The Constitution: Why A Republic?
Winning the War of Independence brought a brand-new difficulty to the American people: what sort of federal government should they pick for their brand-new nation? Robert George, Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, explores the issues the founders dealt with at this pivotal moment in history.
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Script:
Against all chances, the Americans won their War of Independence.
Their success brought a brand-new difficulty– no less daunting. What sort of government should they pick for themselves?
How could they guarantee that the tyranny of the English king George III would not be replaced by a homegrown tyranny?
One possibility was to establish an American monarchy with a better king. That was appealing for some, especially due to the fact that they had an exceptional individual for the task– General George Washington.
To his legion of admirers, the fact that he did not wish to be king made him a lot more appealing candidate.
The other possibility was to develop a republic, a federal government of and by the individuals and their representatives.
This option came with a big problem. Historically, republics like those in ancient Greece and Rome had always stopped working. And, when they failed, they were usually replaced by the really worst– most oppressive– kinds of tyranny.
May there be a way to make republicanism work– and last? To structure a constitution that would secure the new American republic from the social and political pathologies that had destroyed republics throughout history?
America’s Founding Fathers– men like Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison– believed they had answers.
They had run the risk of everything when they declared their independence from England; they wanted to run the risk of everything once again to develop a new, different, and much better kind of republic.
The secret, they all concurred, was to develop structural limits on power– the power of anyone, and any institution, working out governmental authority.
In the summertime of 1787, in among the most innovative acts in human history, these men (minus Jefferson and Adams who were serving the nation abroad) fashioned a nationwide federal government divided into 3 separate parts or branches– the legislative (Congress), the executive (the president), and the judicial (the courts). Congress would make laws, the executive would carry out the laws and the courts would settle disagreements developing under the Constitution and laws of the United States.
Dividing power would avoid power being focused in any one branch– the concept of checks and balances. Additionally, the central federal government would be limited to the powers particularly handed over to it, having no powers beyond those enumerated.
Where then would most of the powers of government reside? The response was with the states.
This was not, as some wrongly expect, done to protect slavery. Rather, it was done out of the commonsense belief that those public authorities nearer to individuals would naturally be more accountable and responsive to the people.
Simply to ensure no one missed out on the point, after connecting a Bill of Rights to the Constitution, the Founders enshrined this concept in the Tenth Amendment.
” The powers not entrusted to the United States by the Constitution, nor restricted by it to the states, are booked to the States respectively, or to individuals.”
In short, whatever the Constitution does not specifically hand over to the nationwide government comes from the states and the people.
The power of the states was also limited by constitutional prohibitions in specific areas, either since power in those areas had been entrusted specifically to the national government– such as the power to enter into treaties with other countries– or because the Framers did not want federal government at any level to have certain powers– such as the power to give titles of nobility, something incompatible with republicanism.
For the full script, go to: https://www.prageru.com/video/the-constitution-why-a-republic
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Winning the War of Independence brought a brand-new obstacle to the American people: what sort of government should they pick for their brand-new country? Robert George, Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, checks out the issues the founders faced at this pivotal minute in history.
This solution came with a big issue. Historically, republics like those in ancient Greece and Rome had actually always stopped working. And, when they stopped working, they were usually replaced by the extremely worst– most overbearing– types of tyranny.
