Consider: Which motive do you believe most accounts for the drafting of the Constitution?

Homework: Assignment 6 for Wednesday; Collaborize for Wed

"Apple is sprucing up the iPhone. Tomorrow you can get the new iPhone 6. The iPhone 6 is a lot like President Obama's hair. Every year it's lighter and thinner." –David Letterman

"Apple plans to launch a mobile wallet to replace credit cards. That's good because if there's one company you want to trust with your money, it's the company that leaked your nude photos." –Conan O'Brien

"Vladimir Putin said today he hopes to have a Ukrainian peace deal by Friday. He's reached out the olive branch. And if there's no peace deal by Friday, Putin said, 'I will crush Ukraine like bug under boot.'" –Craig Ferguson

"Texas Senator Ted Cruz has invited President Obama to play golf on the U.S.-Mexico border. Cruz thought it was a funny way to point out problems the president hasn't fixed yet. While Obama said, 'So are we playing or not?'" –Jimmy Fallon

The Constitutional Convention

The Miracle at Philadelphia

At the convention

All states represented except Rhode Island◦Sent delegations of multiple members◦55 men total – Franklin was oldest

Some notable absences:◦Thomas Jefferson was in France◦Patrick Henry refused to attend, as he “smelt a rat”

The proceedings◦George Washington elected presiding officer, but he

spoke little during the proceedings◦Madison was secretary, and his Notes is best source of

what was said ◦Rule of secrecy adopted early on; why?◦At the outset, VA plan presented; NJ plan countered, and

NY plan was also presented (Hamilton/British plan)◦Lasted from May 25th to September 17th, 1787

Consider: How did the VA plan shape the debate at the beginning of the convention?

Homework: Assignment 6 for Wednesday

Major Debates/Topics at the Convention

Opening: VA Plan How did this set the tone for the convention? How might the “council of revision” reflect an implicit call for the power of judicial

review of legislative acts?

The Response: The NJ Plan How was more in line with the original goal of the convention?

The NY Plan? Hamilton’s “2 cents”… Madison's notes: "It will be objected probably, that [an Executive for life] will be an

elective Monarch, and will give birth to the tumults which characterize that form of Gov[ernmen]t. He w[oul]d reply that Monarch is an indefinite term. It marks not either the degree or duration of power. If the Executive Magistrate wd. be a monarch for life--the other prop[ose]d by the Report . . . wd. be a Monarch for seven years.“

The Great Compromise (and the 3/5ths)?◦ How did these contribute to a “spirit of accommodation?”

The Executive: major arguments?

The Judiciary: the ugly stepchild?

Questions unaddressed/avoided? Why? Slavery, judicial review, Bill of Rights

The Structure of the Constitution7 Articles, longest is the first (legislative)

◦Article I, II and III: Institutions of the National Government

◦Article IV: Relations Among the States

◦Article V: Amendment Process

◦Article VI: Supremacy Clause

◦Article VII: Ratification Process

How do the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution compare to one another? 2.4

Video: The Big Picture

http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/polisci/presidency/OConner_Ch02_The_Constitution_Seg1_v2.html

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Consider: Why do you think the motives of the Framers are questioned by some political scientists?

Homework: Assignment 7 for Friday

Motives of the Framers: Comparing PerspectivesSocial Order - Economic Interests – Political Pragmatism –Republican Values –

What are the differences between these perspectives?

“A Reform Caucus In Action” “The Constitution, then, was not an apotheosis of

‘constitutionalism’, a triumph of architectonic genius; it was a patch-work sewn together under the pressure of both time and events by a group of extremely talented democratic politicians.”

“Yet, while the shades of Locke and Montesquieu may have been hovering in the background, and the delegates may have been unconscious instruments of a transcendent telos, the careful observer of the day-to-day work of the convention finds no overarching principles. The ‘separation of powers’ to him seems to be a by-product of suspicion, and ‘federalism’ he views as a pis aller (final recourse/last resort), as the farthest point the delegates thought they could go in the destruction of state power without themselves inviting repudiation.