WordPress.com



January 14, 2021 History Notes 3/5 COMPROMISEQuestion: How would SLAVE states work out their differences with FREE states?Slave states wanted to count slaves for representation in Congress but not for taxation.Free states wanted to count slaves for taxation but not for representation.It was agreed that 3/5 of the slaves would be counted for both representation and taxation.Why compromise at all on the issue of slavery? SLAVERY VIOLATED OUR OWN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE in addition to VIOLATING GOD’S MORAL LAW.But many southern Americans were not ready economically to free their slaves. Owners of large plantations were especially keen on the use of slave labor to plant and harvest crops. DELEGATES WERE CONVINCED THAT THE CONSTITUTION COULD NOT BE RATIFIED WITHOUT COMPROMISING ON THE ISSUE OF SLAVERY NO COMPROMISE—NO CONSTITUTION THE COMMERCE AND SLAVE TRADE COMPROMISEQuestion: How would trade be regulated, particularly the slave trade?And what about TARIFFS?The North favored tariffs on manufactured goods (they had lots of factories)The South was opposed to restrictions on the slave tradeThe COMRPOMISE[1. allowed for a tariff on manufactured goods coming from other countries and 2. it also allowed for the unrestricted trade of slaves for the next 20 years (until 1809). The greatest issue to ever face our country was the practice of slavery. Abolition of slavery would be the most important political topic in our country for the next 75 years. Slavery would lead to a 4 year war where Americans killed other Americans in gigantic numbers. We missed a great opportunity to solve the issue of slavery early in our history! As a consequence, racism continues to be an issue of great controversy and discussion. MORAL QUESTION: What would you have done?SHOULD DELEGATES TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION TOTALLY HAVECONDEMNED SLAVERY AND REFUSED TO COMPROMISE WITH THE SOUTH—EVEN IF IT MEANT SACRIFICING THE CONSTITUTION AS WELL AS THE UNITY OF THE 13 STATES? WITH THE APPROVAL OF THESE COMPROMISES ON SLAVERY and with GOD’S GRACE, DELEGATES TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION appointed JAMES MADISON (with assistance from other delegates) to the task of actually writing the Constitution. Page 2Madison completed the first draft of the Constitution in September of 1787 with 39 delegates immediately signing the new document. But some of the delegates refused to sign. However, their refusal to approve Madison’s Constitution had nothing to do with slavery! SO, why did some of the delegates refuse to sign? These delegates refused to sign the Constitution for fear that government would be too powerful under this new plan. Opponents insisted that specific guarantees for personal freedom would have to be included in writing if they were to sign this document. Let’s now try to understand their concerns. Almost everyone who had ever come to America to live came for FREEDOM—Religious freedom, economic freedom, and political freedom.Early Americans had lived under the rule of English kings and the English Parliament from the time Jamestown was settled until our victory at Yorktown.England had taxed Americans, forced tariffs on them, made it illegal to settle western lands, forced Americans to serve in their military, forced Americans to quarter English soldiers, suspended their legislatures, seized American property, searched our ships without warrants, and steadfastly refused to give Americans representation in Parliament. Therefore, Americans knew what it was like to live under a VERY POWERFUL government! They wanted no part of it! Life under government tyranny was bad enough to convince Americans to go to war to win their freedom. Tyranny was so hateful and bad that Patrick Henry said publicly to ‘GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH’! Smart, thinking, wise Americans were BY NO MEANS going to agree to any form of government that might become TOO POWERFUL like the English had been in its dealings with her 13 colonies. THE FIGHT TO RATIFY THE CONSTITUTION Now that the Constitution was written, the next step was to get it RATIFIED by ALL 13 states, but there would be conflict and disagreement surrounding this process just as there had been disagreement among the delegates to the convention. The conflict would center on this issue: JUST HOW POWERFUL WOULD THE NEW GOVERNMENT BE? . FEDERALISTS V. ANTI-FEDERALISTSSome citizens did not fear the new Constitution as Madison had written it. These people, called the FEDERALISTS, were ready to approve the Constitution without changes. . . Page 3ANTI-FEDERALISTS—were people who opposed the new Constitution for the same 2 basic reasons as the delegates to the convention who refused to sign the new Constitution.1. They wanted the government to guarantee and protect the RIGHTS of INDIVIDUAL CITIZENS2. They also wanted to maintain certain rights for their individual states. Much debate would take place over the next few months among all Americans. It was the primary topic of conversation when citizens gathered at taverns and other community locales.Attempts were made by both groups to persuade as many people as possible.Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay were strong Federalists. They wrote a series of essays titled THE FEDERALIST PAPERS in support of the new Constitution.Many people read the essays written in the Federalist Papers, and many were persuaded to support the Constitution. But the Federalist Papers didn’t persuade everyone. Yet another compromise would be needed to get the Constitution ratified by every state. This new compromise would be called the MASSACHUSETTS COMPROMISE.MASSACHUSETTS COMPROMISE The Massachusetts ratification convention was very contentious with delegates losing their tempers. As in the other states, it was the Federalists v. the Anti-Federalists.2 DELEGATES actually got into a fight on the convention floor.SAMUEL ADAMS & JOHN HANCOCK saved the day with their proposal for a new CompromiseThey proposed a series of Amendments or additions to the Constitution they hoped would win the support of Anti-Federalists: 1. That the new Constitution guarantee in writing certain basic personal freedoms for all American citizens, and 2. That all powers not explicitly given to the national government would be reserved for the states These proposed Amendments assured most Anti-Federalists that our new government would never grow too powerful, so most of them decided to support an AMENDED constitution that specifically included a list of individual-personal rights that government could not take away. JAMES MADISON again was assigned the task of adding the rights agreed to under the Massachusetts Compromise. Rather than changing what had already been written, Madison simply added on to the Constitution with 10 AMENDMENTS. Amendments are changes or additions to an official document such as the Constitution. The first 10 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution have become known as the BILL OF RIGHTS. (We will soon study these 10 amendments.) Page 4The importance of the MASSACHUSETTS COMPROMISE cannot be overstated. Without this compromise there would be neither the Constitution nor its first 10 Amendments—THE BILL OF RIGHTS. With the addition of the Bill of Rights, all 13 states ratified the Constitution, the document on which all of our government rests. It Is regarded as the supreme law of our country. WHAT IS A CONSTITUTION?A Constitution—is a written plan for government that contains the fundamental principles by which a country is to be governed. A constitution serves as the ‘rule book’ that informs government officials of what they can or cannot legally do. In our country, the CONSTITUTION is the SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND.Before we actually examine the document called the Constitution, you must understand the concerns of our founders about government. There are things that we DO NOT WANT our government doing! Think about all the Jews killed by Hitler’s government in Germany during the World War II era. Many of these Jews were GERMAN CITIZENS! Can you imagine anything worse for a government to do than to kill its own citizens? . . There are many less extreme examples of government taking freedom from its citizens. Llet’s make this personal…What if the government arrested your parents for no good reason? Would you care if the government told you where to buy your hamburgers or pizza or enchiladas and how much you had to pay for them? What if government banned home schooling…or your church? Because there were many things that FREEDOM LOVING PEOPLE did NOT want government to control, the Constitution was written to guide the government in what it could legally do but also to put LIMITS on what government could do. THE CONSTITUTION, therefore, was written to INTENTIONALLY LIMIT THE POWER OF GOVERNMENT! It is now time to read ‘CONSTITUTION 101‘ if you have not already done so. ‘Constitution 101’ provides additional insight into why Americans of the 1780s wanted to insure that government could never take their freedoms—that’s why this article talks about TYRANNY PROOFING the Constitution. Not only does it discuss how tyranny proofing was achieved, but it also explains some very important fundamental truths about our Constitution and the government it created. Americans for more than 200 years—and that includes you and me—have benefited and been blessed by what you are now studying! ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download