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Rise of the Constitution · Saberian History Lectures

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Wires on. OK, so today we're actually talking
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about the rise of the American Constitution.
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So let's just first sort of broad stroke what
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we've covered so far. Yes. Yes. OK, so what we
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had going on. So first you have the period of
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early colonization. That we can say is roughly
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1606 to what? I mean, you can probably say 1689
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is a nice cut mark. Maybe 1660s, we'll just say
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1660s. So you have early colonization, you have
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what I call the mercantilist period, when they
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realize, oh hey, these people are worth money.
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So we can say 1660 to probably 1763. So 1660,
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the opening of the plantation, 1763. proclamation
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line. Then you have the Revolutionary period,
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which really, if you think about it, the Revolution,
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the Declaration of Independence is 1776, but
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had there been a protest movement well before?
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Yes. So we can think of that as 1763 -2, and
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this is where life gets kind of funny, because
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most historians say, okay, 1763 to 1783. 1763
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with the royal proclamation line, and the beginning
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of tensions with the American colonists. 1783
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is the treaty of Paris that ended the war. And
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then, now, this sort of continues with, and we
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can talk about this as I use the term early republic.
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The early republic goes from 1783 to, 1816. Now,
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we're not there yet. That's actually, I want
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to say chapter eight goes all the way to 1816.
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What's kind of awkward, and I kind of chose to
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go one through seven on the midterm, that the
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first half be only seven chapters and the second
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half be eight, mainly out of necessity because,
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one, the books were four days delayed, and because
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I needed to get the midterm in by next Friday.
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So, you know, if I'd had one more week, we would
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have included chapter eight, but whatever. Okay,
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so we left off. Battle of Yorktown. The British
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had surrendered. De facto, the American Revolutionary
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forces had operational control over what we now
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call or what we would call the United States
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of America. The war is not officially over until
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the Treaty of Paris 1783. Now, what do I mean
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by de facto versus official? Official means I
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have a piece of paper that says it's over. De
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facto is situation on the ground. Everybody good?
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Okay. So, the states come together under the
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Articles of Confederation. Now, a little bit
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later I am going to probably post to Canvas a
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copy of the Articles of Confederation. I do want
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to get into them with some detail, but a nice
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way of saying it is this. The Articles of Confederation
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were a, it was a governing document for the relations
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between the states. And that marker looks horrible.
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Let's go with the green. Okay. It was a economic
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and military alliance, and it was a loose economic
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and military alliance between the states. Now,
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I'm gonna blank this out, I'm gonna put the lights
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back on because I don't need the map just yet.
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Set the bloody remote down and I don't know where
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I put it. Whatever. All right I'll just turn
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the lights on and then we'll just figure it out.
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Okay, so I put it back in the drawer. Yes, I
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did. All right. Okay, so it was a loose economic
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and military alliance between the states. Why
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do you suppose they opted for a loose economic
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and military alliance between the states where
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in order to pass a law you had to have nine out
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of 13 states agree, and actually let me go back
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just for a moment, there was a Congress that
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was one chamber, one state, one vote. In order
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to pass a law, you didn't just have to have a
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majority, you had to have a supermajority, and
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a couple of other things that were kind of funny,
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Congress could not levy taxes and had no armed
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force of its own, but instead relied on state
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militia. And there was no executive. No executive
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and no judiciary. Why? I mean, if I'm looking
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at this, is this designed to pass laws and is
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this designed to work? No. And why is it not
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designed to work? You need overwhelming consensus
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to get anything passed and you actually need
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the buy -in of the states where it's going to
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happen. In other words, you did not have sovereignty
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lying with the federal government, but instead
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you had sovereignty lying with the states. A
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modern analogy might be the European Union, that
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the European Union has member states, but each
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member state only has one vote, and the European
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Union has limited executive power, relying instead
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on the executive powers of the several member
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states. The European Union does not have its
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own unified army, but instead relies on the military
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powers of the member states. Does that make sense?
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Now, there's a very good reason why the first
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generation coming out of the revolution chose
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a deliberately difficult system for their government.
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And this is something I want you to stick in
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your mind for a moment. Because the majority
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of your education in civics has rested on what
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I call the progressive ideology. The progressive
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ideology is a centripetal ideology. By the way,
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I just used a physics word for you. I'm going
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to write it on the board. Centripetal. Center
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seeking. And it's sort of this idea. that a more
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centralized government is a better one, so that
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you started under the Articles of Confederation,
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and that didn't work, and then we resorted to
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the Constitution, which was a more centralized
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government. Then you had this allegation of states'
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rights, and then that didn't work, so we had
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a civil war, and that created a more powerful
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federal government. And then you had the Great
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Depression, and that created a more powerful
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federal government, and now we're in this great
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system where we have this very strong centralized
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government. I have terrible news for you. The
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idea is this. The government that works well
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works well at oppressing its people. So you design
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a system where the government doesn't work well
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so that people can be free. So every time you
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see some fool on the news... saying, oh my god,
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there's gridlock in Washington. The system doesn't
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work. And you say, well, yes, actually it is
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working because it wasn't supposed to work. Gridlock
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is good. What happens if you don't have gridlock?
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Oh, well, there are countries that don't have
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gridlock. Cuba, China, North Korea, you have
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a one -party state. Gridlock is where the factions
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within the government prevent abrupt and decisive
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change. The good thing about gridlock is if one
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of the factions has a really bad idea, the other
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one will try to stop them. If no one says no,
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we may as well be the Lemmings running off the
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cliffs. You get the idea? The Lemmings explain
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everything. All right. Now, getting back to the
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point, the other reason why they chose a deliberately
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weak government is what did they just finish
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revolting from? A really strong government. Because
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if I look at the British parliamentary system,
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it took a simple majority. It had, on the theory
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of virtual representation, and it did have executive
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powers because they were the ones who chose the
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prime minister, they were the ones who chose
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the cabinet officers, and by the way, did parliament
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have the power to collect taxes? Yes, and by
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the way, what was the entire war about? Taxes.
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So what did they do when they had to create a
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government? Regulating life between the states
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is that they deny them the ability to have to
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levy taxes. And, by the way, how did parliament
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impose its will on the colonies? With an army.
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And what's the one thing that the Articles of
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Confederation didn't give Congress unless there
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was a national emergency? An army. One of the
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other things that you and I are running into
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is we live in a world where we idolize and glorify
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our veteran class, where we see the Army as the
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protector of the nation state. For much of the
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Republic, a professional Army was viewed as an
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instrument of oppression. It was the British
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regulars living among the colonies on the frontier
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that was one of the grievances that launched
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the revolution, where they were seen as an instrument
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of oppression. We, in modern times, again, several
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hundred years later, our attitudes have changed.
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Now, moving on down the road. Now, even though
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prima facie doesn't look like the Articles of
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Confederation would get anything done, they do
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actually get some stuff done. So, first up. So
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the Articles of Confederation start in 1781 and
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they don't end until 1788. The Confederation
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Congress manages to achieve a couple of great
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things. The first and most important is they
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ended the war with England. 1783, Congress ratifies
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the Treaty of Paris ending the war. The second
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thing is you have a series of land ordinances
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in 1784 and 1785, which is where I'm going to
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take you back to the map. Okay, so here's your
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basic idea. Every time I bust out with a map,
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I sort of feel like Dora the Explorer. I am the
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map. Question? Stretching. All right. I am the
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map. All right. So one of the terms of the peace
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treaty and one of the causes of the war was the
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land west of Appalachia before the Mississippi.
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Because remember, west of the Mississippi is
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currently Spanish Louisiana. Everybody good so
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far? So remember, you had Pennsylvania and Virginia
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here. And then you had the proclamation line
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at Appalachia. But the Americans have now prevailed
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over the British and are now free to settle this
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area, which is called, and I would write this
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down, the Ohio River Valley. Let me say it again,
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the Ohio River Valley. So the Ohio River Valley
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is the area west of Virginia all the way to the
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Mississippi. Okay? Say it again? Yes. It's okay.
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If you misspell it in a rush on the test, it's
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not the end of the world. If it was a formal
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essay, I would be highly upset with you because
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even spell check knows how to spell Mississippi.
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All right. Now, the thing that they're running
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into is, so this land, in other words, you have
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the existing states giving up land that was originally
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part of their charter to the federal government.
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In other words, now the states have borders.
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Now the other thing is they needed to cede it
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to the federal government because in the case
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of Massachusetts and Mississippi and Connecticut,
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some of these were actually conflicting claims.
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So if you notice that this part of what is now
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modern -day Ohio was ceded by Connecticut. In
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other words, it was part of Connecticut's original
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charter, even though Connecticut's way over here
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and Pennsylvania's in the middle. So there was
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a certain logic to giving up those claims. Now
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here's the other thing that's kind of interesting
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and remarkable. These new territories under the
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northwest ordinance and also the southwest ordinance
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We'll get into the difference of them in a little
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bit. So Under the land ordinances these new lands
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were territories that could become equal states
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Keyword equal states Why is it so important that
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those territories could become equal states when
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their population became high enough? What could
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they have been besides equal states? Colonies,
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provinces, vassal states. Why do you suppose
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that the Confederation Congress wanted the people
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who settled out there to be equal states instead
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of being provinces or vassal states or colonies?
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Because why did this war happen again? Because
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they were colonies who didn't have a say in Parliament.
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Make sense? So you see in what unfolds they are
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trying not to be the English system they revolted
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against. So far, so good. OK. So the question
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becomes, how do you have this, for lack of a
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better word, oh, and one other thing that's kind
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of interesting and should be noted is that the
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Articles of Confederation were a written constitution.
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Did the British have a written constitution?
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No, they had a written bill of rights. They did
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not have a written constitution. And so one of
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the things that you have, you have a written
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constitution not to enumerate the powers of this
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new national government, but rather to restrict.
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Does that make sense? Because what were they
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afraid of? They weren't afraid of people getting
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out of line. They were afraid of what? government
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getting out of line and by the way how often
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of that do we even hear today in our modern politics
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where people complain about this law this regulation
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this tax policy this dumb idea is it not ubiquitous
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yes because the more things change the more they
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stay the same okay and so on the face of it you're
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like okay I've got this great system that you
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know it keeps people free so why did they abandon
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it Why did they abandon it? To give rise to a
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national constitution and a national government
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with a national army and national powers of taxation
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that would pave the way. Yes, for modern times,
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I doubt they saw that coming. But to a government
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that, yeah, can oppress people. That a government
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presently who has a national security agency
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that, you know... captures metadata on all of
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your phone calls. How did we get from A to Z?
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By going step by step. Yes? The chains of bondage
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are forged one link at a time. And by the way,
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is it often that the chains of bondage, are they
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forged in peace and tranquility, or are they
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forged by fear and fire? Fear and fire. Which
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is that you had series of catastrophic events
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that actually paved the way for a national constitution.
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The first of this, one of the major expressions
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of it was Shays' Rebellion. Shays' Rebellion
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and the lack of a federal army illustrated the
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weakness of the Articles of Confederation. Actually,
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there were two things that got this going. One
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was Shays' Rebellion and the other was the Newberg
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Conspiracy, that you had a plebiscite and a near
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coup. that got the ball rolling for a federal
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constitution. So remember on, I believe it was
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Wednesday, we talked about the economic destabilization
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of North America, yes? So you had a whole bunch
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of downtrodden peasants who couldn't, you know,
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downtrodden people, huh? Oh, was it Monday then?
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No, it was Friday. Okay, I know in one of these
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conversations we talked about the economic destabilization,
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yes? Y 'all remember the economic destabilization,
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yes? Okay, so these people, poor people, economic
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destabilization, not happy, start an uprising.
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There is no uprising to put it, or there is no
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army to put it down. Washington and a whole bunch
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of people lead an army of veterans to put down
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the rebellion and it scared the crap out of people.
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And they're like, wait a sec, our revolution
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was almost undone by these levelers and so something
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has to be done about it. And so... You have the
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Constitutional Convention. Now, let's get to
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the American Constitution. So, first of all,
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not everyone was on board for a national constitution.
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You had some people who were like, wait a sec,
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we're making a central government. What did we
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just finish fighting? A central government. But
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we need a central government, otherwise the peasants
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are going to take over the place. Fear of communism
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goes all fear of not really communism. Some of
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these guys were levelers We talked about levelers
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on Friday. So a couple of things one They did
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not trust democracy Democracy is government by
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the mob So article one and I am going to have
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to give you a copy of this We are going to get
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more into the Constitution on Monday. Article
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one is the legislative branch Okay, so when they're
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doing the legislative branch thing originally
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They were looking at, so they wanted two houses.
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By the way, who had two houses? Well, the Romans
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did, and so did the British. They had a House
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of Lords and a House of Commons. Now, the term
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that we would actually use is bicameral, which
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literally means bi meaning two, camera means
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chamber. Most of you don't look at your camera
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as if it's a chamber because you're looking at
21:20
your phone. Okay? So you had a house of representatives
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where the number of seats was based on population.
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Now, originally in the Virginia plan, as proposed
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by Madison, that both the upper and the lower
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house would be based on population. What would
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be the problem of having both houses based on
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population? Bigger states would overrule whom?
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Smaller states. And the smaller states already
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had the problem of being overruled by England,
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and they didn't want to do that again. Then you
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had the New Jersey plan brought to you by New
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Jersey, which was a small state who said, no,
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let's keep the one state, one vote thing. And
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then there was the Connecticut Compromise, which
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wound up being in the original Constitution.
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So you have the Senate, which is two votes per
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state. Congress had a series of enumerated powers.
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There are certain things that Congress was supposed
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to do, and certain things that Congress was not
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supposed to do. All right? Now, if you have a
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upper house that is based on population, what
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now matters? Population. And what counts as a
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person? The slave states had large populations,
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but were they large free populations? No. And
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so you already had the beginnings of the division
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within the country on the issue of slavery because
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the northern states said, no, those people aren't
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free, they don't count. And so you have the northerners
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saying that those people should not count at
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all. you have the southerners saying that they
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should count as full persons, and so what they
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do, they rigged up a compromise. Three -fifths
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compromise. Illustrating two things. One, they
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wanted a number that was a factor of 100, because
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you count people by hundreds, and second, that
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even from the beginning, the American people
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were awkward at math. Three -fifths, what? Four
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-sevenths wasn't hard enough? I say this having
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taught math for several years. Okay, now, article
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two. the executive branch. They wanted a strong
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executive. Now it's actually kind of interesting
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because they wanted someone to be the commander
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in chief of the army and the navy and the several
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state militia. By the way, why would you want
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a commander in chief? Well, considering you're
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writing this constitution after somebody just
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had to put down an uprising, that's a bit of
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a problem, isn't it? All right. So now comes
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the question of how do you choose a president?
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The electoral college. Now this is where I literally
24:23
want to go on TV and yell at people when they
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talk about abolishing the Electoral College.
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Because most of what, and even in your books,
24:32
they do not get the appropriate nuance. Now here's
24:34
the thing that's kind of funny. It's not true
24:38
democracy at all and it wasn't supposed to be.
24:40
The Electoral College was not Madison's idea.
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It wasn't Hamilton's idea. It was the idea of
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Governor Morris of Pennsylvania. The electors
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is the sum of the House members and senators
25:09
from each state. Oh, by the way, what type of
25:21
people lived in Pennsylvania? And Germans. The
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institution of the Electoral College goes back
25:30
to the Holy Roman Empire in Germany. So, what
25:34
you had was after the breakup of the Holy Roman
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Empire, there were 16 prince electors who would
25:39
choose who would be their governor. Now, again,
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what do you do when you're trying to create a
25:43
governing system for a confederated government?
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You look at the last confederated government.
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And what was the last confederated government?
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The Holy Roman Empire. It wasn't a measure of
25:53
elite control. It was a nod to state sovereignty,
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states that chose their senators and actually
25:58
states that chose their House members. Now, here's
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the funny one. So, if you won first place in
26:06
the electoral college, you got to be president.
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If you won second place, you got to be vice president.
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How's that awkward? The vice president, the number
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two man in the government, is the president's
26:28
not closest ally, but closest enemy. Now, this
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is not the idea of keep your friends close, but
26:35
keep your enemies closer. Is this a system designed
26:37
to work? No, this actually goes back to the Roman
26:41
idea of having two consoles that could contradict
26:44
each other. Because do I want this government
26:47
to work well? No, because the government that
26:50
works well works well at oppressing its people.
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So I divide the executive to make sure it doesn't
26:55
work well, and I divide the legislative to make
26:58
sure it doesn't work well. I deliberately make
27:01
every aspect of this government painfully hard
27:03
such that the only way it works is overwhelming
27:07
consensus. And so when I say to you, when people
27:14
complain that our government doesn't work, laugh,
27:22
because it wasn't supposed to. Now, we can laugh
27:28
a bit harder, because a lot of things weren't
27:32
supposed to happen. Do you presume that 18th
27:33
century man would presume that this little amalgam
27:40
Would create planes that fly and create second
27:44
suns on planet Earth that could destroy all of
27:48
humanity They couldn't envision a world of nuclear
27:52
weapons. And so this is why it's a little bit
27:55
awkward But you do have to laugh or else you'll
28:02
cry now After they rig up this constitution in
28:06
1787, they are in for a fight because not everybody
28:10
is on board with the idea of a strong central
28:12
government. You have a fight over ratification
28:16
with a group of people called the Anti -Federalists.
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And let me tell you what the Anti -Federalists
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were afraid of. The rise of an elite population
28:27
disconnected from the people in a swamp land
28:31
between Maryland and Virginia. I'm not entirely
28:38
sure they were wrong. And on that happy note,
28:41
have a great weekend.