POLS 1101 1st Edition Lecture 5Outline of Previous LectureI. The Articles of Confederation is full of collective action failuresII. Electoral CollegeOutline of Current Lecture I. The Confederation’s Troubled PeaceII. Drafting a New Constitution The Economy Protests Constitutional ConventionIII. The Virginia Plan Madison and Nationalists Blueprint OppositionIV. New Jersey PlanV. StalemateVI. Substantive Issues Foreign policy and trade-coordination problems under articles solved Interstate Commerce SlaveryVII. Amending the ConstitutionVIII. Logic Underlying the ConstitutionCurrent LectureI. The Confederation’s Troubled peace The articles were designed due to the history that led up to those articles and there were numerous issueso All collective action Economy did not function well The government did not helpo Free Riding and Coordination problemsII. Drafting a New Constitution The Economyo The economy was extremely bad (close to the great depression)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.o Soldiers come home and their homes and farms are goneo Not enough food for everyone Protestso Shays rebellion- protested on the Massachusetts state capitol They were mad and they told the government to stop taking away the soldiers lando The government dealt with shays rebellion but the rebellion spread across the country and other people started rebellingo This caused 55 delegates to meet in Philadelphia in 1787 to fix the articles At the very least they figured they could make some minor changes Others thought they should toss all the articles out and start fresho Philosophical Influences Popular Sovereignty Sir Isaac Newton James Madison’s “Vices of the Political System of the United States” Constitutional Conventiono Getting down to business It became clear quickly that the men had to haul the articles Patrick Henry resigned Convention opened May 25, 1787 The men could only see George Washington becoming President- Washington convinced a lot of troops to not storm congressIII. The Virginia Plan Madison and nationalists’ blueprinto Bicameral Legislature Lower Chamber – controlled by the population Upper Chamber – elected by state legislatureso New Government would have veto power over the stateso Use of military power if states do not fulfill obligations to the governmento Council of Revision – could veto laws from congress Opposition o Small statesIV. The New Jersey Plan Stronger constitution and stronger government Hastily drafted Did not propose an executive branch or judiciary Had congress and gave them the power to tax A simple majority to enact national policy rather than a supermajorityV. Stalemate James Madison is the most vocal about overhauling the articles Compromiseo The blueprint of what we have today Each side got something that they wantedo Senate had two delegates from each state legislature and the senator would serve a 6 year term This made the smaller states happyo Madison’s population-based, became the house of representativeso Unanimous agreement rule gone Need only majority in each chamber to pass new lawso Article 1, Section 8 - gives congress the right to regulate interstate commerce - Congress has the necessary and proper clauseo Madison did a 180 turn – Checks and Balances The three branches of government checked each othero The executive branch was created – they didn’t know how to structure it though They knew what they kind of wanted but they didn’t want to end up with someone like King George President power- Veto laws coming from local legislature- Appoint political officers ahead of each cabinet with approval of senate- Enforce laws to take care of laws- Required a supermajority of each house to override a presidential veto- They know that Washington will be the first president but they didn’t know who would come after him. Because they were afraid the people would elect a bad president they created the electoral collegeo The larger the states the more electoral votes they haveo Created a supreme court o Federal Judiciary – Supreme Court When there is a dispute between the states and the national government than the court will step in Supremacy Clause – Judicial Review – Can strike down anything that is not allowed under the constitution - Judicial Review is not in the Constitution, the Supreme Court took the power and no one stopped them. The judges are chosen by the President Substantive Issueso Foreign policy and trade-coordination problems under articles solved Foreign policy under the president Congress regulates commerce National government responsible for defense and securityo Interstate Commerce Article 1, Section 10 – prohibits state discrimination against other states in various commercial endeavorso Slavery Southern states threated to walk away and not sign the constitution if the slaves were not counted in the voting census Northern states argued that since slaves couldn’t vote they shouldn’t be counted 3/5ths compromise Amending the Constitutiono There was more arguing between small and larger stateso Compromise – either one would work 2/3rds of both houses must agree to the amendment 3/4ths of the states must agree to it Logic Underlying the Constitutiono The constitution was an imperfect solution When does the national authority end and the state authority starto What really helped get everyone on board to pass the constitution was checks and balanceso Federalist No. 10 Responds to the strongest argument of the Antifederalists – that a large republic cannot long survive Factions can be a problem- It is set up where the people elect state representativesand they elect higher people so things will not happen quickly when things need to be fixed or changed o Deal with tyranny (Federalists no. 51) Checks and balances- Ambition is made to counteract ambition Separation of powers - The President cannot create an amendment- Minority and majority factions controlled in different ways A war-torn economy Trade Barriers at home and abroad Popular Discontent (Shay’s