Shays’ Rebellion

Shays’ Rebellion

• Massachusetts farmers endured tremendous economic hardship when “debt pyramid” crumbled in mid-1780s

• farmers petitioned the state legislature for:– More paper money– Stay laws (forbidding collection of debts)

• legislature instead raised already-high taxes• led by Daniel Shays, farmers rebelled

Shays’ RebellionShays’ Rebellion• Shays was a former Revolutionary War

militia captain who had not been paid for his service by the deeply-indebted govt.

• “Shaysites” shut down courthouses across Western and Central Massachusetts

• Gov. Bowdoin called out 4400 militiamen• Congress dispatched 1300 soldiers to

defend the Springfield Armory• The rebellion had died out by March 1787.• all involved were pardoned

A Philosophical QuestionA Philosophical Question

What was the greater threat to liberty: the government or the people?

Reactions to Shays’ RebellionReactions to Shays’ Rebellion

“Rebellion against a king may be pardoned, or lightly punished, but the man who dares to rebel against the laws of a republic ought to suffer death."

Samuel Adams

Reactions to Shays’ RebellionReactions to Shays’ Rebellion

"A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government. God forbid that we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion."

Reactions to Shays’ RebellionReactions to Shays’ Rebellion

"I am mortified beyond expression when I view the clouds that have spread over the brightest morn that ever dawned in any country... What a triumph for the advocates of despotism, to find that we are incapable of governing ourselves and that systems founded on the basis of equal liberty are merely ideal and fallacious."

United States ConstitutionUnited States Constitution

1.Constitutional Convention of 1787: Major Controversies

2.Constitutional Convention of 1787: Compromises

3.Ratification of the Constitution: Federalist Papers

4.Structure of US Government: Separation of Powers

5.Checks and Balances System

Philadelphia Convention (1787)Philadelphia Convention (1787)

ProposalsProposals• New Jersey Plan (William Paterson)

– kept A of C but amended them to national govt. to tax and regulate commerce

– favored by small states– Each state equally represented in

Congress

• Virginia Plan (James Madison)– bicameral Congress– independent executive (president)– national judiciary– States proportionally represented

Major Controversies at Constitutional Convention of 1787

Major Controversies at Constitutional Convention of 1787

• Representation in Congress– Proportional (big states) v. Equal (small

states)

• Slavery– North v. South

• Federal v. State Power

CompromisesCompromises

• Representation (CT Compromise)– Proportional rep. in House– Equal in Senate

• Slavery– 3/5 Compromise– Fugitive Slave Clause– Slave Trade Clause

Ratification of the ConstitutionFederalists v. Anti-Federalists

Ratification of the ConstitutionFederalists v. Anti-Federalists

1. Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10) – helped ensure ratification by allaying fears that the new, stronger national government would infringe upon individual rights

2. Federalist Papers – a series of arguments for the new Constitution, written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay

Federalist #10 (Madison) dealt with the perceived problem of faction (widely believed to be the enemy of large republics)

2. Federalist Papers – a series of arguments for the new Constitution, written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay

Federalist #10 (Madison) dealt with the perceived problem of faction (widely believed to be the enemy of large republics)

Why did Anti-Federalists oppose the Constitution?

Why did Anti-Federalists oppose the Constitution?

“It is the opinion of the ablest writers on the subject that no extensive empire can be governed upon republican principles.”

“It is impossible for one code of laws to suit Georgia and Massachusetts.” James Winthrop

wrote a series of Anti-Federalist articles under the pen name Agrippa.

Madison’s Federalist # 10Madison’s Federalist # 10• “There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of

faction: the one, by destroying liberty which is essential to its existence; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.”

• “Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an ailment, without which it instantly expires. But it could be no less a folly to abolish liberty . . . than it would be to wish the annihilation of air.”

• Madison argued the faction was inevitable and should be embraced.

• In a large republic like the US, no one faction would dominate, and the best approximation of what was good for the country would come out of the competition between different interests/factions.

• The problem of faction, in other words, would control itself.

Madison’s Federalist #51Madison’s Federalist #51

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

Federalist #51Federalist #51

“Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.”

“A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”

The Constitution of the United States

The Constitution of the United States

ARTICLE I – Legislative Branch

ARTICLE II – Executive Branch

ARTICLE III – Judicial Branch

Separation of Powers

“Checks and Balances”“Checks and Balances”

*each branch “checks” the power of the other branches in order to prevent any one branch from gaining too much power

LEGISLATIVE EXECUTIVE JUDICIAL

impeachment veto power judicial review

“advice + consent”

veto override

Article I, Section 8: Powers of Congress

Article I, Section 8: Powers of Congress

• Spells out numerous specific powers of Congress (and, therefore, the federal govt.)

• Necessary and Proper Clause (Clause 3)– a.k.a.: “elastic clause”– Gives federal govt. power to do anything

necessary to carry out its rightful powers, even if not specifically provided for in the Constitution

– Greatly expands federal govt. power

Article II, Section 2: Powers and Duties of the President

Article II, Section 2: Powers and Duties of the President

• Section 1 – Commander in Chief of the military

• Section 2 – power to make treaties, appoint judges and other federal officials “by and with the advice and consent of the Senate”

• Section 4 – Congress’ power of impeachment

Article III: Federal CourtsArticle III: Federal Courts

• Brief, vague article left the role of the federal courts open to interpretation

• Did the courts have the power to declare acts of Congress and the states unconstitutional and, therefore, invalid?

“States’ Rights” v. Federal Power:An Ongoing Controversy

“States’ Rights” v. Federal Power:An Ongoing Controversy

• Supremacy Clause/Article (Article VI)– “The Constitution and the laws of the United

States . . . shall be the supreme Law of the Land.”

• 10th Amendment (“States’ Rights Am.”)– “The powers not delegated to the United

States by the Constitution . . . are reserved to the states, or to the people.”

Ratification of the Constitution by the States

Ratification of the Constitution by the States

• 9 of 13 states needed to ratify (approve) the Constitution for it to take effect

• Conventions were called in the states for that purpose.

• Federalists = supporters

• Anti-Federalists = opponents

Who were the Federalists and Anti-Federalists?

Who were the Federalists and Anti-Federalists?

• Federalists– dominant in urban and coastal regions– Most merchants, major property owners

• Anti-Federalists – Small farmers from the backcountry– Those who feared the new federal (national)

government would be too powerful.– Those who believe local government power

was best in a republican system.– Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, etc.

The Bill of RightsThe Bill of Rights

• Amendments 1-10

• Added to secure approval of all states (New York and Massachusetts, most notably were holding out.)

• Fundamental Rights of citizens spelled out so as to protect them from government

• Madison was reluctant to include it. Why?