The government of the United States was created in the late 18th century by men who were reacting to a Europe dominated by imperialism and monarchy. The design of the Constitution reflected the influence of the European Enlightenment and the newly emerging beliefs in democracy, liberty for more individuals in society, and the importance of checking the self-interest inherent in ordinary human interactions. At the same time, the founders were far from unanimous in their admiration for direct democracy, and the Constitution they created reflects restraints on democracy.

THE EUROPEAN ENLIGHTENMENT

The European Enlightenment grew out of the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, a time of amazing discoveries that form the basis of modern science. Scientific success created confidence in the power of reason, which enlightenment thinkers believed could be applied to human nature in the form of natural laws Every social, political, and economic problem could be solved through the use of reason.

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT

Two English thinkers of the 1600s, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, believed that in the "state of nature", people were naturally free and equal, but both believed that freedom led inevitably to inequality, and eventually to chaos. Hobbes and Locke disagreed on the influence of human nature, and they came to very different conclusions as to which form of government worked best.

THOMAS HOBBES

Hobbes explained his ideas about human nature and government in his famous book The Leviathan. Hobbes believed that people were naturally selfish and greedy, and if not strictly controlled, they would fight, rob, and try to control one another. Life in the "state of nature" is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Even though people served self-interests first, they feared violence, particularly violent death. With this fear, they agreed to give their individual power to govern to the sovereign of the "leviathan state" - an absolute monarch, which could impose order and compel obedience. Hobbes concluded that people were unable to govern themselves, but must rely upon the absolute state.

JOHN LOCKE

Locke agreed with Hobbes that humans were basically self-centered, but he believed that they could be rational and even moral. He argued that people had natural rights from the state of nature that included the right to "life, liberty, and property." In his Two Treatises of Government, Locke stated that people formed governments to protect these natural rights, giving up their freedom to govern themselves through a social contract between government and the governed. The only valid government is one based on the consent of the governed. If for any reason the government broke the contract through neglect of natural rights, the people had the right to dissolve the government.

LOCKE IN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

The founders generally were educated men who had read Hobbes and Locke, as well as the French philosophers, such as Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau, who were concerned with freedom, equality, and justice. John Locke, in particular, directly influenced the thinking of the founders, as reflected in the Declaration of Independence. Compare the words of Jefferson with those of John Locke:

LOCKE IN SECOND TREATISE OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT "When any one, or more, shall take upon them to make laws whom the people have not appointed so to do, they make laws without authority, which the people are not therefore bound to obey; by which means they come again to be out of subjection, and may constitute to themselves a new legislature." "Whosoever uses force without right...puts himself into a state of war with those against whom he so uses it, and in that state all former ties are canceled, all other rights cease, and every one has a right to defend himself, and to resist the aggressor..." "A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another..." "[men] have a mind to unite for the mutual preservation of their lives, liberties, and....property." " To great and chief end, therefore, of men uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property...."

JEFFERSON IN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE "When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them..." " But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government..." "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, hat 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."

THE CONSTITUTION

The Constitution reflects the founders' attempt to balance equality with freedom. They generally did not believe that people were fully capable of ruling themselves, but they also wanted to check any tendency toward monarchy. The Constitution is based on two great principles designed to "check and balance" power: separation of power and federalism.

These principles resulted from the agreements and compromises made at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

BACKGROUND TO THE CONVENTION

During the Revolutionary War , the Continental Congress wrote the Articles of Confederation to provide unity for the separate states that loosely formed the new country. The Articles allowed state governments to retain their powers, and the newly formed central government had severe limitations:

• The central government consisted only of a Congress in which each state was represented equally.
• No executive or judiciary branches were created.
• The central government could not levy taxes. It could only request money from the states.
• The central government could not regulate commerce between states. The states taxed each other's goods and negotiated trade agreements with other countries.
• No law enforcing powers were granted to Congress.
• No process for amending the Articles was provided.
• States retained all powers not specifically granted to Congress.

When the war was over, the immediate need for unity was past. States quarreled over borders and tariffs, the country was badly in debt, and foreign countries saw a new country without a strong central government as an easy target. Many leaders began to push for a government strong enough to settle disputes, to regulate commerce, and levy limited taxes. An important turning point occurred when farmers in western Massachusetts, in debt and unable to pay their taxes, rebelled against foreclosures, forcing judges out of court and freeing debtors from jails. Shay's Rebellion was eventually controlled, but it encouraged leaders to seek a stronger central government.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

Fifty five delegates arrived from the thirteen states in May 1787. Most were important men in their states: planters, bankers, businessmen, and lawyers. Many were governors and/or Congressional representatives, and most had read works by Hobbes, Locke, and

French philosophers, such as Voltaire and Montesquieu. Several famous delegates were:

Alexander Hamilton, the leading proponent of a strong, centralized government.

George Washington, the chairman of the Convention, and the most prestigious member.

James Madison, a young, well-read delegate from Virginia, who is usually credited with writing large parts of the Constitution

Benjamin Franklin, the 81 year old from Pennsylvania, who had been a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1776

Absent were Thomas Jefferson, serving as ambassador to France, and John Adams, ambassador to England.

AGREEMENTS AND COMPROMISES

The founders' common belief in a balanced government led them to construct a government in which no single interest dominated. They were concerned with the "excesses of democracy" (Elbridge Gerry, delegate from Massachusetts), demonstrated

by Shay's Rebellion, and they agreed with Locke that government should protect property.

Benjamin Franklin proposed that all white males have the right to vote, but most delegates believed that only property owners should have the franchise. In their view, ordinary people would either scheme to deprive property owners of their rights or become the "tools of demagogues."

The founders' interest in protection of property has led some scholars to question their personal interests as motives in writing the Constitution. Charles Beard argued in An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution, written in 1913, that the founders created a constitution that benefited their economic interests. According to Beard, the major conflicts and compromises resulted from the clash of owners of land as property, and owners of business or commercial interests. Many scholars today disagree with Beard because voting at the Convention did not follow these divisions closely. For example, Elbridge Gerry, a wealthy Massachusetts merchant and politician, refused to sign the Constitution. James Madison and James Wilson, men of modest means, were two of its biggest proponents. However, the founders did tend to base their votes on the economic interests of their states, as reflected in the famous compromises at the convention.

A major issue at the convention was the balance of power between the large states and the small. The large states favored a strong national government which they believed they could dominate, and the small states wanted stronger state governments that could avert domination by the central government. These different interests are apparent in the first discussions of representation in Congress. Most favored a bicameral, or two-house, legislature, similar to the organization of most state legislatures since colonial times.

THE GREAT COMPROMISE (THE CONNECTICUT COMPROMISE)

The delegates from Virginia opened the Convention with their Virginia Plan that called for a strong central government. Although proposed by James Randolph, the plan was almost certainly the work of James Madison, who, along with Alexander Hamilton, reasoned that a suggestion as boldly different from the current government would not be accepted, but would at least might inspire major revisions. Their plan succeeded beyond their hopes. The delegates took the plan seriously, and began the debate with the assumption that the central government would be strengthened greatly. The plan called for

a bicameral legislature: the larger house with members elected by popular vote and the smaller, more aristocratic house selected by the larger house from nominees from state legislatures. Representation in both houses was to be based on wealth or numbers, giving the large states a majority in the legislature. The Virginia Plan also called for a national executive and a national judiciary.

Delegates from the small states countered with the New Jersey Plan, presented by William Paterson. Just as Madison and Hamilton had hoped, the counterplan did not argue with the need for a stronger central government, giving Congress the right to tax, regulate, and coerce states. The legislature would be unicameral, and each state would have the same vote. The delegates from small states were determined that the new legislature would not be dominated by the large states, and the debate between large and small states deadlocked the Convention. Finally, a committee was elected to devise a compromise, which they presented on July 5.

The Connecticut Compromise called for one house in which each state would have an equal vote (The Senate) and a second house (The House of Representatives) in which representation would be based on population. Unlike the Virginia Plan, the Senate would not be chosen by the House of Representatives, but would be chosen by the state legislatures. The Compromise was accepted by a very slim margin, and the Convention was able to successfully agree on other controversial issues.

OTHER COMPROMISES

Another disagreements at the Convention was based on North/South differences, particularly regarding the counting of slaves for purposes of apportioning seats in the House. The South wanted to count slaves in order to increase its number of representatives, and the North resisted. The delegates finally agreed on the three-fifths compromise, which allowed southern states to count a slave as three-fifths of a person, allowing a balance of power between North and South.

Another debate concerned the selection of the president. The initial decision was for the president to be selected by Congress, but the delegates were concerned about too much concentration of power in the legislature. On the other hand, they feared direct election by the people, especially since the House of Representatives were to be popularly elected.

The Compromise was to leave the selection of the president to an electoral college to be chosen by the state legislatures.

All but three of the remaining delegates signed the document on September 17, 1787, with others who opposed it leaving before that. The drafting of the Constitution took about three months, and it has lasted for more than two hundred years.

FEDERALISTS VERSUS ANTIFEDERALISTS

The delegates agreed that the Constitution would go into effect as soon as popularly elected conventions in nine states approved it. The debate over ratification raged in the states, with supporters of the new government calling themselves Federalists, and their opponents, the Antifederalists. Pamphlets, newspapers, and speeches supported one view or the other, with the most famous series of articles known as the Federalist Papers, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. The Federalist #10 argued that separation of powers and federalism check the growth of tyranny: If "factious leaders...kindle a flame within their particular states..." leaders can check the spread of the "conflagration through the other states." Likewise, each branch of the government keeps the other two from gaining a concentration of power.

The Antifederalists were concerned that the Constitution give some assurance that individual rights not be abused by the strong central government. A compromise was

reached with the agreement to add ten amendments that guaranteed individual freedoms and rights. With this agreement, the Constitution was finally ratified by all the states in 1789, and the Bill of Rights was added in 1791.