September 2011 Framing the Constitution How do you currently teach the Articles of Confederation and the making of the Constitution Articles of Confederation failure In whose view Complexities ID: 573169
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Northern Nevada Teaching American History ProjectSeptember 2011
Framing the ConstitutionSlide2
How do you currently teach the Articles of Confederation and the making of the Constitution?
Articles of Confederation: failure? In whose view? Complexities?Slide3
How do you currently teach the Articles of Confederation and the making of the Constitution?
Articles of Confederation: failure? In whose view? Complexities?
Making of the Constitution: triumph? In whose view? Complexities?Slide4
How do you currently teach the Articles of Confederation and the making of the Constitution?
Articles of Confederation: failure? In whose view? Complexities?
Making of the Constitution: triumph? In whose view? Complexities?
Other aspects that you address with your students?Slide5
What were the “Framers” drawing upon:intellectually, experientially, and politically?Slide6
What were the “Framers” drawing upon:intellectually, experientially, and politically?
Intellectual frameworks: defining “constitution”
What do WE mean by the term “constitution”?Slide7
What were the “Framers” drawing upon:intellectually, experientially, and politically?
Intellectual frameworks: defining “constitution”
What do WE mean by the term “constitution”?
What did Americans in 1787 mean by that word? (recent experience = constitutions of new states
; but also “small-c” vs. “big-C” constitutions
)Slide8
What were the “Framers” drawing upon:intellectually, experientially, and politically?
Intellectual frameworks: defining “constitution”
What do WE mean by the term “constitution”?
What did Americans in 1787 mean by that word? (recent experience = constitutions of new states; but also “small-c” vs. “big-C” constitutions)
How had the definition of “constitution”
developed
from the 1600s to 1787? (this takes us to the English/British system)Slide9
English “constitutionalism” in the 17th-18
th
centuries
The common-law tradition
What is “common law”?
Where does it come from?
What about a written, national constitution? (England did not have one—still doesn’t)
What did the common law mean to people in England, and in England’s North American colonies? (protected “the rights of Englishmen”—linchpin = the jury system)Slide10
English “constitutionalism” in the 17th-18
th
centuries
The structure of the English “constitution”
King (monarchy): ideas about “divine right of kings” and absolute rule in the early to mid-1600s; changes in late 1600s
Parliament: House of Lords (aristocracy), House of Commons (the broader populace)
“King-in-Parliament”: the system as operated in the 1700s
Who voted for members of Parliament? Whom did Parliament “represent,” and how? (virtual representation)Slide11
English “constitutionalism” in the 17th-18
th
centuries
Sources of ideas about sovereignty and rights
Emerging “natural rights” philosophy (John Locke): “natural” and “civil” libertySlide12
English “constitutionalism” in the 17th-18
th
centuries
Sources of ideas about sovereignty and rights
Emerging “natural rights” philosophy (John Locke): “natural” and “civil” liberty
Earlier “classical” philosophy re-emerges in the 18
th
century, in the thinking of “radical Whigs”: power vs. liberty, the need for “citizen/civic virtue” to counter the encroachments of powerSlide13
English “constitutionalism” in the 17th-18
th
centuries
Sources of ideas about sovereignty and rights
Emerging “natural rights” philosophy (John Locke): “natural” and “civil” liberty
Earlier “classical” philosophy re-emerges in the 18
th
century, in the thinking of “radical Whigs”: power vs. liberty, the need for “citizen/civic virtue” to counter the encroachments of power
Another key thinker: Montesquieu
Big-C “Constitutions” (whether written or not) must reflect the small-c “constitutions” of the societies they are to govern—or else the Big-C Constitution won’t workSlide14
The experience of government(s) in American colonies (pre-1776) and early states (1776-1780s)
The structure of colonial governments
British Crown
(through Privy Council & Board of Trade)
Royal Governor
Appointed by the crown
Has final approval on
laws
Oversees colonial trade
Can dismiss colonial
assembly
Council
Colonial Assembly
Appointed by governor Elected by eligible colonists
Advisory board to governor Makes laws
Acts as highest court in colony Has authority to tax
Pays governor’s salarySlide15
The experience of government(s) in American colonies (pre-1776) and early states (1776-1780s)
How did colonial governance differ from governance in Great Britain (King-in-Parliament, etc.)?
Broader suffrage among free white males
Assembly members elected from specific districts, answerable to constituents in those districts (not “virtual representation”)Slide16
The experience of government(s) in American colonies (pre-1776) and early states (1776-1780s)
The creation of new state constitutions, 1776-1780
Constitutions as WRITTEN documents, expressing “supreme” law (above the common law, ordinary legislation, etc.)
Legislative supremacy in most states: weak executives, strong legislatures
Widened representation: more members in legislatures, closer to the people represented (more, smaller districts)
Underlying concept: popular sovereignty, based on “civic virtue” in the peopleSlide17
The experience of government(s) in American colonies (pre-1776) and early states (1776-1780s)
The Articles of Confederation (1777)
Let’s read some of these together (
Major Problems
pp. 37-40)Slide18
The experience of government(s) in American colonies (pre-1776) and early states (1776-1780s)
The Articles of Confederation (1777)
Let’s read some of these together (
Major Problems
pp. 37-40)
Where does “sovereignty” lie?
What is the nature of “the United States” as an entity? (“firm league of friendship”)
What are the powers of “the United States in Congress assembled” (and what does THAT phrase mean, anyway?)
In what ways does the document limit the powers of states?
How can the Articles of Confederation be amended?Slide19
Movement for a stronger central government, 1780s
Experience:
Fighting the American Revolution—constraints on the “national” war effort (Washington, Hamilton)
Inter-state disputes after the war—disagreements over boundaries, trade, etc. (Madison)
“Conflagrations” within states that threatened to spread across the states (
Shays’s
Rebellion)Slide20
Movement for a stronger central government, 1780s
Experience:
Fighting the American Revolution—constraints on the “national” war effort (Washington, Hamilton)
Inter-state disputes after the war—disagreements over boundaries, trade, etc. (Madison)
“Conflagrations” within states that threatened to spread across the states (
Shays’s
Rebellion)
Which
Americans would have been most likely to want a stronger national government? And which would NOT have wanted such a government?Slide21
Toward May 1787
September 1786: Annapolis Convention
12 delegates from 5 states (NJ, NY, PA, DE, VA)
Attempts to deal with trade barriers between states
Calls for a broader convention to be held in Philadelphia in May 1787Slide22
Toward May 1787
September 1786: Annapolis Convention
12 delegates from 5 states (NJ, NY, PA, DE, VA)
Attempts to deal with trade barriers between states
Calls for a broader convention to be held in Philadelphia in May 1787
Late 1786 to April 1787:
Madison studies the history and government of ancient and modern nations
States select delegates to the convention (
all except RI)Slide23
The “Federal Convention”
What was it authorized to do? (recommend changes to the Articles of Confederation)Slide24
The “Federal Convention”
What was it authorized to do? (recommend changes to the Articles of Confederation)
What did the delegates decide to do? (propose an entirely new constitution)Slide25
The “Federal Convention”
What was it authorized to do? (recommend changes to the Articles of Confederation)
What did the delegates decide to do? (propose an entirely new constitution)
Basic rules of the convention
Nothing is decided until everything is decided (why?)
Confidentiality: don’t leak the proceedings (why?)
Rule of debate: nobody speaks a second time on an issue until everyone who wants to speak on that issue has spokenSlide26
The “Three Plans”: An Exercise in Historical Thinking and Understanding
Virginia Plan (written by Madison, proposed by Edmund Randolph, May 29)
New Jersey Plan (proposed by John Dickinson, June 15; defeated June 19, 7-3-1)
Alexander Hamilton’s Plan (June 18)Slide27
Resource Exploration:Teaching Websites on the American Founding
www.teachingamericanhistory.org/founding.html
Created by Gordon Lloyd, Pepperdine University
The Constitutional Convention
The Federalist-Antifederalist Debate
The Ratification of the United States Constitution