The Super Summary of World History (33 page)

The
Constitution
of
the
United
States
of
America

1789

America had finally won its freedom. Each state had its charter or constitution providing for governance. The American states had been jointly governing themselves under the
Articles
of
Confederation
since 1775, but this weak document failed to pull the nation together. Now facing the task of coming up with their own national governmental system, the Americans carried a few powerful ideas into the process that we should remember:

1.    Each state wanted to keep its individual identity. States were set up as separate colonies, and grew up very differently because of American geography. No colony wanted another colony telling them how to govern in their jurisdiction. This was an unstated assumption in the Constitutional debates seldom talked about, but it underlies many disagreements between Revolutionary era Americans.

2.    Fear of a powerful central government was fervent. This is another given, although expressed in many different ways. One of the Constitutional Convention’s main goals was to prevent the central government from overpowering state governments and individual citizens. In this central task the convention failed.

3.    The colonials believed revolting against an oppressive government was a God given right. The Declaration of Independence says so. This is a key reason for the Second Amendment to the US Constitution (the right to keep and bear arms) and the Bill of Rights (first 10 Amendments to the Constitution). The Bill of Rights entered the Constitution as an additional measure to keep the central government in check by giving rights directly to individuals; however, the ultimate weapon was always rebellion. In the 21st
st
Century, we may forget that revolutionaries who overthrew a powerful central government by force of arms founded our nation. The US Constitution reflects this fact.

4.    Protecting private property was considered a key element to economic and political freedom.

5.    Colonist did not want taxes levied on everything that moved. They wanted to be left alone.

6.    The most important idea embodied in the US Constitution is:
the
individual
is
greater
than
the
state
. The original idea of the ancient Greeks found a new home in the Constitution of the United States of America.

The Continental Congress used the Articles of Confederation
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until it proved a poor authority for governing the colonies. The entire American Revolution threw off the yoke of a too-powerful central government, therefore, the Articles of Confederation kept the central government’s power minimal. Nonetheless, the power was so slight the colonies failed to function together as a team. For example, they had no central money supply or common roads, and some colonies were trying to impose import duties on other colonies. The net result was chaos.

In
1787,
a
Constitutional
Convention
convened in Philadelphia to write a new document for operating the new nation. The gathering, as authorized by the various legislatures, was for the sole purpose of amending the Articles of Confederation; however, the delegates threw out the Articles of Confederation at once and began working on an entirely new instrument for governance. In this respect, their actions went far beyond their authority. George Washington agreed to head the convention, and through the summer the delegates from the various colonies worked out the details of the document in secret. The framers of the Constitution decided they must find ways to limit the powers of the central government while giving it enough authority to unify the nation. To accomplish this they set forth each power of the president and each house of Congress separately.
[98]
In this way, they formed a federal government where the states retained the powers not specifically given to the federal entity (they thought). It was a new way of thinking, in that it established a representative government on two levels—one local (the state) and the other general (the federal or central). Another vital difference had to be resolved. Rural states wanted representation by state, but the more populous states wanted representation by population. The great compromise allowing the Constitution to be adopted was the creation of
two
houses
of
Congress
, one established by population which the populous states would undoubtedly control (the House of Representatives), and another established by geographic area wherein two representatives from each state would serve (the Senate) and the rural states would probably control. There were other mighty problems such as slavery, but each one was solved by some sort of compromise that left everyone quite unhappy. But that is the nature of true compromise.

By these improvisations and compromises the Constitution of the United States evolved into a final document. The delegates to the Constitutional Convention were exhausted, but one last task remained—selling the document to the nation.

Many people not at the convention wanted more protection from a powerful central government, so
Ten
Amendments
were added to the document
guaranteeing
a
set
of
individual
rights
to
the
people
themselves
and further restricting government action. Without the promise of these amendments the Constitution might have failed adoption by the states. Each of these amendments guarantees the individual rights that the government cannot interfere with, such as freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, freedom to petition the government, security of homes from unreasonable searches and seizures, freedom to own guns, freedom from unlawful arrest or multiple prosecutions, the right to a jury trial in criminal cases and civil lawsuits, the right to remain silent if charged with a crime, right to a lawyer in a criminal case, and the right to a reasonable bail among
many
others. Perhaps the ultimate expression of the individual being greater than the state was the Second Amendment which gave citizens the right to own firearms. In dictatorial states firearm ownership is absolutely forbidden. These Ten Amendments are collectively referred to as the
Bill
of
Rights
.

The
Tenth
Amendment
is often overlooked, but it is clearly a further attempt to restrict the power of the federal government, “
The
powers
not
delegated
to
the
United
States
by
the
Constitution,
nor
prohibited
by
it
to
the
States,
are
reserved
to
the
States
respectively,
or
to
the
people
.” The men who worked out the powers of the federal government were unusually concerned about its potential power. They recognized that if central government wanted to the federal institutions could join together and simply take whatever power they desired. The delegates tried to divide the power and put the federal government in competition with itself, thus limiting its power; however, if all the federal institutions agreed to increase the power of the Federal Government nothing could stop them except new representation.

The framers wanted to limit Constitutional changes, but little did they realize the Constitution itself would provide the federal government with the power to change it with
no
participation
from the people or the states. One result of this oversight was a tremendous growth in the power of the federal government.

The Constitution was submitted for ratification in 1787, and in 1788 New Hampshire voted to ratify making it the ninth and final state needed to approve the document. Eventually, all thirteen colonies ratified the Constitution. The Constitution took effect on March 4, 1789, and shortly thereafter the Bill of Rights was passed by Congress and ratified by the states as the first ten amendments to the Constitution. The indispensible George Washington became the first president of the United States under the new Constitution.

Problems—Discussing the Constitution

We often forget how much of this was an experiment with an unknown and unknowable outcome. The leadership of George Washington, the genius of Hamilton in running the treasury, low taxes, a hard working public, good luck, and a lot more were all necessary to bring about the new nation’s success. After a few years the men who led the Revolution, signed the Declaration of Independence, put together the Constitution, and established the new government were gone. These men and their writings took on a mythical status. The Constitution became a document for the ages, something sacred. The convention in Philadelphia was believed to be a miracle of Divine Intervention for a nation blessed by God. Looking back all these years later
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it still seems the American Revolution was the result of a series of battlefield miracles, and miraculous documents written by geniuses, all under the guidance of Eternal Providence.

The foundation of the Constitution was a representative government established in the
legislative
branch
by two houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives (the House), and the
executive
branch
operated by the president. The specific powers of each house in Congress and the president were set forth with exactness. Powers not specifically listed were not given. The Senate has two representatives from each state; thus, Wyoming, a state with a small population, has as much power in the Senate as the mega-population state of California. The House of Representatives establishes representation by the population of each state; thus, the more populous states like New York have more representatives than small population states like Maine. Each state is guaranteed at least one representative no matter how small its population. Both houses of Congress must approve a bill before it can become law. The president has the ability to veto bills he disagrees with, but Congress can over-ride his veto with a super majority 2/3 vote. The president cannot submit legislation; however, he enjoys many specifically enumerated powers. Members of the House are elected every two years and members of the Senate every six years; however, only one third of the Senate is elected every two years making the turnover much slower. In theory, every member of the House could be replaced every two years, but only one-third of the Senate could be completely replaced every two years. The president is elected every four years. Each house has a few special powers. The Senate, for example, must approve treaties by a 2/3 vote, and it sits as the judging body in the case of presidential impeachment. The House is the legislative body that all bills for raising revenue must originate in, and it is the body from which articles for impeachment of the president must be issued. The Constitution also established a judicial body, the Supreme Court, but it did not set forth the powers of the court. Justices appointed to the Supreme Court hold their office for life on good behavior. A simplistic Constitutional overview can be found in the rather ancient but easy to understand book,
Your
Rugged
Constitution
by Bruce and Esther Findlay, Stanford University Press, 1969.

The Constitution is a wonderful document; however, it was not and is not perfect. For example, it failed to say what happens if a state wants to leave the union. Can it just up and go without consequences? This omission led to the most terrible war in American history. The Constitution also failed to list the powers of the
Supreme
Court
. As a result, the Supreme Court defined its own powers, and constantly expanded its sway and the dominance of the federal government. In effect, the Supreme Court wrote the Tenth Amendment out of the Constitution. Meanwhile, it wrote in unstated rights by resorting to rather-farfetched arguments about penumbras surrounding the rights given in the Constitution. If the Constitution tried to do anything it was to limit the rights and powers conferred upon the federal government to those written down in the document itself. The Constitution was not supposed to be a flexible “living” document through some weird interpretation of its language. The only flexibility given was the power to amend the Constitution through the stated amendment process. Instead, few amendments are passed; however, the words themselves are given meanings beyond all rational reasoning by the federal courts.

By assigning itself its own powers, the Supreme Court made itself the most dominant institution in the land because it can add to or take away rights and duties listed in the Constitution. No matter how outrageous the decisions nothing can be done about the federal judges. The Constitution places them in office for life on “good behavior.” If a legislator acts irrationally the voters can oust that person from office. Then new lawmakers can change the laws improperly enacted. Not so for the federal judges. No matter how poor their decision there is no recourse for the people to overturn the decision or kick the judge out of office. Can a Constitutional Amendment overturn the decisions? Yes, but that process is all but impossible to complete even against minimal opposition. The powers taken by the federal courts, especially the US Supreme Court, have dramatically altered the balance of power between the government and the people toward the side of the government.