Assignment 5

The Federalist No. 54 James Madison “We subscribe to the doctrine,” might one of our Southern brethren observe, “that representation relates more immediately to persons, and taxation more immediately to property, and we join in the application of this distinction to the case of our slaves. But we must deny the fact that slaves are considered property, and in no respect whatever as persons. The true state of the case is that they partake of both these qualities: being considered by our laws, in some respects, as persons and in other respects as property. This relates to the 3/5 rule which considered every 5 slaves as 3 people when it comes to representation under the Constitution. Southerners considered slaves property until it became an advantage to them to consider them people. The states representation was apportioned by the number of people in each state for the House of Representatives. “ If southern States counted all slaves their representation in congress would increase but so would their share of the government's tax load. Northern States would argue if slaves are property they should be counted in estimates of taxation which are founded on property but excluded from representation based on census. We know how this was resolved in the Constitution so that the southern States would ratify it. ....”. http://www.teaparty911.com/info/federalist-papers-summaries/no_54.htm Alexander Hamilton Federalist 78 There is no position which depends on clearer principles, than that every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the tenor of commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny this, would be to affirm, that the deputy is greater than the principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers, may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid. I think that this is giving power to the Supreme Court to uphold the Constitution and to review decisions in light of this document. The Supreme Court has duty to strike down laws that are in opposition to the Constitution. It is in keeping with the separation of powers and our “checks and balance” system of government. Hamilton was making sure that the legislature would not be able to pass laws that would redistribute wealth.

Assignment 4

Article IV, Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several states. A person charged in any State with treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the Crime. No person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of an Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such service or Labour be due. I chose this Article because it is alarming to me that the Constitution has a clause referring to the escaping of slaves. I am a history major and did not know this fact. It is a disgrace. I know that it was a problem with the Framers who were for the most part against slavery, but knew that if they had a clause freeing the slaves the Constitution would not have passed into law.Read moreShow less

Assignment 3

All Men have a Right to remain in a State of Nature as long as they please: And in case of intollerable [sic] Oppression, Civil or Religious, to leave the Society they belong to, and enter into another.–When Men enter into Society, it is by voluntary consent; and they have a right to demand and insist upon the performance of such conditions, And previous limitations as form an equitable original compact. (p. 40) Samuel Adams We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness (p. 59). Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson I chose these quotes because they refer back to the principles of John Locke who espoused the idea of “natural rights” which consisted of representative government, individual liberty and private property. He is also considered one of the founding figures of The Enlightenment on which our Declaration of Independence is based. G.K. Chesterton considers these ideas to be the “creed of America.”