Term
| Common Assumptions in Post-Revolutionary America |
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Definition
| High level of public virtue among the people. |
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Term
| Common Assumptions in Post-Revolutionary America |
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Definition
High level of public virtue among the people.
• Legislaturesshouldreflectthatcommitment to the public good
• The executive branch should be weak • Nothing like a king!
• Sovereignty should reside with the states
• Small republics are better than large republics |
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Term
| Articles of Confederation |
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Definition
• Key principle: state sovereignty • No executive • No judiciary • No power to tax
• State legislatures appointed 2-7 delegates to the national Congress
• Each state had an equal vote (approval of 9 states usually required)
• Unanimous approval of states required to amend |
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Term
| Articles of Confederation |
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Definition
• Limited power to ...
• Resolve conflicts between the states
• Regulate trade between the states
• Enforce decisions
• Conductunifiedforeign policy |
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Term
| Accomplishments under the Articles of Confederation |
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Definition
• Victory in war; peace treaty with Britain
• NorthwestOrdinance (1787)
• Experience that informed the Constitution:
• Vital step in constitutional development |
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Term
| Problems under the Articles of Confederation |
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Definition
1. Injustice and conflict within the states 2. Lack of cooperation among the states
• Conflict between the states
• Conflict between the states and the national government |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| Reactions to Shays’ Rebellion |
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Definition
“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.”
~ George Washington
“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
“A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.”
~Thomas Jefferson |
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Term
| “Vices of the Political System of the United States” |
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Definition
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Term
| Madison’s Diagnosis of Problems Within the States |
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Definition
| • “Multiplicity of laws” • “Mutability of laws” • “Injustice of the laws” • “Impotence of the laws” |
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Term
| Why State Laws are Often Problematic |
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Definition
• Representative legislatures:
• Ambition and personal interest outweigh the public good
• “How easily are base and selfish measures masked by pretexts of public good...” |
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Term
| Problems within the States |
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Definition
• Simply giving power to the state legislature was not enough
• Legislatures could be tyrants, too! |
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Term
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Definition
• How do you make a new government work without traditions or customs for how to act in public?
• How do people disagree with each other?
• The early republic depended on reputation and honor among its ruling class
• Without reputation and honor, it would have been difficult to learn how to channel conflict. |
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Term
| Why State Laws Are Often Problematic |
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Definition
• The people themselves
• Majorities vs. minorities
• Private interests vs. public good
• Respect for character is not enough to prevent injustice
• Religion not enough to restrain us |
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Term
| John Adams, Thoughts on Government |
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Definition
• Better structures are the key: • Bicameral legislature • Independent judiciary • Strong governor
• Veto power
• Annual elections • Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 |
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Term
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Definition
• “Trespasses of the States on the rights of each other”
• Especially in commercial matters
• “Want of concert in matters where common interest requires it”
• “Encroachments by the States on the federal authority”
• “Failure of the States to comply with the Constitutional requisitions” |
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Term
| Collective Action Problems |
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Definition
| • Pursuing individual interests leads to worse outcomes for all. |
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Term
| Collective Action Problems |
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Definition
| Pursuing individual interests leads to worse outcomes for all. |
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Term
| Collective Action Problem |
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Definition
States unable to solve these conflicts themselves
• National government too weak to impose a solution |
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Term
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Definition
“Want of sanction to the laws, and of coercion in the Government of the Confederacy” ex. cat video
• “Mistaken confidence that the justice, the good faith, the honor, the sound policy” of the states would be enough |
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Term
| Madison and the Collective Action Problem |
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Definition
• States will sometimes need to be coerced by the national government. This is because:
• Acts of the national government “bear unequally hard” on the states; states will have unequal interests in carrying out national policies
• “Courtiers of popularity”: politicians will advance their own interests by criticizing national policies
• Even when they share a common interest, some states may try to free ride on the efforts of others |
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Term
| Federal Government Should Be Able to “Coerce” the States |
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Definition
• Federal Authority must be able to create order.!
State Governments!
ex. Little Rock
• State Governments must subordinate their interests to the national interest.! |
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Term
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Definition
• Design of government must be able to account for human nature.
• You cannot count on the virtue of citizens and politicians to make government work.
• The American republic would require a much stronger set of institutions if it were going to survive. |
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