01:512:104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Edmund Randolph, Continental Army, Proportional Representation
11 views6 pages
16 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Chapter 08 - The United States of North America
• Forming a New Government
• Whiskey Rebellion and Shay's Rebellion were the first signs that the
federal government needed more powers for the USA to survive
Nationalist Sentiment
• Alexander Hamilton, strong coercive union having control over
economic, civil and military issues
• Nationalists were from the elite
• Merchants wanted to establish the credit for the United States in
Europe=can get loans
• Continental Army officers who saw with the Continental Congress the
need for a strong central government.
• Conservatives who wanted to restrain the radical democracy in the
states
• The economic crises after the Revolutionary war gave the Nationalists
an opportunity to organize
• Commercial conference in Annapolis to discuss strong federal
government
• Only five states sent nationalist delegations
• All states agreed that they needed more federal control over commerce
The Constitutional Convention
• In Philadelphia
• Everyone but Rhode Island attended
• Agreed to vote by states
• Madison wanted:
• Wanted to scrap the articles of Confederation in favor of a "consolidated
government" having the power to tax and enforce its laws directly rather
than through the states
• Representation in the bicameral national legislature would be based on
population
• House of Representatives would be elected by popular vote but
senators would be chosen by state legislators to insulate them from
democratic pressure.
• A national judiciary would have the power to veto both national and
state legislation
• William Peterson of New Jersey opposed= the New Jersey plan
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Thought that Madison's plan would allow small states to be swallowed
up by big ones
• Wanted only a single house congress that equally represented the
states
• The Great Compromise was the result of the two sides
• Proportional representation by population in the house vs.
representation by states in the Senate
• Small states would have never joined without the senate
• 3/5th's rule- 5 slaves= 3 whites
• Reason why South joined
• Slaves only counted in representation not taxes!
• Georgia and Louisiana demanded and got protection for the
international slave trade
• South also legitimized capturing escaped slaves in the north.
• Madison wanted a strong judiciary that could declare acts of Congress
unconstitutional
• Edmund Randolph opposed a strong executive- thought that it was the
beginning of a monarchy
• Wanted executive to be elected so that it was independent of congress,
but thought the people weren't educated enough to choose-electoral
college
• Ratifying the New Constitution
• Needed nine states approval
• Supporters of the constitution adopted the name Federalists
• Opposition wasn't unified
• Opposition were localists=many different interests
• Opposition thought the constitution gave the "national government" to
much power
• Thought that the state government would represent the people better
• Political thinkers thought that a republican government could only exist
in small countries as a big country had to many factions
• Madison thought that a big country had more factions= no one group
could have all the power
• Federalists were urban vs. farming opposition
Shaping of the Bill of Rights
• The first ten amendments to the constitution
• The First Amendment prohibits Congress from establishing an official
religion
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com