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Summary Origins and Principles of the US constitution
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ORIGINS AND PRINCIPLESTHE ORIGINS OF THE CONSTITUTION
Worried about an overbearing government because they have just overcome the war on independence
Influenced by liberalist thinkers
Trying to write a constitution that separates power
Using the constitution to limit government and protect the rights of the people
Constitution: a collection of rules, principles and conventions that outlines the political system, location of
sovereignty and relationship between the government and those being governed.
Federal government: the national government of the USA, consisting of the three branches - congress, the
presidency and the judiciary
Federalism: a system of government in which power and sovereignty are shared between the federal government
and individual states.
Sovereignty comparison:
UK US
Sovereignty lies with the house of The constitution - because nothing can happen if its unconstitutional
commons - Holyrood could be removed DRC have a codified constitution but it isn't as strong
technically There is a strong political culture where different levels of
government and the people themselves respect, follow and
enforce the constitution in the US
Almost like a sacred text
Increasingly the constitution is being weaponized to attack political opponents.
The supreme court can reinterpret the constitution which means in many ways its a living and breathing document -
it isn't fixed. Part of the American political competition is to have control of the reinterpretation.
The founding fathers didn't envisage this - meant to be stability
Amendments - controversy
They wanted a codified constitution - longevity and stability
It was contested at the time it was written - had the backdrop of the war
The Philadelphia Constitutional Convention
To understand the principles of the US constitution, it is necessary to know what the founding fathers were
trying to achieve at Philadelphia and they didn't agree with on all the aims
Disagreement over size and scope of government, as well as debates over slavery
The founding fathers at Philadelphia represented the interests of their own states as well as the newly
formed USA.
They were not willing to give up vast amounts of state power to a new federal government, but recognised
that a stronger federal govt was needed.
EXAMPLE Alexander Hamilton - created the federal bank - underwritten by collectivism (collective
debt/federal taxation) so less risk - he wanted a strong federal govt
New Jersey Plan
Drafted by William Paterson
Congress will have one chamber based on equal representation of states
The Virginia plan
James Madison
Congress of two chambers based on the populations of the states
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