Prompt
Prompt #7: Analyze how arguments over the meaning and interpretation of the Constitution affected US politics from early republic through reconstruction periods.
Context
The United States government is composed of three branches functioning on the checks and balances system. With this system comes the natural tension between conflicting views as
different topics arise. This results in the creation of various political parties whose platforms develop and change over the course of history in response to current events..
Thesis Statement
Throughout the growth and expansion of the US (early republic 1780’s­ reconstruction ear 1890’s), differing views on states vs national rights and human rights caused the evolution
of various political parties
Evidence
Analysis
Revolution/Early Republic Era of 1775-1820
Revolution/Early Republic Era of 1775-1820
1) SecondContinentalCongress: May 10th, 1775. All thirteen
1) The Second Continental Congress, a meeting that at the time was topic secret and highly
colonies, except for Georgia, agreed on a war strategy against the British
controversial with the general public, ended with the signing of the Constitution of the United
(who were attacking the US at the time). At the meeting, the representatives
States. Even after signing it, disputes between delegates at the conference arose . Some
wrote the Declaration of Independence as a way to explain their secession
argued that the government should have a strict interpretation, while other prefered a more
from Britain and to establish a new set of rules for the new federal
loose interpretation of the rules. Either way, it shows that directly after creating this
government.
document, two very different sides started to form. You could say that after the constitution
was created, it brought forth both the best and worst of the American government.
2) ArticlesofConfederation: Created November 15, 1777.
Outlined what the state’s rights were and allowed the states to hold
2) The Articles of Confederation was argued on by two different sides; The first was the
some power, instead all of it being in a central government.
“Federalists”. The federalists were America’s first political party. While being led by
Alexander Hamilton, the party tried to accomplish two things; To get states to ratify the
3) ConstitutionalConvention: Took place May 25th to September
17th, 1787 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia. Delegates from every state met
Constitution and to get the Bill of Rights put into the Document as well. The other party, the
to discuss how they wanted the government to be run. They originally met
“Anti-Federalists”. They didn’t want the Constitution to be adopted by the states because
they thought the Constitution gave too much power to the central government. They did,
to discuss revising the Articles of Confederation, but quickly changed their
minds after discussion arose and a majority of the group thought an
however, agree that on the Bill of Rights, which helped the transition between the Articles of
Confederation to the Constitution much easier. The original problems with the Articles, and
entirely new draft would be more appropriate.
the reason that there was a constitution created, were that states were only allowed one vote
4) BillOfRights: 1791. Acted as a compromise between the
Federalist and Anti-Federalist. Anti-Federalists feared that the
regardless of size; congress didn’t have the right to tax states; there was no national court
and any amendments needed a unanimous decision to be put into place.
constitution would take individual rights and put too much emphasis on
the government. This lead to the 10 amendments being added to the
3) Following the 100 day meeting, the delegates in Philadelphia finally created the Constitution
constitution.
of the United States of America. This document became the center point for many human
right arguments. It’s beginning lines, “All men are created equal” soon became a
5)“Allmenarecreatedequal”: This quote in the constitution was
controversial topic during heated discussions on the topics of slavery and women’s rights.
the centerpoint of much dispute between pro
The constitution created the federal government in the US and, with the help of the Bill of
and anti-slavery advocates.
Rights, help limit the power the government could have on it’s citizens.
6) ElasticClause: The “Elastic Clause”, highlighted in Article 1,
Section VIII of the Constitution states that congress has “To make all Laws
4) The Bill of Rights, as stated previously, was the compromise between the Federalists and
Anti-Federalists on the Articles of Confederation’s movement into the Constitution. Alexander
which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the
Hamilton, who led the Anti-Federalists, saw the Bill of Rights as a way for the government to
foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the
abuse the civilian’s rights and that government officials who broke them would be thrown out
Government of the United States”
of office. The federalists, on the other hand, saw it as a way to list common human rights that
7) FederalistParty: Founded in 1792, the Federalist party was the
every “man” should have.
first political party in America. They ran the government until 1801. They
were supported by rich bankers and businessmen. Wanted a strong,
5) This quote, which is at the very beginning of the Constitution, brought up must dispute about
what those words really meant, especially on the topics of slavery, which was very prevalent
nationalistic government.
at the time, and woman’s rights, which came later. When writing the Constitution, the writers
8) Democratic-RepublicanParty: Established 1791. Opposite of the
might have thought that this would include every person, white or black, man or woman, but
Federalist. Thought that there should be more “local” power. They wanted
the loose interpretation of the words made it so that only white males had any real rights in
strict interpretations of the Constitution.
America at this time.
9) SupremeCourt: Established 1789, they act as an interpreter for
the United States Federal Constitution and its actions.
6) The elastic caused brought a large amount of argument between people who believed the
constitution should have loose interpretation and those who thought the constitution should
Antebellum Period 1820-1850
be taken very strictly. Examples can be seen in the National Bank and McCulloch v.
1) Industrial Revolution:
a) InternationalEconomicRelations: As the Industrial
Maryland
7) The Federalist party’s main ideologies were making sure that the government didn’t have too
Revolution swept the United States in the early
much power, allowing individuals to have certain rights, establish a large amount of
1820’s, the US economy had to compete with
American Nationalism, and create a “traditional conservatism”.
International Market.
8) The Democratic-Republican party, which later became the Jeffersonian Republicans,
b) InternalLaborUnions: As factory workers were the
opposed the Federalist party. They wanted to establish a “Jeffersonian Democracy” that
most common job, the laborers formed labor unions
would benefit the common folk, which relates to how Jefferson became so popular; he was
in an attempt to gain more rights in the work place.
able to gain a large support of the common man to back his ideologies and ideas.
2) ExpansionofFranchise: The right to vote
9) The Supreme court act as the final say in all high ranking cases. Important cases are
3) JacksonianEra: Andrew Jackson’s presidency and the
Marbury v. Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland, and Dred Scott v. Sandford.
continued conflict between the Democrat-Republicans and the
Federalists.
Antebellum Period 1820-1850
1) The industrial revolution turned the government mindset from maintaining a union but
a) First Charter of the Bank of the United States
toward economic prosperity.
b) South Carolina’s Tariff Nullification
4) WhigParty: Competing party during this time.
5)
Campaigning: Political parties begin to advertise and market
their candidates to increase voting polls.
Civil War and Reconstruction 1861-1877
1) Northvs.South - Slavery vs. Antislavery
a) Missouri Compromise 1820: Missouri would be
admitted as a slave state-all other territories north of
the 36’30 line would be added as free states, all
south would be slave states. (Regarding the western
territory especially) - repealed by the Kansas
Nebraska Act
b) Succession: Southern states leave union establishment of the Confederacy.
i)
Lincoln continues to act like they are
apart of the U.S.
2) Democrats, Republican, Radical Republicans
a) 13th, 14th, 15th amendments
i)
13th - frees the slaves
ii)
14th - citizens of the U.S.: all citizens
granted equal protection and rights
(except women)
iii)
15th - the right to vote to all men (not
women)
b) Congress - Radical Republican, President (Lincoln) Republican in actions
3) Reconstruction - Punish the south? vs. “Bind up the nation’s
wounds”
a) Lincoln’s assassination
b) Johnson as president - southern senator who
remained loyal to the union during the war
i)
awful president, eventually just became
overruled by congress who had the
majority
c) Freedmen’s Bureau - federal government agency,
responsible for keeping newly established black
citizen’s best interests in mind. Jobs, food, money,
land, ex.
i)
Became corrupt, not very effective
d) Grant as President - Elected because of Civil War
accomplishments. Good at following orders - not
good at leading the country.
i)
Congress gains majority - Grant=obsolete
e) Force Acts - establishment of military occupation in
the South - attempt to have social persecution of
blacks stop.
i)
Compromise of 1877 - ends southern
occupation, pretty much agrees to more
black persecution being allowed - despite
laws - troops out of south, both sides are
happy - black population loses.
f)
KKK - example of discrimination of blacks in the
south
g) 1877 Republican Rutherford B. Hayes presidentpart of compromise - Ends reconstruction era.
4) Women? - Black men get rights, where does that lead women
a) “All men are created equal”
a)
As the competition to survive in the international market grew, the United States
government passed various rules, regulations and tariffs to ensure the domestic
economy stayed alive during this time. The government, due to this, became
economic based working as the main regulator of the economy by passing Tariff
Bills that taxed imported cotton and woolen cotton, the most important raw
material for American Industry. Politics changed during this time as it moved from
maintain a stable government to focusing on maintain a competitive capitalist
economy.
b) Labor Unions forced the government to work WITH the greater population to
ensure prosperity and happiness inside America’s domestic industry. Through
means of unionizing, wage workers were able to gain many rights in the workplace
such as a standard minimum wage and regulation of working hours.
2) The expansion of Franchise, or the right to vote, dramatically changed modern democracy of
the time. As the land requirements for voting decreased, the demographics of the voting
population (still white male) changed the tides of voting- they avoided a vote to the typical
“upper class politician”. This prompted many political disputes over decisions and issues
relating to the government . The debates resulted in the creation of political parties which
rested on platforms that took sides to the debates. To gain more voters, political parties
adopted different methods of winning the average male vote. Some of these methods included
the spoils system- promising governmental positions for a vote- and patronage- placing ads
and announcements in regular printed pieces- as made famous by President Martin Van
Buren. *
3) Andrew Jackson was a war hero, loved politician but most importantly, a common man..
This was the campaign plan the Democrat-Republicans relied on as he ran for office. His
easily relatable life and personality opened the door of politics for any man whom wished to
pursue a career in politics in contrast to the stigma of politicians being upper class, highly
educated folk. This changed the face of politics from being a world outside of the common
man’s control to placing all the power right in their hands.
a) Jackson ordered the first charter of the Bank of the United States.This created
much political turmoil as it resulted in the state banks losing the ability of
processing much of the money flow therefore taking away their power and placing
it in the National Bank. This was a typical debate of state vs. federal power as the
Democratic-Republicans pushed for a more centralized, national power and the
Federalist demanded the states retaining their own power.
b) During Jackson’s presidency, congress passed a protective tariff (tax on foreign
imports). This tariff increased the price of incoming raw material mainly consumed
by the south. South Carolina, in reaction, attempted to nullify (not implement tax
law in state). This was eventually deemed unconstitutional but led to increased
political tension between those who believed in a strict interpretation- that tax law
was meant to be created + implemented by federal gov’t­ and those who had a
loose interpretation- that since it isn’t directly state in constitution, tax
implementation belongs to the states under the 10th amendment- of the
constitution.
4) During this time, the Whig Party both rose and fell. They were the Democrats greatest
competition for votes. Evangelical Protestants of the time tended to lean more toward the
Whig Party . Their platform consisted of loose economic policy, equal class power and moral
reform in society and in the government
5) During this rise of prominent political parties, campaigning entered the hemisphere of
political elections. Campaigning included creating posters, propaganda, touring the country
giving speech, meeting voters- basically, advertising and selling the candidate to voters. This
is at the root of all political elections even to this day.
*The other greatest force on the increase in the popularity of democracy came from the Anti-Masonic
Party. This party, founded in Europe, functioned as an underground order speaking out against
monarchy. Early members included George Washington, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson. The party
separated and morphed into the Democratic-Republicans, Federalists and Whigs.
Civil War and Reconstruction 1861-1877
1) Arguments between the North and South over slavery/ extent of state vs. national law lead to
rising tensions, and the emergence of various parties - new laws passed/overridden.
2) 13th, 14th, 15th amendments- reconstruction- Lincoln is Republican in views- doesn’t reveal
the true cause of the war until 2nd inaugural address. The amendments show legal growth
towards equality, socially people are still stuck in the mindset of segregation. Rising tensions
between Republican and Democrat, as well as Republican and Radical Republican. Congress
vetoes multiple presidencial bills.
3) tensions over how to deal with the south after the war. Laws=equal, Social=not equal
4) Women were another factor of the equation/dispute of equality in the constitution, however
aren’t really included in the discussion for years to come.