Eleanor Finch
Political parties are an institution that developed outside the limits of the written constitution of the United States.
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| Institution developed outside the limits of the US Constitution | Political parties |
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Political parties
The United States Constitution does not mention political parties or provide any guidance on how they should choose their candidates. However, political parties emerged through the rancorous debate over the shaping of the Constitution and the subsequent issues that followed based on its interpretation.
During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, two factions emerged: the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, wanted a strong national government in which state governments were subordinate to the national government. They supported the interests of commerce and industry and close ties to Britain. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalists, led by Thomas Jefferson, wanted a decentralized agrarian republic in which the federal government had limited power and states' rights were prioritized.
The Federalists and Anti-Federalists became the first major political parties in the United States, firmly established by the presidential election of 1796. The creation of the National Bank, which Hamilton supported to give the government financial stability, was another issue that prompted the formation of these parties. The Federalists were in favour of this, while the Anti-Federalists opposed it, fearing the centralized power of a national bank.
Over time, the Anti-Federalists, initially referred to as Republicans, became known as Democratic-Republicans. The two-party system evolved, with the Democratic Party becoming the left-of-centre party since the New Deal, and the Republican Party becoming the right-of-centre party. Today, several third parties also operate in the U.S., including the Constitution Party, the Green Party, the Alliance Party, and the Libertarian Party.
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Anti-Federalists
The Anti-Federalists were a loose coalition of late-18th-century politicians, including popular figures such as Patrick Henry, who opposed the creation of a stronger US federal government and the ratification of the 1787 Constitution. The Anti-Federalists believed that the Constitution, as drafted, would lead to a loss of individual liberties, an erosion of state sovereignty, and the potential for the rise of tyranny. They advocated for a more decentralized form of government with greater protections for individual rights and stronger representation for the states. Principally, they were afraid that the national government would be too powerful and would, thus, threaten states and individual rights. They believed that the Constitution would be oppressive and that it needed a Bill of Rights. They also feared that the position of president, then a novelty, might evolve into a monarchy.
The Anti-Federalists were strong in the key states of Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia, and they were more likely to be small farmers than lawyers and merchants, coming from rural areas rather than the urban areas represented by the Federalists. In North Carolina and Rhode Island, they prevented the ratification of the Constitution until after the new government had been established. The Anti-Federalists published a series of articles and delivered numerous speeches against the ratification of the Constitution. These writings and speeches have come to be known collectively as The Anti-Federalist Papers.
The Anti-Federalists' opposition to the ratification of the Constitution was an important factor leading to the adoption of the Bill of Rights. The Federalists agreed to consider amendments to be added to the new Constitution, helping to ensure that the Constitution would be successfully ratified. James Madison, a Federalist, introduced draft proposals of what would become the first ten amendments of the United States Constitution, including the Tenth Amendment, which reinforced the reservation of powers to the states or the people. Thus, the arguments of the Anti-Federalists influenced the formation of the Bill of Rights.
In summary, the Anti-Federalists were a political movement that opposed the creation of a stronger US federal government and the ratification of the 1787 Constitution. They believed that the Constitution would lead to a loss of individual liberties and state sovereignty. Their opposition played a key role in the adoption of the Bill of Rights, which helped assuage critics and ensured the successful ratification of the Constitution.
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Slavery
The United States Constitution, drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1789, did not contain the words "slave" or "slavery" in its text. However, it directly addressed American slavery in at least five of its provisions and indirectly protected the institution in other sections. The Constitution's protection of slavery is considered its "biggest flaw" by many.
The Three-Fifths Clause (Article I, Section 2, Clause 3) counted three-fifths of each state's slave population towards that state's total population when apportioning the House of Representatives. This gave Southern states with large slave populations more representation in the House and the Electoral College. The Slave Trade Clause (Article I, Section 9, Paragraph 1) prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808, ensuring the continuation of the slave trade for two decades after the Constitution took effect.
The Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2) required that escaped slaves be returned to their owners. This clause, like the others, avoided using the explicit word "slave," referring instead to "persons held to service or labour in one state." The omission of the word "slave" from the Constitution was intentional, as the framers recognised that it would sully the document.
The framers of the Constitution, many of whom owned slaves, believed that concessions on slavery were necessary to gain the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. They were convinced that if the Constitution restricted the slave trade, southern states like South Carolina and Georgia would refuse to join the Union. This sidestepping of the slavery issue left the seeds for future conflict, as the institution of slavery and its consequences formed the line of discrimination between northern and southern states.
While the Constitution protected slavery, it did not grant national legitimacy to the institution. The political theory embodied by the Declaration of Independence was incompatible with slavery, and the framers took pains to avoid constitutional recognition of slavery where possible. The Constitution's protections of slavery were legal but not legitimate, and they existed within a broader context of state-level institutions that were largely outside the purview of the federal government.
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Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance, officially titled "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States North-West of the River Ohio", was adopted on July 13, 1787, by the Confederation Congress. It was an organic act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States, creating the Northwest Territory, the new nation's first organised incorporated territories between British North America and the Great Lakes to the north, the Ohio River to the south, and the upper Mississippi River to the west. Pennsylvania formed its eastern boundary.
The ordinance superseded the Land Ordinance of 1784 and 1785, which had outlined the future formation of states within the region and how the Confederation Congress would sell the land to private citizens. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established the concept of fee simple ownership, where ownership was in perpetuity, with unlimited power to sell or give it away. This was considered the "first guarantee of freedom of contract in the United States".
The ordinance provided a method for admitting new states to the Union from the territory. It outlined a three-stage process: firstly, a congressionally appointed governor, secretary, and three judges would rule; secondly, an elected assembly and one non-voting delegate to Congress would be elected when the population of the territory reached "five thousand free male inhabitants of full age"; and thirdly, a state constitution would be drafted and membership to the Union requested when the population reached 60,000.
The Northwest Ordinance also listed a bill of rights, guaranteeing religious freedom, the right to a writ of habeas corpus, the benefit of trial by jury, and other individual rights. It encouraged education and notably forbade slavery. This prohibition had the effect of establishing the Ohio River as the geographic divide between slave states and free states from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River.
The ordinance was considered one of the most important legislative acts of the Confederation Congress, setting a precedent for the expansion of the federal government westward with the admission of new states.
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Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the first 10 Amendments to the United States Constitution. It was developed to address the objections raised by Anti-Federalists and to limit the powers of the government. James Madison, then a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, proposed a series of Constitutional amendments, including one that would have added introductory language stressing natural rights to the preamble. Madison's changes were presented as a list of amendments that would follow Article VII. The House approved 17 amendments, of which the Senate approved 12, which were sent to the states for approval in August 1789. Ten amendments were approved (or ratified).
The Bill of Rights spells out Americans' rights in relation to their government. It guarantees civil rights and liberties to the individual, such as freedom of speech, press, and religion. It sets rules for due process of law and reserves all powers not delegated to the Federal Government to the people or the states. The First Amendment provides several rights protections, including the right to express ideas through speech and the press, to assemble or gather with a group to protest or for other reasons, and to ask the government to fix problems. The Fourth Amendment safeguards citizens' right to be free from unreasonable government intrusion in their homes through the requirement of a warrant.
Despite its existence, the Bill of Rights had little judicial impact for the first 130-150 years of its existence. By the beginning of the 20th century, racial segregation was legal and sex discrimination was firmly institutionalized. Legal immigrants were deported for their political views, and members of minority religions were victims of persecution. The Bill of Rights was also not intended to protect all the people - women and Native Americans were left out. It was not until 1920 that women gained the right to vote, and it took nearly 135 years for Native Americans to be granted U.S. citizenship.
The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution because the Constitution lacked limits on government power. The amendments of the Bill of Rights add to the Constitution specific guarantees of personal freedoms and natural and legal rights. The Tenth Amendment reinforces the principles of separation of powers and federalism by providing that powers not granted to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved for the states or the people.
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Frequently asked questions
Political parties.
The US Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America.
The US Constitution was written in 1787.
The US Constitution includes information on the structure and powers of Congress, such as the number of senators per state and the powers that the body exercises.
