Plan for the Day
- Discussion Post #3–Due Friday, 9/19, 11:07pm
- Another love song?!?
- Meat Loaf “You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)” (cold opening)
- The lyrics to the chorus
- Jeffrey Rosen’s Ch. 1: “Order: Twelve Virtues and the Pursuit of Happiness”
- Justice Louis Brandeis on Freedom of Speech
- The Articles of Confederation
- Logical Fallacies (time permitting)
- The Bill of Rights
- Democracy/Liberty/Freedom/ETC. quotation:
- “I like much the general idea of framing a government which should go on itself peaceably, without needing continual recurrence to the state legislatures.
….
There are other good things of less moment. I will now add what I do not like. First the omission of a bill of rights providing clearly and without the aid of sophisms for freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against standing armies, restriction against monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force of the habeas corpus law, and trials by jury in all matter of fact triable by the laws of the land and not by the law of Nations.
….
Let me add that a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.
–Thomas Jefferson. “Letter to James Madison” 20 December 1787. Teaching American History.
- “I like much the general idea of framing a government which should go on itself peaceably, without needing continual recurrence to the state legislatures.
Why is Jefferson focused on the government propensity to squash rights? The phrase “against every government” implies something and demonstrates, perhaps, a fear he has.
Jeffrey Rosen’s Ch. 1: “Order: Twelve Virtues and the Pursuit of Happiness”
Let’s head back to Tuesday’s page (9/16) and cover the rest of Jeffrey Rosen’s chapter. I’m pretty sure we’re starting from Las Vegas, but let’s go over a couple definitions:
- virtue: from Merriam-Webster
- a) conformity to a standard of right : morality
- b) a particular moral excellence
- What’s virtue showing?
- freedom: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action
- Look at the rest of the definitions.
Articles of Confederation
Before going onto the Bill of Rights, I wanted to make sure you were aware of the first constitution of the United States: The Articles of Confederation (1781-1789).
- Created a weak national government influenced by colonists’ distrust of centralized power
- No executive or judicial branch
- Could not tax or print money
- Economic problems: No single currency, trade barriers between states, severe recession
- Failed to provide for common defense or economic stability
- Crises Under the Articles of Confederation
- Shay’s Rebellion: Debt-ridden farmers rebelled and the federal government was too weak to respond
- Spanish Blockade of the Mississippi River: Difficult to negotiate or force a resolution due to the absence of a real head of state. Additionally, the absence of a national navy impaired military efforts to stop the blockade.
- Algerian piracy: No navy to protect merchant ships
George Washington and James Madison were particularly worried about the country under these Articles, but they weren’t alone. In Ariticle III, the document establishes:
a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defence, the security of their Liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretence whatever.
According to the National Archives, under the Articles of Confederation, “Congress was attempting to function with a depleted treasury; and paper money was flooding the country, creating extraordinary inflation.” Therefore, delegates held a Constitutional Convention in May 1787, and “[b]y mid-June the delegates had decided to completely redesign the government. After three hot, summer months of highly charged debate, the new Constitution was signed, which remains in effect today.”
The Bill of Rights
We’ll go over the reasons why the Bill of Rights was included, but these first 10 amendments were needed to quell criticism of the Constitution by establishing rights for individuals. Let’s see what can be said about these for the rest of class.
- 1st- free expression (e.g., freedom of speech, press, assembly, petition for redress of grievances), freedom of religion (e.g., free exercise and establishment clauses)
- 2nd- Protects the right to keep and bear arms.
- 3rd- The right against quartering (allowing soldiers to use their homes).
- 4th- Bars the government from unreasonable search and seizure of an individual or their private property.
- 5th- Provides several protections for people accused of crimes: right to a grand jury, a person can not be tried twice for the same offence (double jeopardy), people have the right against self-incrimination and cannot be imprisoned without due process of law.
- 6th- The right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury.
- 7th- Extends the right to a jury trial in Federal civil cases.
- 8th- bars excessive bail and fines and cruel and unusual punishment.
- 9th- States that listing specific rights in the Constitution does not mean that people do not have other rights that have not been spelled out.
- 10th- reserves all powers to the state that are not allocated to the national government and do not violate the Constitution.
- This is the source of the doctrine of Federalism, where power is shared between the states and the national government.
Next Week
Make sure you do Discussion Post #3 by Friday, 9/19, 11:07pm.
We’ll pick up where we left off if we didn’t get through the Bill of Rights. For Tuesday, 9/23, we’ll cover key amendments; then, on Thursday, 9/25, we’ll start covering the Federalist Papers–we’ll be reading three of them, but James Madison’s Federalist Paper #10 will be our first.