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Chapter 2
- 1. Lecture Slides AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY FIFTH EDITION By Bianco Canon Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company
- 2. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION American Politics Today Chapter 2 The Constitution and the Founding
- 3. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Constitution and the Founding
- 4. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Constitution and the Founding: The Framers of the Constitution
- 5. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Why Did We Need a Constitution?: Time Line
- 6. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Political Theories of the Founders
- 7. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Key Principles among the Founders • Popular control of government • Rejection of monarchy • Limits on government power
- 8. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Human Nature and Its Implications for Democracy • The framers viewed humans as naturally self-interested. • Governments must productively channel this self-interest. • Governments must also be able to handle majority factions.
- 9. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Economic Interests and the Founders
- 10. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Comparing the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution
- 11. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Politics of Compromise at the Constitutional Convention • Majority rule versus minority rights • Large states versus small states • Legislative versus executive power • National versus state and local power • Slave states versus nonslave states
- 12. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Majority Rule versus Minority Rights
- 13. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Small States versus Large States • Virginia Plan (favoring large states) • New Jersey Plan (favoring small states) • Outcome: Great Compromise
- 14. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Votes at the Constitutional Convention
- 15. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Legislative versus Executive Power • How much power should the president have relative to the legislative branch? • How many members should there be in executive branch? • How should the president be selected?
- 16. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION National Power versus State Power • National government too weak under Articles of Confederation • Many still feared a tyrannical national government. • The compromise was federalism.
- 17. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Slave States versus Nonslave States
- 18. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Slave States versus Nonslave States (cont’d) • Restriction of slavery in future • Treatment of runaway slaves • How to count slave population
- 19. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Ratification
- 20. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Constitutional Framework • Exclusive powers • Powers given specifically to one branch • Shared powers • Powers shared between branches • Checking powers • Powers of one branch over another
- 21. The president can veto congressional legislation. The president nominates judges. The Court interprets actions by the executive branch. The Court interprets the laws passed by Congress. The Senate approves presidential nominations, and Congress can pass laws over the president’s veto. The Senate confirms the president’s judicial nominations. Congress can impeach and remove judges from office. How it works: in theory
- 22. So... He said... But then... It’s still a problem. New idea. Nope. Sounds like a plan. Plan blocked. Sigh. How it works: in practice
- 23. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Constitution: A Framework for Government
- 24. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Ambiguity
- 25. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Changing the Constitution
- 26. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Amending the Constitution
- 27. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Amendments Introduced in Congress That Did Not Pass
- 28. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Public Opinion Poll: Q1 Do you believe the U.S. Constitution written at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 was driven more by noble principles or political self-interests? a. driven primarily by noble principles b. driven primarily by political self-interests c. a mix of noble principles and political self-interests
- 29. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Public Opinion Poll: Q2 How would you characterize a contemporary group of political leaders who declare their independence and call for an armed revolution in response to their dissatisfaction with government taxes and representation? a. patriots b. terrorists c. neither
- 30. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Public Opinion Poll: Q3 Considering the current number of amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the number of amendments that have failed, and the stability of our Constitution, do you believe the process for amending the U.S. Constitution is too difficult, about right, or too easy? a. too difficult b. about right c. too easy
- 31. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Public Opinion Poll: Q4 How do you believe the Founding Fathers would view the contemporary U.S. government? a.strongly approve b.approve, but with some concerns c.disapprove d.strongly disapprove
- 32. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Additional Information Following this slide, you will find additional slides with photos, figures, and captions from the textbook.
- 33. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Constitution: The Battle of Cold Harbor
- 34. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Constitution: Washington’s Army
- 35. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION A Living Constitution?: “The Looking Glass for 1787”
- 36. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Constitution: Political Cartoon
- 37. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Constitution and the Founding: Washington
- 38. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Constitution and the Founding: Merrick Garland
- 39. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Constitution and the Founding: Demonstrators against the NSA
- 40. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION Founding Fathers: Alexander Hamilton
- 41. Copyright © 2017, W. W. Norton & Company AMERICAN POLITICS TODAY, FIFTH EDITION The Constitution as a Living Document
Editor's Notes
- Supporters of the Tea Party movement think the federal government has overstepped the powers granted to it by the Constitution. Here, a Tea Party activist holds up a copy of the Constitution to emphasize that point. Throughout American history, debates over the meaning of the Constitution have persisted. #TeaParty
- The Founders wanted to create a constitution that was general enough to stand the test of time. Their approach succeeded, and the U.S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution still in use today. However, by leaving some passages open to interpretation they also set the stage for conflict over the meaning of the Constitution. This painting depicts the signing of the document at the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
- The sequence of important events leading to independence and the writing and ratification of the Constitution.
- Seventeenth-century political philosopher John Locke greatly influenced the Founders. Many ideas discussed in Locke’s writing appear in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
- As outlined in the Declaration of Independence, the new government in America would be based on equality, self-rule, and natural rights. These concepts not only guided the decision to revolt against Britain, but also upheld the responsibility to fix the Articles of Confederation. That is, politicians—the framers—have a continuing obligation to make sure the needs of the people are met.
- James Madison, writing in The Federalist Papers, no. 10, speaks eloquently about the problem of factions: “A number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common . . . interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” But what are factions? Factions are groups of like-minded people who try to influence the government. Often they try to dominate the government. American government is set up to avoid domination by any one of these groups. Why do factions exist? There are many reasons, including differences of opinion; errors in reason; differences in wealth, property, or native abilities; and attachment to different leaders. Madison saw two ways to eliminate the deleterious effects of factions, but only one that would work: since “liberty is to faction as air is to fire,” one solution would be to eliminate liberty. This has obvious problems. A second way would be merely control factions by making sure that there were many of them and no one would grow too powerful—a powerful argument for creating a strong national government. In The Federalist Papers, no. 51, Madison eloquently states, “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” The framers tried hard to harness humanity’s proclivities toward self-interest in the name of creating a more durable government.
- The economic context of the American Founding had an important impact on the framing of the Constitution. Most Americans worked on small farms or as artisans or business owners, which meant that economic power was broadly distributed. This woodcut shows New York City around the time the Constitution was written, viewed from upper Manhattan.
- Remember that one of the “Big Lessons” of this book is that political process matters! So it’s not surprising that many of our most important debates took place in 1787. (But there are obviously still very important debates going on today—e.g., gay marriage.) In developing our country’s basic rules, also known as the Constitution, there were already the beginnings of factions based on competing interests. The tensions that the framers had to overcome were Majority rule versus minority rights Large states versus small states Legislative versus executive power (e.g., how do we choose an executive?) National versus state and local power Slave states versus nonslave states The following slides outline each tension.
- James Madison argued that it is beneficial to put the interests of one group in competition with the interests of other groups, so that no one group can dominate government. He hoped to achieve this through the separation of powers across different branches of the national government and across the national, state, and local levels.
- Virginia Plan: a plan proposed by the larger states during the Constitutional Convention, in which representation in the national legislature was based on population. The plan also included a variety of other proposals to strengthen the national government. New Jersey Plan: in response to the Virginia Plan, smaller states at the Constitutional Convention proposed that each state should receive equal representation in the national legislature, regardless of size. The Great Compromise: a compromise between the large and small states, proposed by Connecticut, in which Congress would have two houses: a Senate with two legislators per state and a House of Representatives in which each state’s representation would be based on population (also known as the Connecticut Compromise).
- WHAT DO THE NUMBERS SAY? Connecticut’s Pivotal Place at the Constitutional Convention Though there were many disagreements over the details of America’s new constitution, one of the most intense focused on how states would be represented in Congress, either allocating representatives equally or based on population. After other plans were considered and rejected, the Connecticut Compromise won out. But why Connecticut? What do the numbers say? At first glance, the Connecticut Compromise seems to make perfect sense: as the seventh of 13 states in terms of population, Connecticut was positioned to offer a compromise that would appeal to both large and small states. But it actually was much more complicated. First, Rhode Island did not attend the convention, so there was no true median state (with only 12 states at the convention, no one stood alone at the center). Second, given that each state had one vote at the convention, the smallest states could have easily outvoted the biggest ones and insisted on equal representation for each state. Why didn’t the smaller states impose their view? Two of the smaller states, Georgia and South Carolina, focused on their future growth, so they supported representation based on population, the Virginia Plan. But when other smaller states balked at their loss of power, the Connecticut Compromise was able to win the support of North Carolina (and Massachusetts’s delegates were divided), so the compromise passed 5-4-1. Despite this more complex picture, an analysis of all 569 votes at the Constitutional Convention clearly shows that Connecticut occupied a pivotal place at the convention. Connecticut was in the middle in terms of desire for representation based on population and in terms of desire for more state power. Connecticut’s right in the center of this graph—no wonder they could broker a compromise!
- Other questions include “How long should an executive serve?” and “Should there be one executive or three?” The Federalists, who favored a strong executive, thought that legislatures were too slow and unwieldy and favored having “energy in the executive” so that a leader with strong “prerogative powers” could do the people’s business in the case of crisis. The Antifederalists thought this was a blank check for power. Madison came up with a compromise that allowed for a single executive— to better counteract the legislature—while specifically enumerating all powers in the Constitution. As for electing the presidents, the compromise that was reached gave us the electoral college, where each state’s vote is based on its number of representatives and senators. Once again, this reflected a compromise between those who wanted the president to be selected by Congress (more similar to the parliamentary system discussed next) and those who wanted direct election. The presidential system is in strong contrast to the parliamentary system that exists in most other democracies. A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the legislative and executive power are closely joined. The legislature (parliament) selects the chief executive (prime minister), who forms the cabinet from members of the parliament.
- Federalism - the American system of divided power between autonomous levels of government that control different areas of policy. Almost all important areas of dispute in American politics from the early days to today—from apportionment of legislative seats, slavery, regulation of commerce and taxation, to amending the Constitution—involve federalism. Later we will spend a whole chapter on Federalism, but for now let’s look at two key terms: The national supremacy clause of the Constitution is part of Article VI, Section 2, which states that the Constitution is “the supreme Law of the Land.” This means that national laws take precedence over state laws if the two conflict. However, in a compromise with the Antifederalists, the first 10 amendments of the Constitution outline a Bill of Rights that protects individual rights and liberties. Of these, the Tenth Amendment states that all powers not delegated by the Constitution are reserved to the states and to the people. How strict is the Tenth Amendment? How much does it constrain what the federal government can do? This is a big issue even today. For instance, some political leaders, including state attorneys general, argued that the recently enacted Affordable Care Act (health care reform) was unconstitutional because the federal government cannot require citizens to purchase health care; only states would be entitled to do that. The Supreme Court did not agree with that reasoning, however.
- A slave auction in Virginia. Slavery proved problematic at the Constitutional Convention: Would there be limits on the importation of slaves? How would runaway slaves be dealt with by nonslave states? And how would slaves be counted for the purposes of congressional representation?
- The southern states would not agree to any provision limiting slavery, which made resolving disagreements difficult. Convention delegates used two forms of compromise to broker a deal: splitting the difference and logrolling. To count the slave population, the framers essentially split the difference. For the purposes of determining a state’s tax burden, and for allocating seats in the House of Representatives, slaves were determined to count as three-fifths of a person. To address whether runaway slaves should be returned or not and whether the government could restrict slavery in the future, the northern states traded votes—or logrolled—with the South. The South got its way on slavery, but the North won support for a change on a different issue: congressional power to regulate commerce and tax imports.
- Congressional exclusive powers include: Raise revenue via taxing and borrowing Regulate commerce Coin money Establish roads, patents, and copyrights Declare war Control the “purse” The necessary and proper clause, also known as the elastic clause, which gives Congress the ability to stretch its powers In theory, the executive branch has many fewer powers than Congress: However, the executive power “shall be vested” in the president, a phrase presidents have used to argue for greater executive power in recent administrations. (See also Chapter 11 on the presidency.) Commander-in-chief Ensures that laws are “faithfully executed.” (Discuss the ways that the executive branch has grown through the establishment of a permanent bureaucracy, the accretion of rules and regulations in the Federal Register, etc.) Finally, there is the Judicial Branch (Article III), which has only six paragraphs devoted to it in the Constitution. In fact, the Constitution does not explicitly mention judicial review, which is the key power currently used by the Supreme Court.
- Congress alone has “the power of the purse” to fund government programs. Although President Obama ordered the “troop surge” in Afghanistan, Congress had to continue appropriating money to pay for the war.
- The Eighth Amendment’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishments” is generally viewed as excluding capital punishment, but the execution of juveniles and the mentally impaired has been found unconstitutional. This picture shows the electric chair in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.
- Amending the Constitution is difficult and can be controversial. Some amendments that are widely accepted today, like the Nineteenth Amendment giving women the right to vote, were intensely debated prior to their ratification.
- This flowchart shows how amendments to the Constitution can be proposed and ratified and the frequency with which each method has been used. Interestingly, the president is not a part of the formal process of amending the Constitution.
- Many proposed constitutional amendments have almost no chance of passing. Indeed, most of those listed here did not even make it to the floor of the House or Senate for a vote. Why do you think a member of Congress would propose an amendment that he or she knew would fail?
- Union and Confederate troops clash in close combat in the Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia, in June 1864. The inability of the framers to resolve the issue of slavery allowed tensions over the issue to grow throughout the early nineteenth century, culminating in the Civil War.
- Under the Articles of Confederation, the weak national government was unable to raise enough money from the states to support American troops in the Revolutionary War. General George Washington’s men lacked food, clothing, and sufficient arms and munitions until they were assisted by the French.
- This engraving by Amos Doolittle titled The Looking Glass for 1787 satirizes some of the issues raised in the debate over the ratification of the Constitution. The wagon in the center is carrying Connecticut and sinking into the mud under the weight of debts and paper money as “Federalists” and “Antifederalists” try to pull it out.
- This political cartoon from 1788 depicts the erection of the “eleventh pillar of the great national dome” when New York became the eleventh state to ratify the Constitution, leaving only North Carolina and Rhode Island (shown as still wobbling in this cartoon) to ratify the document.
- This painting, which hangs in the Capitol rotunda, shows General George Washington resigning his commission as commander in chief of the Continental Army. This set the precedent that democratically elected officials would control the U.S. military.
- The president and the Senate share the appointment power to many federal offices: the president makes the nominations, and the Senate provides its “advice and consent.” The nomination of Merrick Garland (pictured here at left) to the Supreme Court was stopped by Republican Senate leaders who decided to allow the next president to fill the vacancy on the Court.
- The Constitution attempts to strike a balance between protecting our civil liberties from government intrusion and providing for a government strong enough to protect our national security. There has been much controversy around revelations that the National Security Administration (NSA) has used electronic surveillance to gather data about people living in the United States. Information about this program was leaked by Edward Snowden, a staffer at the NSA. #StopWatchingUs
- Alexander Hamilton authored a majority of the Federalist Papers and was a strong advocate for ratification of the Constitution.
- There is a vigorous debate among justices of the Supreme Court as to whether the Constitution is a living document or should be interpreted more strictly according to the original intent of the framers.