchants broke with their royalist allies and turned to their former adversaries---the shopkeepers, small farmers, laborers, and artisans---for help.  Some of the laws designed to raise revenue were the Sugar Act (refined sugar) and the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act, designed to force **colonists to use special stamped paper in the printing** of newspapers, pamphlets, almanacs, and playing cards, and to have a stamp embossed on all commercial and legal papers. The stamp itself displayed an image of a rose framed by the word \"America\" and the French phrase *Honi soit qui mal y pense*---\"Shame to him who thinks evil of it" The colonists responded by boycotting English goods, resulting in the repeal of the Stamp Act and a feeling of unity among the colonists. **Disagreements between the British and the colonists over taxation continued into the 1770s.** In 1773, the British government again acted. - It granted the **East India Company a monopoly on imported tea.** **The Boston Tea Party was largely a response to the British government's decision to grant the *East India Company a monopoly* on the export of tea from Britain.** Tea smuggling in the colonies increased, although the **cost of the smuggled tea soon surpassed that of tea from British East India Company with the added tea tax. (Black Market)** The colonists, led by Samuel Adams, responded in protest. - "Disguised" as Mohawk Indians, they boarded three British ships - They threw an entire cargo of tea into Boston Harbor - **Coercive Acts *(1774)*** - **First Continental Congress September 1774** Still, with the help of prominent tea smugglers such as [[John Hancock]](https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/john-hancock) and [[Samuel Adams]](https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/samuel-adams) ---who protested taxation without representation but also wanted to protect their tea smuggling operations---colonists continued to rail against the tea tax and Britain's control over their interests. **Samuel Adams- Orchestrated the Boston Tea Party** **Samuel Adams** organized the secret **Sons of Liberty**, they planed protests against the measures Took place when a group of Massachusetts Patriots/ Sons of Liberty, protesting the monopoly on American tea importation recently granted by Parliament to the East India Company, seized 342 chests of tea in a midnight raid on three tea ships and threw them into the harbor. **Nearly \$1 million worth in today\'s money**, into the water to protest the Tea Act. **Coercive Acts *(1774)*** Closed the Port of Boston and shut down the Massachusetts government 1. **The Boston Port Act**, which **closed the port of Boston** until damages from the Boston Tea Party were paid. 2. **The Massachusetts Government Act**, which restricted Massachusetts; democratic town meetings and turned the **governor\'s council into an appointed body**. 3. **The Administration of Justice Act**, which made **British officials immune to criminal prosecution** in Massachusetts. 4. **The Quartering Act,** which required **colonists to house and quarter British troops** on demand, including in their private homes as a last resort. 5. **A Fifth Act, the Quebec Act**, which extended **freedom of worship to Catholics in Canada**, as well as granting Canadians the continuation of their judicial system, was joined with the Coercive Acts in colonial parlance as one of the Intolerable Acts, as the mainly Protestant colonists did not look kindly on the ability of Catholics to worship freely on their borders. **First Continental Congress September 1774** ***The First Continental Congress*** was a group of colonial delegates assembled in 1774 that called for a total boycott of all British goods. The First Continental Congress had delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies attending. The delegates also formed committees to spy on friends and neighbors and report any violations of the trade ban. **The colonists began to gradually realize they were similar in many respects and that as a political unit they would have more influence with Parliament.** - **Passed resolutions to send grievances to King George III,** - **Raise troops** - **Boycott British trade** **The American Revolution was an outgrowth of different interests within the colonies.** ***(1775-1783)*** Five sectors of society with important interests were. - New England merchants - Southern planters - Royalists (holders of royal lands, offices, and patents) - Shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers - Small farmers The events that led to the Revolutionary War were triggered by the British raised revenue by increasing the tax rate of the colonies. American victory in the Revolutionary War change the balance of political power in the new states Royal land, office, and patent holders were significantly weakened, and pre- Revolutionary radicals became the controlling forces in many state legislatures. ***The American Revolution (1775-83)*** is also known as the American Revolutionary War and the U.S. War of Independence. The conflict arose from growing tensions between residents of ***Great Britain's 13 North American colonies and the colonial*** government, which represented the British crown. Skirmishes between British troops and colonial militiamen in Lexington and Concord in April 1775 kicked off the armed conflict, and by the following summer, the rebels were waging a full-scale war for their independence. France entered the American Revolution on the side of the colonists in 1778, turning what had essentially been a civil war into an international conflict. After French assistance helped the Continental Army force the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, the Americans had effectively won their independence, though fighting would not formally end until 1783. **The American Revolution (1775-1783)** **http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/american-revolution-history** The American Revolution (1775-83) is also known as the American Revolutionary War and the U.S. War of Independence. **The conflict arose from growing tensions between residents of Great Britain's 13 North American colonies** and the colonial government, which represented the British crown. Skirmishes between British troops and colonial militiamen in Lexington and Concord in April 1775 kicked off the armed conflict, and by the following summer, the rebels were waging a full-scale war for their independence. France entered the American Revolution on the side of the colonists in 1778, turning what had essentially been a civil war into an international conflict. After French assistance helped the Continental Army force the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, the Americans had effectively won their independence, though fighting would not formally end until 1783. Competing ideals and principles often reflect competing interests, and so it was in RevolutionaryAmerica. The American Revolution and the American Constitution were outgrowths andexpressions of a struggle among economic and political forces within the  colonies. The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770. A squad of British soldiers, come to support a sentry who was being pressed by a heckling, snowballing crowd, let loose a volley of shots. Three persons were killed immediately and two died later of their wounds; among the victims was Crispus Attucks, a man of black or Indian parentage. The British officer in charge, Capt. Thomas Preston, was arrested for manslaughter, along with eight of his men; all were later acquitted. The Boston Massacre is remembered as a key event in helping to galvanize the colonial public to the Patriot cause. **Americans Had Different Financial Interests.** - New England merchants - Southern planters - Royalists - Shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers - Small farmers **Thomas Paine "Common Sense" - 1776** **"Common Sense"** **On this day in 1776, writer Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet "Common Sense,"** **setting forth his arguments in favor of American independence. ** Although little used today, pamphlets were an important medium for the spread of ideas in the 16th through 19th centuries. Originally published anonymously, "Common Sense" advocated independence for the American colonies from Britain and is considered one of the most influential pamphlets in American history.  Published in 1776, *Common Sense* ***challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy***. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain. Credited with uniting average citizens and political leaders behind the idea of independence, "Common Sense" played a remarkable role in transforming a colonial squabble into the American Revolution. At the time Paine wrote "Common Sense," most colonists considered themselves to be aggrieved Britons.  Paine fundamentally changed the tenor of colonists' argument with the crown when he wrote the following: "Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America.  This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from *every part* of Europe.  Hither they have fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still." Paine was born in England in 1737 and worked as a corset maker in his teens and, later, as a sailor and schoolteacher before becoming a prominent pamphleteer. In 1774, Paine arrived in Philadelphia and soon came to support American independence.  Two years later, his 47-page pamphlet sold some 500,000 copies, powerfully influencing American opinion. Paine went on to serve in the U.S. Army and to work for the Committee of Foreign Affairs before returning to Europe in 1787.  Back in England, he continued writing pamphlets in support of revolution. He released "The Rights of Man," supporting the French Revolution in 1791-92, in answer to Edmund Burke's famous "Reflections on the Revolution in France" (1790). His sentiments were highly unpopular with the still-monarchal British government, so he fled to France, where he was later arrested for his political opinions.  He returned to the United States in 1802 and died in New York in 1809. *Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.* *Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer or are exposed to the same miseries BY A GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him, out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.* **Five sectors of society had interests that were important in colonial politics:** 1. New England merchants 2. the southern planters 3. the "royalists"---holders of royal lands, offices, and patents (licenses to engage in a profession or business activity) 4. shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers; and  5. small farmers.  Throughout the eighteenth century, these groups were in conflict over issues of taxation, trade, and commerce.  For the most part, however, the southern planters, the New England merchants, and the royal office and patent holders---groups that together made up the colonial elite---were able to maintain a political alliance that held in check the more radical forces representing shopkeepers, laborers, and small farmers.  After 1760, however, by seriously threatening the interests of New England merchants  and southern planters, British tax and trade policies split the colonial elite, permitting radical forces to expand their political influence, and set in motion a chain of events that culminated in the American Revolution. **In 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft a statement of independence.** **Committee Included** - Thomas Jefferson of Virginia - Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania - Roger Sherman of Connecticut - John Adams of Massachusetts - Robert Livingston of New York **Second Continental Congress, 1776** On April 6, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted for free trade at all American ports with all countries except Britain. This act could be interpreted as an implicit Declaration of Independence. The next month, the congress suggested that each of the colonies establish state governments unconnected to Britain. Finally, in July, the colonists declared their independence from Britain. Established an army and made Washington commander in chief and pursued the Revolutionary War **Defend the colonists against attacks by British soldiers.** **Voted for Independence** **On July 1, 1776**, the **Second Continental Congress** met in Philadelphia, and on the following day **12 of the 13 colonies** voted in favor of Richard Henry Lee's motion for independence. The delegates then spent the next two days debating and revising the language of a statement drafted by Thomas Jefferson. **On July 4, 1776**, the **Second Continental Congress** approved the **Declaration of Independence**. Perhaps the most revolutionary aspects of the Declaration were its statements that. - People have **natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.** - Governments derive their power from the **consent of the governed.** - People have a right to **overthrow oppressive governments**. **King George III**  *"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."* is a section in... **On July 4, Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence, and as a result the date is celebrated as Independence Day.** Nearly a month would go by, however, before the actual signing of the document took place. First, New York's delegates didn't officially give their support until July 9 because their home assembly hadn't yet authorized them to vote in favor of independence. Next, it took two weeks for the Declaration to be "engrossed"---written on parchment in a clear hand. **Most of the delegates signed on August 2**, but several---Elbridge Gerry, Oliver Wolcott, Lewis Morris, Thomas McKean and Matthew Thornton---signed on a later date. (Two others, John Dickinson and Robert R. Livingston, never signed at all.) The signed parchment copy now resides at the National Archives in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom, alongside the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. **In 1776**, more than a year after open warfare had commenced in Massachusetts, the  **Second Continental Congress** appointed a committee consisting of Thomas  Jefferson of Virginia, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of  Connecticut, John Adams of Massachusetts, and Robert Livingston of New York to draft a statement of American independence from British rule.  The Declaration of Independence, written by Jefferson and adopted by the Second  Continental Congress, was an extraordinary document both philosophically and  politically. In philosophic terms, the Declaration was remarkable for its assertion that  certain rights---the "unalienable rights" that include life, liberty, and the pursuit of  happiness---could not be abridged by governments.  In the world of 1776, a world in which some kings still claimed to rule by divine right, this was a dramatic statement. This philosophical view was heavily influenced by the works of the philosopher John Locke, one of England's foremost liberal theorists of  the seventeenth century. In his treatises on government, widely read by educated colonists, Locke asserted that all individuals were equal and possessed a natural right to defend their own  lives, liberties, and possessions.  Individuals created governments to help them protect these rights, and if a government failed in its duties, the citizenry had the right to alter or abolish it.  In political terms, the Declaration was remarkable because, despite the differences of interest that divided the colonists along economic, regional, and philosophical lines, it identified and focused on grievances, aspirations, and principles that might unify the various colonial groups.  The Declaration was an attempt to identify and articulate a history and set of principles that might help forge national unity. The purpose of the Declaration of Independence was to explain to the world why the colonists had rebelled against the British and sought self-government.  The Declaration's pronouncement that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" remains a powerful principle of American democracy.  Every year, Americans celebrate the signing of the Declaration on the Fourth of July. Written by ***Thomas Jefferson*** to enumerate grievances against Britain Influences by ***John Locke- Natural Rights and Social Contract*** **https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke-political/** ***Social Contract: Based on the idea of consent of the governed, and that governments had the responsibility to protect the natural rights of its citizens.*** If the government failed to do so, the people had the right to revolt (white citizens). A voluntary agreement among individuals to secure their rights and welfare by creating a government and abiding by its rules. Like the Mayflower Compact more than 200 years before, the Declaration of Independence was based on the idea of consent of the governed, and that governments had the responsibility to protect the natural rights of its citizens. If the government failed to do so, the people had the right to revolt. **Natural Rights: *life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness*. People have natural rights ("unalienable Rights") including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These rights are held to be inherent in natural law, not dependent on government**. The incorporation of these concepts by Thomas Jefferson in the document reveals the influence of the English philosopher, John Locke. Locke had argued that all people possess certain natural rights, including the rights to life, liberty, and property. **Natural Rights and Social Contracts.** The statement that **\"all Men are created equal\"** and have natural rights (\"unalienable Rights\"), including the rights to \"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,\" was revolutionary at that time. Its use by Jefferson reveals the influence of the English philosopher John Locke (1632­1704), whose writings were familiar to educated American colonists, including Jefferson. In his Two Treatises on Government, published in 1690, Locke had argued that all people possess certain natural rights, including the rights to life, liberty, and property. This claim was not inconsistent with English legal traditions. Locke went on to argue, however, that the primary purpose of government was to protect these rights. Furthermore, government was established by the people through a social contract\--an agreement among the people to form a government and abide by its rules. As you read earlier, such contracts, or compacts, were not new to Americans. The Mayflower Compact was the first of several documents that established governments or governing rules based on the consent of the governed. After setting forth these basic principles of government, the Declaration of Independence goes on to justify the colonists\' revolt against Britain. Much of the remain- der of the document is a list of what \"He\" (King George III) had done to deprive the colonists of their rights. (See Appendix A at the end of this book for the complete text of the Declaration of Independence.) **Popular Sovereignty** doctrine that sovereign power is vested in the people and that those chosen to govern **Right to Revolution** **Declaring Independence** On April 6, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted for free trade at all American ports with all countries except Britain. This act could be interpreted as an implicit declaration of independence. The next month, the congress suggested that each of the colonies establish state governments unconnected to Britain. Finally, in July, the colonists declared their independence from Britain. ***The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)*** ***The Ultimate Breakup Letter*** **A Philosophical Document** - Heavily influenced by the views of John Locke - It states that certain rights are unalienable (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) **A Political Document** - It explains that because the king had violated their individual rights, the colonists had the right to rebel and separate from Britain. **The Declaration of Independence wasn't signed on July 4, 1776.** [**http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration\_transcript.html**](http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html) Declaration of Independence a remarkable political statement for its time It helped unify colonial groups that were divided along economic, regional, and philosophical lines by identifying shared problems, grievances, and principles. Declaration of Independence a remarkable philosophical statement for its time It asserted that there were ***"unalienable rights"*** that could not be abridged by governments. Thomas Jefferson, the primary draftsman of the Declaration of Independence, was appointed to the Committee of Five along with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston **After declaring independence, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation** **The Articles of Confederation (1777--1789)** - The first written constitution of the United States - The Articles of Confederation were **adopted in 1777.** - **Ratified by all the states in 1781.** - The state governments retained their "sovereignty, freedom, and independence" (they formed a confederation) - **Operative Constitution for almost 12 years, until March 1789** A **confederation** is a system of government in which member states retain almost all of their sovereign authority and delegate limited powers to a weak central body. **Articles of Confederation**, United States' first written constitution- adopted in 1777 **Under the Articles of Confederation, the Continental Congress had no power to lay taxes.** - **Congress was given the power to declare war.** - **Congress was given the power to make treaties and form alliances with other countries.** - **The nation's armed forces were composed entirely of the state militias.** - **States had to execute laws passed by the Continental Congress.** *Political Power in the Continental Congress divided under the Articles of Confederation Each state had an equal vote Students may never have heard of the Articles. Stress the term Confederation, meaning that the states retained their respective sovereignty.* *Discuss the rationale behind designing such a weak government.* - *The colonists distrusted strong central government; they had just rebelled against such a system.* - *They wanted government literally close to home. The distance between the colonists and the British posed considerable strain on representation. They were likely to be more trusting of state government representatives they were more familiar with and who were accountable to their particular state.* - *The states did not want to concede their new and emerging economic and political power to a central government (no one wants less power).* **Characteristics of the Articles of Confederation** **Weak central government** - No president, only a legislature **Impractical government** - Each state had one vote regardless of population size. - All 13 states had to agree to make amendments. **There was no national army or navy to protect the citizens.** **The national government had no taxing authority.** Under the Articles of Confederation, the relationship between the states and the federal government can best be compared to the United Nations' relationship with member states. The Articles of Confederation were concerned primarily with limiting the powers of the central government. Under the Articles of Confederation, the armed forces of the United States consisted of state militias. **Shays's Rebellion in 1787 magnified concerns about the Articles of Confederation** Daniel Shays, a former army captain, led the rebellion. - Shays led a mob of farmers against the Massachusetts government. - **The goal was to prevent repossession of debt-ridden lands.** - Most debt was held by poor farmers in western Massachusetts. - The rebellion failed but revealed the weaknesses of the Articles. Weak government could not handle this rebellion of debt forms that did not want to pay on their debt (1786-1787). Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 - Daniel Shays was a former army captain that led a mob of farmers in a rebellion against the Massachusetts government. - Shays's Rebellion was an attempt to prevent the state of Massachusetts from foreclosing on the lands of debt-ridden farmers. - Shays's Rebellion was significant because it convinced many observers that the government under the Articles of Confederation had become dangerously inefficient and indecisive. **The rebellion proved the Articles of Confederation too weak to protect the** **fledgling nation.** - **Shays's Rebellion** was an attempt to prevent the state of Massachusetts from foreclosing on the lands of debt-ridden farmers. - Goal was to prevent the court from repossessing debt-ridden lands held by poor farmers in western Massachusetts. **Congress under the Articles of Confederation had been unable to act decisively in a time of crisis Led to the Constitutional Convention of 1787** **[Economic Interests]**: they sought to create a new government that **promoted commerce and protected property (land value- taxes/ representation)** - **Interests:** the **financial interests of the wealthy** were better protected under the new Constitution. - **Low Balled Land Value** **[Political Principles]**: the new Constitution embodied leading political theories regarding **liberty, equality, and democracy.** - **Constitutional Convention and Ratification, 1787--1789** **September 17, 1787, signed the U.S. Constitution** **The 1787 convention to draft a new constitution was held in Philadelphia.** James Madison believed that the greatest conflict of interests in the Philadelphia Convention was between ***northern states and southern states.*** - Delegates at the Philadelphia Convention turn down the idea of including a list of citizens' rights in the Constitution, because they believed that since the federal government was already limited to its expressed powers, further protection of citizens was not needed. An obvious starting point for discussion would be the merits of each plan and the reasons different states had to support the different plans. **The Great Compromise** **Form the Legislature** **Virginia Plan:** states would have delegates proportionate to ***population or wealth.*** A framework for the Constitution, introduced by Edmund Randolph, called for representation in the national legislature based on the population of each state. - ***The Virginia Plan*** of the Philadelphia Convention proposed a system of representation in the national legislature that was based upon the **population of each state or the proportion of each state's revenue contribution, or both.** - At the Philadelphia Convention, the proposed plan to create a Congress where representation was distributed according to population was called the ***Virginia Plan***. **New Jersey Plan**: each state would have ***equal representation.*** - **New Jersey Plan:** a framework for the Constitution, introduced by William Paterson, that called for equal state representation in the national legislature regardless of population. - Representation would be equal for each state. - States like Delaware, Connecticut, and New York oppose the Virginia Plan, they feared that large states would dominate the new government if representation were to be determined by population as stipulated by the Virginia Plan. **Connecticut Compromise**: ***equal representation** in the Senate, **proportional** in the House of Representatives*. **Great Compromise: **the agreement reached at the *Constitutional Convention of 1787* that gave each state an equal number of senators regardless of its population, but linked representation in the House of Representatives to population. When the framers of the Constitution met in 1787, they set out to establish a political system that would protect liberty and place limits on government. They also believed that a powerful government required a broad popular base. However, they debated how best to protect liberty and how to balance democracy with other concerns, such as  efficient government. **The** **Great Compromise The proponents of a new government fired their opening shot on May 29, 1787, **when Edmund Randolph of Virginia offered a resolution that proposed Corrections and enlargements in the Articles of Confederation.  The proposal, which showed the strong influence of James Madison, was not a simple motion. Rather, it provided for virtually every aspect of a new government. The portion of Randolph's motion that became most controversial was called the Virginia Plan. This plan provided for a system of representation in the national legislature based on the population of each state or the proportion of each state's revenue contribution to the national government, or both. (Randolph also proposed a second chamber of the legislature, to be elected by the members of the first chamber.) Since the states varied enormously in size and wealth, the Virginia Plan was thought to be heavily biased in favor of the large states. While the convention was debating the Virginia Plan, opposition to it began to mount as more delegates arrived in Philadelphia. William Paterson of New Jersey introduced a resolution known as the New Jersey Plan. Its main proponents were delegates from the less populous states, including Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York, who asserted that the more populous states---Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and Georgia---would dominate the new government if representation were to be determined by population.  The smaller states argued that each state should be equally represented in the new regime regardless of the state's population. The issue of representation threatened to wreck the entire constitutional enterprise.  Delegates conferred, factions maneuvered, and tempers flared. James Wilson of Pennsylvania told the small state delegates that if they wanted to disrupt the union, they should go ahead. The separation, he said, could "never happen on better grounds."  Small-state delegates were equally blunt. Bedford of Delaware declared that the small states might, if forced, look elsewhere for friends. "The large states," he said, "dare not dissolve the confederation. If they do the small ones will find some foreign ally of more honor and good faith,  who will take them by the hand and do them justice." These sentiments were widely shared. The union, as Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut put it, was "on the verge of dissolution, scarcely held together by the strength of a hair." The outcome of this debate was the Connecticut Compromise, also known as the Great Compromise. Under the terms of this compromise, in the first chamber of Congress---the House of Representatives---the representatives would be apportioned according to the population in each state.  This, of course, was what delegates from the large states had sought. But in these second branch---the Senate---each state would have equal representation regardless of its size: this provision addressed the concerns of small states. This compromise was not immediately satisfactory to all the delegates. Indeed, two of the most vocal members of the small-state faction, John Lansing and Robert Yates of New York, were so angered by the concession that their colleagues had made to the large-state forces that they stormed out of the convention. In the end, however, most of the delegates preferred compromise to the breakup of the Union, and the plan was accepted. **To forge an agreement on the Constitution, the slave and non-slave states needed to reach a compromise.** **[The Three-Fifths Compromise]** Seats in the House would be apportioned by "**population**," in which five slaves would count as three free persons. The southern delegates would not agree to a new government unless the northerners agreed to bargain on this issue. The Three-Fifths Compromise determined that three out of every five slaves would be counted for purposes of **representation and taxation.** **Why the 3/5ths Compromise Was Anti-Slavery** **https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giBRnKRWR6M** **Article 1 Section 2** *"Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons."* Ramification of the Three-Fifths Compromise, it allowed for a ***political agreement*** between the North and the South. **Three-Fifths Compromise:** the agreement reached at the ***Constitutional Convention of 1787*** that stipulated that for purposes of the apportionment of congressional seats, every slave would be counted as three-fifths of a person. - **North- Property; South- Person (representation/ taxes)** **Confederacy **the Confederate States of America, those southern states that seceded from the United States in late 1860 and 1861 and argued that the power of the **states was more important than the power of the central government.** The legislature, when it amended the 1856 penal code, emphasized the continuing line between whites and blacks by defining all individuals with ***one-eighth or more African blood as persons of color***, subject to special provisions in the law. **The Constitution of 1861: Texas Joins the Confederacy** **DECLARATION OF CAUSES: February 2, 1861\ **Declaration of the causes which impel the State of Texas to secede from the Federal Union. **https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/secession/2feb1861.html** **Constitution of the State of Texas (1876)** **http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/constitutions/texas1876** **The framers sought several goals in the new government.** - A central government strong enough to **promote commerce and protect property** against infringement by other states. - Prevention of **"excessive democracy"** - Emphasis on ideas that would generate public support. - Restraint of federal government from impinging on **citizens' liberties** **Declared Independence in 1776 -- Constitution was** signed on **September 17, 1787**, (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) **Bill of Rights--10** amendments guaranteeing basic individual protections such as freedom of speech and religion--became part of the Constitution in **1791.** Constitution to be formally adopted, ****** of the **** states in the Union had to agree to its terms. The writing of the Constitution demonstrates the marriage of interests and principles. The most important political value for the framers of the Constitution was **individual liberty.** Motivations of the Founders in writing the U.S. Constitution, the primary goal was to devise a system consistent with the ***dominant philosophical and moral principles of the day*** while also ***promoting commerce*** and ***protecting private property from radical state legislatures***. According to historian Charles Beard, the framers of the Constitution were mostly concerned with promoting their own economic interests. - **checks and balances: **mechanisms through which each branch of government is able to participate in and influence the activities of the other branches; major examples include the presidential veto power over congressional legislation, the power of the Senate to approve presidential appointments, and judicial review of congressional enactments. Only one-third of the Senate is up for reelection during any single election year because the framers believed that this was a way to make the Senate resistant to popular pressure. - **Electoral College: **the electors from each state who meet after the popular election to cast ballots for president and vice president. - **Bill of Rights:** the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791; they ensure certain rights and liberties to the people. - **Separation of Powers:** the division of governmental power among several institutions that must cooperate in decision making. - **Federalism: **a system of government in which power is divided, by a constitution, between a central government and regional governments. **Bicameralism** Bicameralism is a constitutional principle that means the division of **Congress into two chambers.** The U.S. Constitution established America's national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. It was signed on September 17, 1787, by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, presided over by George Washington. Under America's first governing document, the Articles of Confederation, the national government was weak and states operated like independent countries. At the 1787 convention, delegates devised a plan for a stronger federal government with three branches--executive, legislative and judicial--along with a system of checks and balances to ensure no single branch would have too much power. The Bill of Rights--10 amendments guaranteeing basic individual protections such as freedom of speech and religion--became part of the Constitution in 1791. To date, there have been a total of 27 constitutional amendments. December 7, 1787: [Delaware](https://www.usconstitution.net/rat_de.html) ratifies. Vote: 30 for, 0 against. December 12, 1787: [Pennsylvania](https://www.usconstitution.net/rat_pa.html) ratifies. Vote: 46 for, 23 against. December 18, 1787: [New Jersey](https://www.usconstitution.net/rat_nj.html) ratifies. Vote: 38 for, 0 against. January 2, 1788: [Georgia](https://www.usconstitution.net/rat_ga.html) ratifies. Vote: 26 for, 0 against. January 9, 1788: [Connecticut](https://www.usconstitution.net/rat_ct.html) ratifies. Vote: 128 for, 40 against. February 6, 1788: [Massachusetts](https://www.usconstitution.net/rat_ma.html) ratifies. Vote: 187 for, 168 against. March 24, 1788: Rhode Island popular referendum rejects. Vote: 237 for, 2708 against. April 28, 1788: [Maryland](https://www.usconstitution.net/rat_md.html) ratifies. Vote: 63 for, 11 against. May 23, 1788: [South Carolina](https://www.usconstitution.net/rat_sc.html) ratifies. Vote: 149 for, 73 against. June 21, 1788: [New Hampshire](https://www.usconstitution.net/rat_nh.html) ratifies. Vote: 57 for, 47 against. Minimum requirement for ratification met. June 25, 1788: [Virginia](https://www.usconstitution.net/rat_va.html) ratifies. Vote: 89 for, 79 against. July 26, 1788: [New York](https://www.usconstitution.net/rat_ny.html) ratifies. Vote: 30 for, 27 against. August 2, 1788: North Carolina convention adjourns without ratifying by a vote of 185 in favor of adjournment, 84 opposed. November 21, 1789: [North Carolina](https://www.usconstitution.net/rat_nc.html) ratifies. Vote: 194 for, 77 against. May 29, 1790: [Rhode Island](https://www.usconstitution.net/rat_ri.html) ratifies. Vote: 34 for, 32 against. The powers of the legislative branch are as follows: Passes federal laws Controls federal appropriations Approves treaties and presidential appointments Regulates interstate commerce Establishes lower court system The powers of the executive branch are as follows: Enforces laws Commander in chief of armed forces Makes foreign treaties Proposes laws Appoints Supreme Court justices and federal court judges Pardons those convicted in federal court The powers of the judicial branch are as follows: Decides constitutionality of laws Reviews lower court decisions Decides cases involving disputes between states **The Separation of Powers** The three branches of government created by the Constitution are ***executive, legislative, and judicial.*** When the framers of the Constitution met in 1787, they set out to establish a political system that would protect liberty and place limits on government. They also believed a powerful government required a broad popular base. However, they debated how best to protect liberty and how to balance democracy with other concerns. **The framers of the U.S. Constitution spelled out the purpose of government in Constitution's preamble.** The purpose of government - To promote justice - To maintain peace at home - To defend the nation from foreign foes - To provide for the welfare of the citizenry - To secure "the blessings of liberty" https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution According to the **Preamble of the U.S. Constitution**, which of the following is one of the purposes of government is to promote justice and secure the "blessings of liberty" ***We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.*** **When is Thanksgiving? Colonizing America: Crash Course US History \#2** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o69TvQqyGdg&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTYOQ05oDOI&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s) [The Natives and the English - Crash Course](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTYOQ05oDOI&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTYOQ05oDOI&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s **Why Leave** Protestants and Catholics alike thought that uniformity of religion must exist in any given society. This conviction rested on the belief that there was one true religion and that it was the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens. Nonconformists could expect no mercy and might be executed. Majority religious groups who controlled political power punished dissenters. Catholics persecuted Protestants; Protestants persecuted Catholics. Also, criminals and poor workers **Jamestown, Virginia in 1607** (trading post Tabaco) founded in 1607 --Three ships Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery. Chartered in 1606 by King James I, the company also supported English national goals of counterbalancing the expansion of other European nations abroad, seeking a northwest passage to the Orient, and converting the Virginia Indians to the Anglican religion. King gave them a charter to make their own laws. Representative Assembly, a legislature composed of individuals who represented the population. **Plymouth**, Protestants left Great Britain, because after the Bible was translated into King James version, they realized that the Catholic Church was not that separate from the government. So, they decided to go to Holland. In Holland they were treated well, and their kids started saying that they are Dutch and not English. After a period in Holland, they set sail from Plymouth, England (where they received money for the trip), on Sept. 16, 1620, aboard the Mayflower, its 102 passengers. Landed on **Plymouth, Massachusetts**., on Dec. 26, 1620. By legend the Pilgrims stepped ashore (after a storm got them off course of Virginia) at Plymouth Rock. In 1607, a company chartered by the English government sent a group of settlers to establish a trading post, Jamestown, in what is now Virginia. Jamestown was the first permanent English colony in the Americas. The king of England gave the backers of this colony a charter granting them \"full power and authority\" to make laws \"for the good and welfare\" of the settlement. The colonists at Jamestown instituted a representative assembly, a legislature composed of individuals who represented the population, thus setting a precedent in government that was to be observed in later colonial adventures. **Mayflower Compact** The entire trip they were wired about **how they were going to pay back Great Britain**. Then to make matters worse, they were sent off course from **Virginia to Massachusetts.** Concerned about debt and lack of trust for each other to help payoff the debt. **The Mayflower Compact created the first formal government in New England.** The signing of the compact aboard the Mayflower. Signed by 41 men (extreme separatists that wanted to break with the Church of England) on November 21, 1620. Outside of the jurisdiction Virginia Company of London (paid for the trip) was a joint-stock company, which sold shares. All who purchased shares, shared in the success or failure of the venture. The Virginia Company was formed both to bring profit to its shareholders and to establish an English colony in the New World. The compact was drafted to prevent **dissent amongst Puritans and non-separatist Pilgrims** who had landed at Plymouth a few days earlier. Passengers **realized they were outside the bounds of the governmental authority** they had contracted with in England. The compact created a "***Civil Body Politic***" to enact "*just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices."* The compact remained in effect until Plymouth was incorporated into the short-lived Dominion of New England in 1686 and subsequently absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691. **Separatists, the Mayflower, and the Compact** The first New England colony was established in 1620. A group made up in large part of extreme Separatists, who wished to break with the Church of England, came over on the ship Mayflower to the New World, landing at Plymouth (Massachusetts). Before going onshore, the adult males\--women were not considered to have any political status\--drew up the Mayflower Compact, which was signed by forty-one of the forty-four men aboard the ship on November 21, 1620. The reason for the compact was obvious. This group was outside the jurisdiction of the Virginia Company of London, which had chartered its settlement. The Separatist leaders feared that some of the Mayflower passengers might conclude that they were no longer under any obligations of civil obedience. Therefore, some form of public authority was imperative. As William Bradford (one of the Separatist leaders) recalled in his accounts, there were \"discontented and mutinous speeches that some of the strangers \[non-Separatists\] amongst them had let fall from them in the ship; That when they came ashore they would use their own liberties; for none had power to command them.\" **The Significance of the Compact.** The compact was not a constitution. **It was a political statement in which the signers agreed to create and submit to the authority of a government, pending the receipt of a royal charter.** The Mayflower Compact\'s historical and political significance is twofold: it depended on the consent of the affected individuals, and it served as a prototype for similar compacts in American history. By the time of the American Revolution, the compact was well on its way toward achieving mythic status. In 1802, John Quincy Adams, son of the second American president, spoke these words at a founders\' day celebration in Plymouth: \"This is perhaps the only instance in human history of that positive, original social compact, which speculative philosophers have imagined as the only legitimate source of government.\" **Pilgrim Beliefs.** Although the Plymouth settlers\-- later called the Pilgrims\--committed themselves to self- government, in other ways their political ideas were not those that are prevalent today. The new community was a religious colony. Separation of church and state and most of our modern civil liberties were alien to the settlers\' thinking. By the time the U.S. Constitution was written, the nation\'s leaders had a very different vision of the relationship between religion and government. We look at some of the founders\' beliefs in this chapter\'s Politics and Religion feature on the facing page. The first permanent English colonies were established at Jamestown in 1607 and Plymouth in 1620. The Mayflower Compact created the first formal government in New England. Agreed to create and submit to the authority of a government, pending the receipt of a royal charter. Significance of compact, consent of individuals and prototype for other compacts. After got off the boat in Plymouth, Massachusetts, an entire tribe of Indians had just died due to famine and disease. Fortunately, the Indians had already tilled the ground and got the crop ready. All they have to do was sit back and wait until the harvest came in. **During the first half of the 1700s, Britain ruled its American colonies with a light hand** - This relationship changed when the British government accumulated debt. - This **debt came from waging the French and Indian War** - Britain had to continue to protect the colonies. **In 1763, British Parliament began passing laws that treated colonies as unit.** The British ruled with a light hand and exerted a strong influence only in the largest colonial cities. **Laws used to raise revenue to help pay off war debt.** **French and Indian Wars (1756--1763),** Also known as the **Seven Years' War**, this New World conflict marked another chapter in the long imperial struggle between **Britain and France.** What led British officials to raise taxes on the American colonists during the 1760s, deficit that was incurred as a result of the ***French and Indian War.*** **When France's expansion into the Ohio River valley brought repeated conflict with the claims of the British colonies, a series of battles led to the official British declaration of war in 1756**. Boosted by the financing of future Prime Minister William Pitt, the British turned the tide with victories at Louisbourg, Fort Frontenac and the French-Canadian stronghold of Quebec. **At the 1763 peace conference, the British received the territories of Canada from France and Florida from Spain, opening the Mississippi Valley to westward expansion.** http://www.history.com/topics/french-and-indian-war/videos *The British helped radicalize colonists through bad policy decisions in the years before the Revolution. For example, Britain gave the ailing East India Company a monopoly on the tea trade in the American colonies. Colonists feared the monopoly would hurt colonial merchants' business and protested by throwing East India Company tea into Boston Harbor in 1773.* During the first half of the eighteenth century, Britain ruled its American colonies with alight hand. Evidence of British rule was hardly to be found outside the largest towns, and the enterprising colonists had found ways of evading most of the taxes nominally levied by the distant British regime.  **Some leaders questioned the Articles' soundness** **[Foreign Affairs]**: Under the Articles, they were unable to enforce treaties. **[Economic Matters]**: Currency inflation hurt business; land redistribution policies angered property owners. Opponents of the Articles meet in Annapolis in 1786. Delegates from five states attended the Annapolis Convention. The decision was made to meet one year later in **Philadelphia.** ***The Land Ordinance of 1785*** was significant because it established the principles of land surveying and landownership that governed America's westward expansion. ***Annapolis Convention*,** to discuss revamping the Articles of Confederation. - Delegates from five states attended. In the winter of 1787, Daniel Shays led a makeshift army against the federal arsenal at Springfield to protest heavy taxes levied by the Massachusetts legislature. The rebellion proved that the Articles of Confederation were too weak to protect the fledgling nation. **Edmund Randolph of Virginia offered a resolution proposing what became known as the "Virginia Plan"?** Calls for a system of representation based on - State population, the proportion of each state's revenue contribution to national government, or both Opponents claimed the plan was biased in favor of the large states. - Proposed the [New Jersey Plan]: each state was to have equal representation. The Virginia Plan proposed a system of representation in the national legislature that was based upon the population of each state or the proportion of each state's revenue contribution, or both. Delaware, Connecticut, and New York oppose the Virginia Plan, They feared that large states would dominate the new government if representation were to be determined by population as stipulated by the Virginia Plan. ***New Jersey Plan*** propose for Congress, representation would be equal for each state. **The Connecticut, or Great, Compromise bridged the differences between the Virginia Plan and the dew Jersey Plan** The Great Compromise created a bicameral legislature. [The House]: representatives apportioned by the population in the state. [The Senate]: the states have equal representation, regardless of population. Despite the Founders' emphasis on liberty, the new Constitution allowed slavery, counting each slave as three-fifths of a person in apportioning seats in the House of Representatives. In this 1792 painting, *Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences*, the books, instruments, and classical columns at the left contrast with the kneeling slaves at the right---illustrating the divide between America's rhetoric of liberty and equality and the realities of slavery.  **In Article I, the Constitution provided for a Congress consisting of two chambers (bicameral)** House and Senate - Different term lengths (**two years in the House**, **six years in the Senate)** - Senate designed to guard against "excessive democracy." - Senate alone given power to ratify treaties and approve presidential appointments. - House given sole power to originate revenue bills. **Bicameralism i**s a constitutional principle that means the division of Congress into two chambers. - Framers design to be directly elected by the people, a **U.S. Representative** - The sole power to create revenue bills, the House of Representatives - Direct election of senators was instituted with the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. Recall as you discuss institutions and structure, many students may have limited or no familiarity with these topics. Illustrations in this set of slides (and in the textbook) can be useful in examining the organization, authority, and limits associated with each branch. **Section 8 of Article I list the powers of Congress** Congress has the authority to - Collect taxes - Borrow money - Regulate commerce - Declare war - Maintain an army and navy Framers attempt to reassure citizens that their views would be represented in the new government created by the Constitution, by defining the new government's most important powers, such as collecting taxes, borrowing money, and regulating commerce, as belonging to Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House has the power to originate revenue bills while the Senate does not. The Constitution expressly grants which of the following powers to Congress to regulate interstate commerce. The decision to give the national government control over interstate commerce and finance was motivated primarily by the framers' desire to promote economic development and protect property from radical state legislatures. The framers designed the Senate to be a check against excessive democracy by the Senators were originally appointed by state legislatures. **Congress has expressed powers and implied powers** **[Expressed Powers]** - Specific powers granted by the Constitution to Congress and the president. **[Implied Powers/ Elastic Clause]** - Also known as the **necessary and proper** clause or the elastic clause of the Constitution - It provides Congress with the authority to make all laws "necessary and proper" to carry out its enumerated powers. The expressed powers of Congress are listed in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. In order to signify that the enumerated powers were meant to be a source of strength to the national government and not a limitation on it, the framers of the Constitution included the elastic clause in the Constitution. **The Elastic Clause or "necessary and proper"** and the **Tenth Amendment**, two constitutional provisions have been at the heart of constitutional struggles between federal and state powers throughout American history. **Elastic Clause: **Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution (also known as the necessary and proper clause), which enumerates the powers of Congress and provides Congress with the authority to make all laws "necessary and proper" to carry them out. **Constitution provided for the establishment of a presidency in Article II** [Executive Branch Powers/ The President] - negotiate treaties (with approval of the Senate) - grant reprieves and pardons - appoint major departmental personnel - **veto congressional enactments** The president's power to veto a bill passed by Congress is a good example of checks and balances. According to Article II of the U.S. Constitution, the president has the power to officially recognize other nations. The electoral college is designed to select the president of the United States. The framers of the U.S. Constitution intended to create a presidency capable of withstanding excessive democratic popular pressure by making it subject to indirect election through the electoral college. Again, the framers wanted various elected officials accountable to different constituencies. **The Constitution provided for establishment of the judicial branch in Article III** The judicial branch - This branch includes the Supreme Court of the United States - It has the power to resolve conflicts between federal and state laws. - Judges are given lifetime appointments. - The Supreme Court assumed the power of judicial review (the power to declare laws unconstitutional) Federal judges are appointed by the president and mu