P SC 1113 1st Edition Lecture 12 Outline of Last Lecture I John Locke a Monarchs and Divine Right b Locke s Father was a Royalist Locke became a parliamentarian i Fled to Holland c The Glorious Revolution of 1688 d Locke wrote to justify the Glorious Revolution II The State of Nature a Free but uncertain i No laws or protection III What makes government legitimate a Consent of the governed i A change from rule by divine right IV Other contributions of Locke a Contract i Mayflower Compact b Majority Rule V Importance of Property Outline of Current Lecture These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute I Constitutional Convention II US Government under the Articles of Confederation III Population Demographics IV Conflict of 1785 1786 V The Experience of Rhode Island VI The Call for a National Convention VII The Philadelphia Convention VIII The Struggle over ratification IX Majority rule democracy X Intentions of Framers XI Why is this unknown to most Americans Current Lecture I Constitutional Convention II US Government under the Articles of Confederation 1781 1787 a Structure i One house legislature 1 Only state that has this now is Nebraska b Voting in congress i Had to have a super majority 1 9 13 states III IV 2 each state had one vote c Principle weakness i Government did not have the power to tax 1 Means that there was no military no roads no educational program because it couldn t pay for it d Other weaknesses i No strong central government governing was left to the states ii No regulation of trade between the states effectively making the states like their own countries iii No national court system e Amendment process i Required approval of all 13 states Population demographics at the time a Farmers made up the majority of the population until the Industrial Revolution Conflict of 1785 1786 a Farmers v bankers debtors v creditors b Cause i Severe deflation 1 Farmers need credit to operate due to the lack of steady income all year 2 Inflation a Bought plow at 1000 b Goes up to 1500 c Sell the plow pay off debt pocket 500 3 Deflation a Bought plow at 1000 b Drops to 500 c Still owe the 1000 even if the plow is sold still owe 500 4 Farmers thought that this was unfair c Demand of farmers i Wanted the states to print more money in order to cause inflation and even out the costs but the states said no ii Farmers were perplexed 1 Goes back to taxation without representation issue 2 Getting involved in politics often meant financial ruin for those in rural areas 3 Farmers almost never were able to get their voices heard in politics iii Farmers say that if the states don t listen they will rebel d Shay s Rebellion i Shay was a captain in the continental army who thought that a rebellion was not that crazy of an idea ii Led a rebellion in Massachusetts iii First target was an arsenal in Springfield 1 On their way it becomes apparent what is happening and the Governor begins to panic a Today we have state militias National Guard the citizen soldier b Then the citizen soldier the farmer i And of course they say no c Next step is the federal military but because of lack of taxation there is no military V VI VII d Wealthy bankers put together a ragtag rebellion i Attack Shay and end the rebellion iv Points out that there is a major weakness in the country because it couldn t even handle a small insurrection The Experience of Rhode Island a Printed more money as per the famers requests i Bankers refused to accept the money so Rhode Island created a predator s prison instead of a debtors prison b Country Party v Commerce Party The Call for a National Convention a Called everyone together for the purpose of amending the articles of confederation b Rhode Island refuses which makes it impossible to have a unanimous decision c James Madison presents a plan i Proposes to abolish the Articles ii Asks Governor Morris to present it 1 Wants to present it in a way that kind of sneaks it by people The Philadelphia Convention of 1787 a Morris presents the Virginia Plan i Delegates realize that it doesn t expand the articles but abolishes them ii Madison makes a speech 1 Points out challenges and the way the whole world is looking at them b How did it deal with its official instructions i Did away with the official instructions VIII c How did it deal with the danger of government abusing power i Developed system of Checks and Balances 1 Implies gridlock ii Separate branches with shared powers 1 implies getting things done d How did it deal with the conflicts that threatened deadlock i Over representation in congress 1 Small states v Large states 2 Madison thought it wasn t fair for the large states to have just as many votes as the small states because they represented more people 3 Small states were obviously not a big fan of this 4 Gov of Connecticut says that in the upper house each state gets one vote Senate But the lower house is based on population representation House of Representatives a The Connecticut Compromise The Great Compromise b The business of government is compromise ii Over slavery 1 Northern states vs Southern states 2 The 3 5 Compromise a For every 5 slaves 3 would count as people b Kept the southern states on board 3 Said that in 20 years the importation of slaves would be prohibited a Gives the southern states time to ready their population and their economy The Struggle over Ratification IX X a New Process i No longer unanimous for amendment but 9 13 b The Two Sides i Federalists 1 Supported the Constitution 2 Federalist Papers a Series of essays written to get the constitution ratified b Written anonymously for newspapers in order to gain support i We now know it was Alexander Hamilton James Madison and John Jegg ii Anti federalists 1 History isn t very kind to losers Majority rule democracy Intentions of framers as stated in Federalist 10 a What is a faction i Any group of people with a common interest working for their self interest b What is the most common and durable source of faction i The unequal distribution of wealth and income c What is the most dangerous faction i The majority a purely democratic government allows a group of people to use the strength of their numbers to force an equal distribution of wealth d That is the first object of government i To protect property XI XII ii Majority could take your property DANGER Ways the Constitution will guard against