Civilisation CM Anglais The US Constitution Both the American Revolution and the Constitution were expressions of competing interests. The American Constitution reflects a struggle among different economic and political forces. Five sectors of society had interests that were important in colonial politics : the New England merchants, the Southern planters, the “royalists”, shopkeepers/artisans/ laborers/skilled workers, and small farmers. In 1773, the British government granted the politically powerful East India Company a monopoly of the export of tea from Britain, eliminating a lucrative form of trade for colonial merchants. The merchants and the southern planters called for support. The most dramatic result was the Boston Tea Party of 1773, led by the American revolutionary Samuel Adams. The Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was an act of direct action by the American colonists against Great Britain in which they destroyed many crates of tea bricks on ships in Boston Harbor. The incident, which took place on Thursday, December 16, 1773, has been seen as helping to provoke the American Revolution. The Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767 angered colonists regarding British decisions on taxing the colonies despite a lack of representation in the Westminster Parliament [“No taxation without representation” was the slogan of the American Revolution]. The British government passed the Tea Act, which allowed the East India Company to sell tea to the colonies directly and without "payment of any customs or duties whatsoever" in Britain, instead paying the much lower American duty. This tax break allowed the East India Company to undercut the prices offered by the colonial merchants and smugglers. Adams and other radicals didn’t seek independence from Britain, but only to provoke Britain to take actions that would pave the way for a rebellion. By dumping the East India Company’s tea into Boston Harbor, Adams and his followers goaded the British into enacting a number of harsh reprisals : closing of the port of Boston to commerce, restricting movement to the West… Thus the Boston Tea Party set into motion a cycle of provocation and retaliation that in 1774 resulted in the convening of the First Continental Congress that called for a total boycott of British goods and began to consider the possibility of independence from British rule. The result was the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence The document was written by Jefferson and adopted by the Second Continental Congress in 1776. This text was politically and philosophically very important : Philosophically : assertion that inalienable rights (right to life, liberties and the pursuit of happiness) could not be taken away by the government. It was very democratic, in order to secure the rights (not divine right). Politically : platform of demands of Americans : the Declaration focused on problems that might unify the various colonial groups. The articles of Confederation (13 articles) Having declared independence, the colonies needed to establish a government. In November 1777, the Continental Congress (à peu près l’équivalent des Etats-généraux) adopted the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the first written constitution of the US. The main idea of these articles was to limit the power of central government (= the Congress). Execution of its laws was to be left to the individual states. Powers of the Congress : declare war / make peace, make treaties and alliances, coin or borrow money, regulate trade with Native Americans, appoint the senior officers of the US Army. But it could not levy taxes or regulate commerce among the states; the army officers it appointed had no army (only state militias). In a confederation, each state is considered as sovereign, especially in foreign and commercial policy. Not only was there no executive, there was also no judicial authority and no other means of enforcing Congress’s will. -1-

Civilisation CM Anglais Under this document, the states retained their sovereignty. The central government, composed solely of Congress, had few powers and no means of enforcing its will. è Political conflict between the colonies and England, and among competing groups within the colonies, led to the first Founding as expressed by the Declaration of Independence. The first constitution (the Articles of Confederation) was adopted in 1777, one year later. THE 2nd FOUNDING : FROM COMPROMISE TO CONSTITUTION International standing and balance of power The Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation were not sufficient to hold nation together as an independent and effective nation-state. From the moment of armistice with the British in 1783, moves were afoot to reform and strengthen the Articles. There was a special concern for the country’s international position. At the same time, rich Americans (especially the New England merchants and the Southern planters) were troubled by the influence that “radical” forces exercised in the Continental Congress and in the governments of several of the states. The colonists’ victory in the Revolutionary War had not only meant the end of the British rule, but it also had changed the balance of political powers within the new states. As a result of the Revolution, the elite (royal land, office and patent holders) was stripped of its economic and political privileges. While the elite was weakened, the radicals were better organized. The central government under the Articles of Confederation was powerless to intervene. The new nation’s weak international position and domestic turmoil led many Americans to consider whether a new version of the Articles might be necessary. The states were asked to send delegates to Philadelphia to discuss constitutional revision. The Constitutional Convention Eventually, the delegates didn’t decide to revise the Articles, but to directly create a second founding. The great compromise The Connecticut Compromise, also known as the Great Compromise, was an essential agreement between large and small states reached during the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. The large states (ex : Virginia, Philadelphia) wanted a system of representation based upon the population of each state, so they would have been favored (more seats for them). The less populous states (Delaware, New Jersey, NY…) wanted an equal representation in the new regime. The Great Compromise proposed a bicameral legislature : in the first branch (the House of Representatives), the representatives would be apportioned according to the number of inhabitants in each state, and in the second branch (the Senate), each state would have an equal vote regardless of its size. The question of slavery (3/5 compromise) Another issue had to be confronted before the Great Compromise could take place : the issue of slavery. Over 90% of all slaves resided in 5 states (Georgia, Maryland, North/South Carolina and Virginia) = 30% of the total population. The question was to know whether slaves had to be counted in determining how many congressional seats a state should have. The Constitutional Convention decided to count slaves as three-fifths of a person. However, slaves didn’t have the right to vote. The Constitution The framers of the Constitution had 4 primary goals : To promote interstate commerce To prevent “excessive democracy” To promote universal acceptance of the government through popular election of officials and a guarantee of individual rights -2-

Civilisation CM Anglais To prevent abuses of power by elected officials -> the framers incorporated principles such as separation of powers and federalism The Legislative Branch Art. 1, sections 1 to 7 : the Congress = Senate + House of Representatives. The members of the House of Representatives are elected by direct popular election for a two-year term. State legislatures were to appoint members of the Senate (direct election of senators from 1913) for six-year terms (one third of the senators expire every two years). The approval of each body was required for the enactment of a law. The Senate ratified treaties and the House originates revenue bills. The House was directly responsible to the people in order to encourage popular consent for the new Constitution. Its power was checked by the Senate, whose members (had a longer term). The Senate was to be resistant to public pressure. The powers of Congress and the states By giving more power to the Congress (art.1 sect. 8), the framers showed they wanted the new government to be far more influential than its predecessor. But its powers were limited to expressed powers (= the Constitution implied that any power not listed were not granted at all. Limits on the national government and the states è Section 9 of the Constitution Restrictions to prevent the national government from threatening important property interests Restrictions on states because of their fear of the capacity of the state legislatures to engage in radical action against property and creditors ð The framers of the Constitution, fearing for the liberty of the individual and for the prosperity of the nation, created a federalist government with a balance between state and national power. The executive branch The Constitution granted the President specific powers. Art. 2. Sect. 2. The Constitution sought to protect the president from popular pressure by establishing indirect elections. The Judicial branch è Art. 3. The judicial branch was granted the powers to resolve conflicts amonge states, the national government and citizens of different states. Art. 6 : the supremacy clause : in case of conflict between national laws and state laws, national laws supercede state laws. Art. 5 : amending the constitution (very difficult procedure, succeeded only 17 times – or amending it by a constitutional convention) Art.7 : ratifying the constitution – this article violated the Articles of Confederation : Nine-state rule instead of unanimity Ratification occurred in special state conventions rather than in the state legislatures Constitutional limits on the national government’s power è The separation of powers : no branch could obtain supremacy over another (checks and balances) è Federalism = a step toward a centralization of power : increase national government’s power, but without completely undermining the power of the state governments. è A set of limitations in the form of the Bill of Rights was included in the Constitution (the 10 first amendments, 1791) -3-

Civilisation CM Anglais The fight for ratification The Federalists (Hamilton, Madison, Jay) supported the Constitution and preferred a strong national government. The Antifederalists (Henry Lee, Henry, Clinton) opposed the government and preferred a more decentralized federal system of government. The Federalists wrote 85 articles supporting ratification of the Constitution (Federalist Papers). Changing the framework : constitutional amendment “Many are called, few are chosen” : the Constitution proved to be very difficult to amend. 4 methods of amendment (art. 5). Since the Bill of Rights, only 17 amendments have been adopted. The main reason that makes the Constitution difficult to amend is the requirement of a two-thirds vote in the House and in the Senate The 27 Amendments : deal with the structure or composition of the government. The Bill of Rights = the first 10 amendments of the US Constitution = civil liberties because they protect citizens from improper government action (right to free speech, right to free exercise of religion, prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures, guarantees of due process of law, right to privacy, including the right of abortion). The Bill of Rights is a series of restraints imposed upon government : Substantive liberties put limits on what the government shall/not have power to do Procedural liberties : how the government is supposed to act (grouped in the category of due process of law) The 1st amendment is the only one which addresses directly to the national government (Congress) -> puts limits on national government. Does the Bill of Rights put limits only on the national government or does it limit state government as well? -> the question was edited in the Barron vs. Baltimore case -> the Court ruled that the Bill of Rights put limits only on the national government, not on the states. The 14th amendment provided for single national citizenship, in effect, an effort to extend the Bill of Rights to all citizens. The Supreme Court did not adopt this view, however, until more than one hundred years after its ratification. The 2nd Constitutional Revolution began with the Brown decision in 1954, at which time the Supreme Court became active in incorporating the Bill of Rights into the 14th amendment. The Constitutional Framework : Federalism and the Separation of Powers è 1st principle : Federalism The US was th first nation to adopt federalism as its governing framework. Federalism limits national power by creating two sovereigns : the national government and the state government. Federalism in the Constitution The powers of the national government (the expressed powers) are found in art. 1, sec.8 of the Constitution : collect taxes, coin money, declare war, regulate commerce. The implied powers enabled Congress to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing powers”. Dual federalism created two sovereigns : the national government and the state governments. Federalism limited the power -4-

Civilisation CM Anglais of the national government to intervene in the economy of the states and allowed the states to differ in many substantial policy issues. Under the traditional system, the national government had little effect on local economies other than to promote interstate commerce. Since the 1930s, the national government has expanded its influence, but the states continue to be an integral part of American government. The Supreme Court ruled that the national government was supreme over the states, as implied from the powers delegated to Congress by the Constitution. The Court also ruled that the national government had a constitutional right to regulate interstate commerce comprehensively. Between the end of the Civil War and the 1930s, entrepreneurs enjoyed minimal government intervention in domestic markets. After 1937, however, the Court threw out the distinction between interstate and intrastate commerce, allowing for greater national power over the economy. Most national influence over state governments comes through grants-in-aid (monetary incentives to adopt policies). Dual federalism evolved into cooperative federalism, in which intergovernmental cooperation has lessened the distinction between the responsibilities of state and national governments. During the past 25 years, cooperative federalism has given way to regulated federalism, in which the national government regulates the states by threatening to withhold money unless the states meet specific for a reversal of increased national control, calling their revised system the new federalism. Over the last decade, Congress has delegated more power to state governments. è 2nd principle : the separation of powers Checks and balances : the three branches of national government (legislative, executive, judiciary) interact with each other through a series of controls know as checks and balances, but the legislative branch is the most powerful

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