Chapter 2 Notes

Mrs. Ladson

AP Gov’t

Declaration of Independence

• Presented in July 1776

• Written by Jefferson approved by Continental Congress

• Written like a lawyer’s brief

• Introduction discusses social compact (contract) theory

• List of grievances involve political liberties

American Revolution

• Colonists– Thought laws should reflect unalienable rights– Most were self-employed and had property– Politically motivated more than economic

• Uniqueness of the American Revolution– Focus was on political liberty– Lost confidence in the British government

Articles of Confederation• First “Constitution”1781-1787

– “League of friendship” between the states– Each state had one vote- 9 out of 13 votes needed to pass any measure– Unanimous vote to amend

• Weak/ Didn’t work because:– No power to tax – couldn’t fund nat’l Gov.– No army to defend states/stop rebellion– No regulation of commerce– Lacked effective national courts and a strong executive– Difficult to make laws because reps wouldn’t show up and

hard to get 9/13 votes– Difficult to amend because you needed an unanimous vote– *Refer to additional worksheet on this topic.

Other influences on the Current US Constitution

• British political documents– Bill of Rights– Various charters & traditions

• Political philosophers– John Locke (consent of the governed)– Montesquieu (separation of powers in 3 branches)

• State constitutions in the 1770’s and 1780’s– Ex – Virginia’s State Constitution

• Failures/Weaknesses of Articles of Confederation

• Events such as Shay’s Rebellion (April 1786)

State Constitutions 1780’s

• PA– Most democratic in nature but in practice

became too strong – One unicameral Assembly– No governor or president

• Weak exec. council

– Too tyrannical, • disfranchised Quakers• Ignored trial by juries• Manipulated the judiciary

State Constitutions of 1780’s

• Massachusetts– Separation of powers between branches– Directly elected Governor who had veto

power over Legislature– Judges served for life– Main officeholders had to be Christian– In practice ended up being too weak by itself

(without a national gov’t)• Shay’s Rebellion

Virginia Constitution• Written about the same time as the

Declaration of Independence

• Contained a “Bill of Rights”

• Main writers were James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and George Mason

Constitutional Convention in 1787 Philadelphia

• Originally to revise the Articles of Confederation

• Instability motivated delegates from the states to attend (Shay’s Rebellion)

• Virginia delegation presented an entirely new government plan to be debated– Arrived first and were able to frame the

debate from the beginning

Virginia Plan

• First one presented at the Const. Convention• James Madison’s ideas • 3 branches (judicial, executive, leg.)• Leg. – 2 houses – both based on state pop.

(thus favored by larger pop. states)• Executive chosen by nat’l leg. (like a

parliamentary system)• Council of Revision (immediate judicial review)

could reject laws immediately

New Jersey Plan

• Amend Articles of Confederation not replace them

• Each state has one vote

• Favored by small states

Great Compromise

• Bicameral legislature – Lower house elected by people and based on

population (originally one per 30,000 but now is around 700,000 )

– Upper house equal rep. per state (2)

Federalists

• Favored the ratification of the new Constitution

• James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay are among them

• Wanted strong national government

Federalist Papers

• Written to motivate New Yorkers to ratify the new Constitution in 1787

• James Madison, Alexander Hamiliton, John Jay wrote them under the name Publius

• Today it serves as an explanation for the Constitution

• We will do the following this year: (AP only)– #10 –factions & how a strong nat’l gov’t can control

them– # 51- separation of powers in branches– #78 – power of Supreme Court

Anti-Federalists

• “States-righters” afraid of a strong nat’l govt• Felt liberty could only be protected by small gov’t

close to the people.• Fears

– Heavy taxes– Supreme Court would overrule state courts– President would head a large nat’l army that would

get us into many unnecessary wars

* Most of these have come true

Ratifying the Constitution

• Constitutional Convention approved the final draft in Sept 1787 by all 12 states present in Philadelphia

• 9 out of 13 states had to ratify it in special state conventions voted on by the people

• Completed and implemented by 1789

Main Concepts of the Constitution

• Separation of powers– 3 main branches

• Checks and balances for each branch

• Federalism– Separation of power among state and national

power

• Limited Government

Structure of the Constitution

• Preamble• Article I – Legislative branch• Article II – Executive• Article III – Judicial• Article IV – state issues such as protection of

national gov’t to each state• Article V – Amending the Constitution• Article VI – Supremacy of Federal law over state

law, no religious test for officials, etc.• Article VII – Ratification procedure

Structure of the Constitution

• Amendments 1-10 Bill of Rights added in 1791

• Amendments 11-27 added over course of US History

Powers of Congress(enumerated in Article I, section 8)

– Creation of laws and policies– Collection of taxes (improved with Amend 16)– Regulation of commerce– Coining of money– Declare war– Create courts– Create army and navy– Necessary and proper Clause

Power to Regulate Interstate Commerce

• This clause has expanded the power of the national government more than any other words in the US Constitution– Virtually all commerce is interstate these days– Used to control states in their reserved

powers• Example – Civil Rights amendment controlled

education due to education’s connection to the workforce

Necessary and Proper Clause

• Art. 1, section 8

• Also called the “elastic clause”

• Gives Congress power to do other things that are tied to their enumerated powers

• Examples –– Congress can have a draft because they have the

power to “raise an army”– Congress can create a bank and effect monetary

policy due to its powers to print money and regulate commerce

Other Legal Terms/Rights in the Articles of the Constitution

• Writ of Habeas Corpus • Bill of Attainder• Ex post facto• Trial by jury• Equality of rights throughout country• No religious test for office• No law impairing obligation to contracts

may be passed.

• Habeas Corpus – Latin for “we have the body”– If you are thrown in jail/detained indefinitely by

police, military or other government agency without a trial, your family or lawyer can issue a writ of habeas corpus to force you to be brought before an independent judge who reviews your case to see if your detention is lawful

– Basically it is a check on executive power and forces police, etc to bring accused before a judge to see if the police action/detention is lawful.

Habeas Corpus Cont’d• Can be suspended during times of rebellion or invasion

according to US Constitution• Recent legal Questions that have arisen from this:

– Does this apply to non-citizens too?– What is a rebellion or invasion? Does 9/11 count?– Examples when habeas corpus was suspended:

• Lincoln during Civil War• Bush administration just after 9/11 and Guantanamo

Bay (although the Supreme Court ruled against the Bush administration and ordered Gitmo detainees to have habeas corpus rights too)

• Ex Post Facto – You can’t be charged for a crime after the fact. Meaning if your actions were not illegal at the time of your actions, police can’t go back and arrest you for your past actions. – Examples:

• Drinking age change • Texting while driving

• Bill of Attainder – declaring an act illegal without a judicial trial– Limits trials by executive or legislative

branches and is a protection of trial by jury rights in a judicial setting.

– Limits abuse of executive and legislative branches.

•http://www.constitution.org/mil/lmr/lmr.htm

•Letter of Marque and Reprisal – basically it is when the government gives permission to people/s to go after enemies of the state legally. •States can’t issue these according to the US Constitution

Important Clauses - Federalism

• Article IV– Full faith and Credit– Privileges and Immunities– Extradition– Fugitive slave

• Article VI– Supremacy– No religious tests but all elected officials (local,

state, and national must swear an oath to uphold the US Constitution

Amending the Constitution (Formal) from Article V

• Propose – 2/3 of both houses of Congress – 2/3 of state legislatures ask Congress to call a

national convention to propose amendments

• Ratifying– ¾ of state legislatures approve it– Ratifying conventions in ¾ of the states

approve it

Bill of Rights

• Added shortly after original ratification in 1791• Not originally added

– Legal rights were already in Articles of the US Constitution

– Most states had bill of rights in state constitutions– Framers thought they were creating a gov’t with

specific limited powers– Framers were afraid if they did list rights, then rights

left out would be forbidden

Slavery in the Constitution

• Did not abolish slavery in order to keep southern state support

• 3/5 of slaves were counted in US Census– Gave South more reps (and votes) in House– Gave South more Electoral Votes in Presidential

Elections

• Escaped slaves had to be returned to owners• Slave trade would become illegal after 1808 but

slavery would be allowed to continue

Women in the Constitution

• Left out – yes!

– Article I states that only people allowed to vote in state legislative elections were allowed to participate in elections of the House of Representatives. (No state allowed women to voted for state legislatures)

• Left out – no!

– The non-gender specific words citizen, persons, people were used throughout the Constitution

– When “he” was used it always referred back to a non-gender specific word such as person or citizen

– The word HE legally meant male and female at the time.

Checks and Balances in US Constitution

• Examples– President checks on Congress

• presidential veto of legislation.• Commander-in-chief of the military

– Congress can check the President• Veto override vote (2/3 of Congress)• Approval of treaties• Approval of nominees for executive leaders such as cabinet

members and heads of executive agencies such as the EPA, FCC, Federal Reserve board

• Approval of ambassadors• Controls military budget

• Review page 29 in gray text for full details

How the original Constitution has been changed …

• Electoral College Procedures (12th)• Method of counting people for House of Rep.

(ending with 13 amendment which abolished slavery)

• Beg. of federal terms moved form March to January (20th amendment)

• Election of Senators (17th amendment)• Federal income tax system (16th amendment)• Line of succession for president (25th amendment)

Line of succession for president

1. Vice President (Joe Biden)

2. Speaker of the House of Representatives (will be John Boehner (R)- OH)

3. President pro tempore of the Senate (Daniel Inouye (D)-HI)

4. Secretary of State (Hillary Clinton)

5. Secretary of the Treasury (Timothy Geitner)

Clarified by Amendment 25 and law passed by Congress.

Modern Constitutional Reform Movements

• Proposals to reduce separation of powers– Examples:

• allow president to select a member of congress to also be in the cabinet

• have the president to serve one six year term with the thought they will lead without worrying about re-election.

• giving more power to the executive to handle crisis situations• allow the president to dissolve Congress and call for a

special election.• Congress can call a special vote on the president prior to

end of term (recall)• Lengthen the terms of members of the House from 2 to 4

years elected the same year as the president

Modern Constitutional Reform Movements

• Government Should Do Less – Current federal gov’t does too much for too

many interest groups– “Adding machine” analogy that never looks at

the total spent– Balanced Budget should be mandatory– Limit on taxes collected– Line-item veto given to president to reduce

federal spending

Other ideas

• Remove presidential pardon power

• Term limits for congress members

• Term limits for federal judges

• Your ideas?????????????????