The Delegation of Sovereignty
Prior to the creation and ratification of the Constitution, Americans struggled with legislatures who had run rampant. This, however, was the doing of the people themselves.
MoreA Blog Exploring American History and Politics
Constitution
Carrying Liberty to Excess
While there were perceptions that America was suffering from a malaise in the 1780s, the political theory at the time had an explanation: licentiousness.
MoreA Perceived Burden of Intolerable Evils
After the American Revolution and after the war with Britain, America was suffering what appeared to be a crisis.
MoreA Supreme Sovereign Power
Despite the fact that the Articles of Confederation loosely held the states together, there was still a remarkable union achieved. There were privileges and immunities granted, “reciprocity of extradition and judicial proceedings among the states,” no “travel and discriminatory trade restrictions between states, and the substantial grant of powers to the Congress in Article 9 […]
MoreCoalescing All the States
Americans had a keen understanding of the idea, popularized by Montesquieu, that “only a small homogeneous society whose interests were essentially similar could properly sustain a republican government.” Gordon Wood, The Creation of the American Republic: 1776-1787, 356. This idea created a fundamental problem for America: it was not a small homogeneous society, and it was rapidly […]
MorePreserving the Health of the Constitution
Corruption was rife in England in the decades leading up to the American Revolution, and Americans were keenly aware of that fact. For many individuals, the English Constitution was viewed as a hollow document, as the crown had taken the power away from all other sources. See Gordon Wood, The Creation of the American Republic: 1776-1787, 34-35. Americans […]
MoreThe Constitution’s Superiority
By the time of the Revolution, the states had begun to take steps toward sustaining themselves after independence from Britain was effectuated. One of those steps was the drafting of constitutions. Constitutions, while understood generally in Britain and elsewhere, had a unique meaning for Americans.
MoreControlling the Governor
By 1776, the states were debating their respective constitutions and the Declaration of Independence was becoming a reality, all of which was fostering an environment of great debate. One part of that debate was what the role of governor should be for each state, and many of the conclusions and decisions made during that debate […]
MoreThe Birth of the Senate
In the earliest years of the American Republic, theories were abound about the proper structure of government to best balance equality and wise decision-making. John Adams stated, in his Thoughts on Government, that “a people cannot be long free, nor ever happy, whose government is in one assembly.” Gordon Wood, The Creation of the American Republic: 1776-1787, […]
MoreThe One, the Few, and the Many
At the time of the American Revolution, it was commonly believed amongst Americans that formulating the ideal government would require a different system than any previously conceived. The Founding Fathers had their own ideas.
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