Wednesday, 9/10

Today we picked up where we left off in our notes. We are in the second half of chapter 3.

In the final product, the Constitution:

1) has a preamble with 4 elements that serve as the basis of American political tradition:

A) the Constitution creates "a people" and a federation from a loose confederation of states

B) the Preamble explains that the reason for the Constitution was to correct the inadequacy of the Articles of Confederation

C) it articulates a set of goals: the promotion of order and freedom

D) it fashions a government

2) the Constitution has 4 basic principles:

A) republicanism

B) federalism

C) separation of powers

D) checks and balances

-limited government is a possible 5th principle

3) the structure of the Constitution includes details about government:

A) Article I describes the legislative government; most detailed of all articles; exresses principle of enumerated powers such as the powers to declare war, to tax, and to regulate trade; necessary and proper clause

B) Article II describes qualifications for president, procedures for electing president, and president's duties and powers

C) Article III creates the supreme court and describes its powers

D) Articles IV-VII cover a lot of ground:

1) article IV requires that each state give full faith and credit to the judicial acts, criminal warrants, and contracts of other states. Also allows addition of new states.

2) article V specifies the amendment process

3) article VI contains the supremacy clause, which asserts that the constitution and national laws made in accordance with it take precedence over state and local laws when they conflict

4) article VII provides that ratification by convention in 9 states shall be sufficient to establish the constitution

-although not mentioned by name, slavery was an issue in the convention. Nearly 18% of the population lived in slavery. Opponents of slavery were in the minority and it is unlikely that the constitution would have been ratified if the issue of the future of slavery had had to be resolved at the convention.

1) a 3/5 compromise dealt with representation in the house

2) it was agreed that the slave trade would not be ended before 20 years' time

3) fugitive slaves were to be returned to their master

-the constitution had to be ratified by the states. The proponents of the Constitution called themselves Federalists. Madison, Hamilton, and Jay wrote the Federalist Papers arguing for ratification.

1) in Federalist No. 10, Madison argued that the purpose of the constitution was to break and control the violence of factions

-the violence stemmed from inequality of wealth

-demonstrated that the proposed government wasn't likely to be dominated by any particular faction