POLI 325D1 Lecture Notes - Montesquieu, Founding Fathers Of The United States
Document Summary
The american founding must be understood in the context of the emergence of the. Hobbes vs. locke debate absolute gov"t and human nature democracy and representative gov"t. Nsa spying separation of powers an example of some loss of enlightenment ideals tension between nat"l security and individual liberty. Antagonism between federalists and anti-federalists was quite intense after the text of the. Did they have anything in common? federalists anti-federalists representative democracy at a larger level more centralized power gov"t state-level representative democracy highly autonomous states polycentric system felt the constitution did not adequately protect individual liberties (until bill of rights) Supreme court anti-feds thought it would be too empowered and domineering steer legislation by providing precedent and interpreting laws. Concept of congress anti-feds ag. so much centralization. + slavery if one side dominated legislature, it would be problematic for the other.