Week 3: The American Constitution

Question 1

What is a constitution?

Answer 1

• “The basic principles and laws of a nation, state or social group that determine the powers and duties of the government and guarantee certain rights to the people in it” -Merriam-Webster
• “fundamental law, or a fundamental set of principles, and a correlative institutional arrangement which would restrict arbitrary power and ensure a ‘limited government’.” -Giovanni Sartori

Question 2

Battle of Lexington

Answer 2

• 18 April 1775
• secret expedition to seize a military store at Concord
• radicals in Boston found out and warned the people
• village of Lexington: 700 British infantrymen confronted by 75 volunteers
• shot rang out: redcoats opened fire and drove volunteers from the fields
• 8 killed, 10 wounded (beginning of the war)

Question 3

War of Independence

Answer 3

• 1776-1783
• George Washington led the American troops against the British army
• French sent munitions to the rebels and officially joined the war in 1779
• George Washington provided unity and became a hero to all Americans
• Won a decisive victory at the Battle of Yorktown (1781)

Question 4

Treaty of Paris

Answer 4

• 1783
• British recognized American independence
• conceded generous boundaries to the new republic
• formally recognized northern and western frontiers for the United States

Question 5

Problems of Independence

Answer 5

• Articles of Confederation
• Articles based on the independence and sovereignty of the individual states
• No power nor money to raise a national army
• US relied on French protection: vulnerable to Spanish invasion
• Each state began to go its own way
• end of the war followed by an economic crisis

Question 6

Shay’s Rebellion

Answer 6

• 1786
• against Massachusetts county courts
• led by Daniel Shays, former officer
• rebel farmers protested against heavy taxes raised by the state
• Shays’ rebels also threatened to march on Boston
• terrible shock to many Americans (seen as an armed revolt against the Republican government)

Question 7

Constitutional Convention

Answer 7

• 1787
• Amendments of the Articles of Confederation
• 12 states sent 55 delegates to Philadelphia
• aim: devise a permanent framework for the government of the American nation

Question 8

How to represent the states and their populations in the new government of 1787?

Answer 8

• legislature ought to consist of 2 chambers
• lower house would be elected on a population basis (at least 1 representative per state)
• upper house would have at least 2 representatives per state, voting as individuals
• Great Compromise
• Crisis concerning slavery: southern states wanted slaves to be counted among their population

Question 9

When was the Constitution signed?

Answer 9

17 Semptember 1787

Question 10

Federalists

Answer 10

• pro-constitutionalists
• argued that a strong government was necessary to protect borders and US westward expansion and supress rebellions
• Federalist Papers (October 1787-August 1788): made a compelling case for a strong federal government

Question 11

Anti-Federalists

Answer 11

• anti-Constitutionalists
• preferred a “federal union of sovereign states”: opposed to strong central government
• against government intervention (taxes)
• for individual freedom
• feared a new monarchy

Question 12

Bill of Rights

Answer 12

• 1791
• added to the Constitution during the first years of the new government
• 10 amendments
• looked after the rights and interests of the individual
• protects freedom of speech, workship, from cruel and unusual punishment, unreasonable searches and seizures
• inspired by Declaration of Independence
• sharp limit on government’s power over its citizens

Question 13

Historical significance of the US Constitution

Answer 13

• expression of a modern nation state
• Founding Fathers tried to find a middle way (first truly modern constitution)
• American federalism combines nationalism with localism
• system of checks and balances: limits power of each branch
• recognizes individual rights