Vernon Real Estate | From States Rights To Federal Power ? A Primer On Political Stagnation By Design
Remembering back to 1776 we often forget that the designers of our Declaration of Independence, and Constitution in 1788, were wealthy landowners and unhappy because England was impacting their personal freedoms. They had no intention of freeing the slaves, although many northern states would have liked to include that. They empowered male landowners with the right to vote ? a small minority at best during colonial times; and of course women could only own property if her husband died and there was no male heir. Furthermore, a father could leave property to his daughter if he had no male children or brothers. In this case ownership would be transferred to the daughter?s husband once she married. A classic example of this situation was George and Martha Washington ? Mt Vernon came from her family. Women could also receive property by a court of law. A penalty for adultery leading to divorce was to give the offender?s property to the wife. As you might expect, women had no voting rights, even if they did own property.
White men, other than property owners, did not receive the vote until 1840; and women not until the 19th amendment was passed; finally being ratified by Tennessee on August 18, 1920, fulfilling the necessary 3/4 of the states. Black men received the right to vote on February 3, 1870 but realistically many could not until the 1960?s Civil Rights Acts. They were also protected from the ?poll tax?, instituted by some states to prevent the poor from voting, when the 24th Amendment was ratified on January 23, 1964. A telling fact is that North Carolina did not ratify this amendment until May 3, 1989 ? 25 years later. Theoretically black women had the right to vote at the same time as the black men.
All the above illustrate that, at least to our founding fathers, ?all men? where not created equal. It has been proposed they only meant the statement to include landowners since in America, as well as England this was considered the ruling class, and therefore, bearing the intelligence to govern others. Today many of our ruling politicians are there because of accumulating vast fortunes or notoriety from being in the public eye. No tests or minimum intelligence is necessary for public service nor is any previous experience required. They can only become unemployed if they can no longer convince the voters to re-elect them to office ? by any (theoretically) legal means.
The basic premise of the Constitution, formed to replace the ineffective Articles of Confederation, was to strengthen the Federal Government. Most of the battles waged among the delegates centered on the status of slavery, and more directly the matter of states? rights. The original Articles of Confederation gave the federal government no power to regulate trade ? interstate or imports ? and had no way to raise money except by the whim of the states. If a state refused to pay nothing could be done. A frightening reminder of how powerless the national government was Shays?s Rebellion, in which farmers refused to pay taxes and took up arms to protect their right not to pay those taxes. Several states even imposed their own duties to protect an individual states? commerce. At the time of their approval the Articles of Confederation were all that could be accepted because of the strong states? right?s sentiments of many of the thirteen states.
The Constitutional Convention addressed these problems and three branches of government were established to quell the states objecting to the additional power given to the federal government.
However, even with these innovations many checks were put in place as most people realize. Several procedures, while not the completely democratic, or totally advantageous, were also instituted. Firstly, while we had a two house legislature only the House of Representatives was elected by the people (again white landowners). The Senators were appointed by the various State Legislators. This continued until the 17th Amendment was ratified by ¾ of the states on April 8, 1912. Utah completely rejected the idea, and the amendment was never ratified by Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, Rhode Island and Florida ? Basically the ?ole south?. Surprisingly, Delaware only ratified the amendment on June 25, 2010- almost 100 years later. While these states did not agree they were nevertheless bound by the amendment and after 1912 senators were elected by the people. Today it is still the state?s governor who will appoint a new senator if the post is left open in any way such as death or when the president taps a sitting senator for a post. That is one of the primary reasons why each party feels pressure to have their candidate in the state houses of the country. This is also why appointments of ambassadors, cabinet positions and judgeships remain very political. Up to Civil War times the president also appointed smaller jobs such as postmasters and revenue agents.
The senate was given several exclusive powers ? the senate ratifies all treaties, approves cabinet positions, federal judge appointments, general grade military officers, and ambassadors. They are also the house that would hold any impeachment trial if the president was charged with a crime. Very telling powers given by our forefathers to keep the federal government in check.
When the president does not agree with any law passed by the legislative branch, he can veto it. This can still be passed with a 2/3 majority of both houses ? not an easy thing to accomplish. With the makeup of the Congress after January 2011 the Republicans will have 241 seats in the House ? i.e. 52.1% ? nowhere enough to override a veto. Of course the senate is still held by a Democratic slim majority ? 53/47. All in all, this further illustrates the checks and balances ? or stagnation ? that is built into our government.
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison have been recognized as the main formers of our constitution. It is very telling that the constitution is loosely modeled on the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions which were a classic statement of states? rights. They read in part:
?Resolved, that the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government; but that by compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States and of amendments thereto, they constituted a general government for special purposes, delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force: That to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party?.each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress?
These also became the basic ?platform? of the original Democratic-Republican Party with both Jefferson and Madison as founding members. Remember the states in 1789 were not at all of one-mind when it came to powers of the federal government. In fact, the constitution?s ratification came only after the first ten amendments commonly known as the Bill of Rights were attached to the original document. Most of these first ten amendments were specifically added to satisfy particular states and delegates who would not support the Constitution without them. Again, the ratification was long and drawn out, and only with the publication of the 85 articles written by a Madison/Hamilton/Jay collaboration, commonly known as the Federalist Papers, was public opinion swayed. With Rhode Island?s ratification on May 13, 1790 the Constitution became effective. Interestingly, Rhode Island only agreed by a 34/32 majority.
Remember the constitution does not specify, nor was there, a two-party system in America for many years. Originally candidate with the largest number of Electoral College votes was elected President and the next most was Vice-President. That was how Jefferson was elected with Adams as his Vice-President ? two men with very different political views. Not until Andrew Jackson in the 1830?s was the Whig Party founded. The Whig Party, with its other members Daniel Webster, William Henry Harrison, and Henry Clay became strong when both Harrison and Zachary Taylor were elected president ? both interestingly dying in office. The Whigs supported the supremacy of Congress over the Presidency and were the party that favored import duties to protect our businesses. Abraham Lincoln was also a Whig until just before the Civil War At that time the slavery issue destroyed the party and the Republican Party was founded. Lincoln joined and was elected president.
While it must be conceded that slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War, the actual root problem was the south?s deep belief in their respective states? rights to have their choice as to whether slavery would be legal within their boundaries. A modern day (post-prohibition) parallel would be states have the right to control alcohol. Some states in fact delegate this down to the community which is why there are several ?dry? counties in states such as Texas. States can also charge a sales tax on items purchased within their state. Such things are common states? rights today. Also realize that while we had a small federal army and navy during the Civil War the majority of the regiments were supplied by the states with each state appointing the regimental colonel. This was the path that led Ulysses S Grant to the Civil War, commanding an Ohio brigade.
States can only raise a police force which has no jurisdiction outside the state borders. This is why bank robbers in the 1920?s merely had to cross over into another state and they then could not be arrested. This was addressed by federal banking laws which made bank robbing a federal crime that was enforced by the FBI.
The state banks were also able to issue their own currency and continued to do so until the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. After 1893 and 1907 financial panics, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was passed. This further strengthened the power of the Federal Government, although, even to today the Federal Reserve is an independent entity and not ?officially? controlled by any elected public official. The President does appoint the Federal Reserve governors but many of the governor?s terms last beyond their appointed presidents. This act created the Federal Reserve System as the nation?s central bank to regulate the flow of money and credit for economic stability and growth. The system was authorized to issue Federal Reserve Notes/Certificates, now the only U.S. currency produced and 99 percent of all currency in circulation. Before this hundreds of banks issued currency backed by the strength of that particular bank and many times not accepted anywhere but at the specific bank.
Franklin Roosevelt probably did the most to limit state powers and increase those of the Federal Government. His broad reaching programs allegedly instituted to help the country climb out a recession actually attempted to transfer more authority to the Federal authorities and specifically the Executive Branch. He tried to pad the Supreme Court in 1937 because they had ruled against him on many issues. He issued more executive orders (3,746) than all the other presidents combined in history addressing such issues as prohibiting the hoarding of gold, the Works Progress Administration, The Federal Real Estate Board, Internment of Japanese Americans ? even those born in America, and completely reorganizing the Executive Office of the President. You might think this was because of WWII but 3,200 were issued before the America joined the war. Most were far reaching and of course usurped the powers of Congress.
Today the president has more power than ever before ? since the Korean War sending troops to far parts of the world has been approved by the president ? not Congress, these have been considered police actions and wars which would have to be declared by Congress. Their only check is not to fund the troops; but once they are in a far-off country not too many members of Congress want to be known as not supporting our troops.
Perhaps with the new makeup of Congress we can get back to some of the stagnation the Constitution was designed to accomplish. With a Democratic majority Congress and President, our country is now in the deepest recession since the 1930?s. The government is bigger than ever and still growing. The Transportation Security Administration has ballooned to 57,000 employees and a budget of $8 Billion. This agency alone has 3,500 administrators making over $105,000 each year. And recent events have shown how inept they can be instituting new procedures.
While we no longer have a king taxing our tea, we have more government and the largest proportional debt in history since we fought World War II. Both Hamilton and Jefferson surely are looking back and wondering what they did wrong.
Rich Moran is a consultant specializing in Marketing services. For more free information on marketing your business or website visit The Langohr Foundation Blog. For information on the Consulting Services of The Langohr Foundation, LLC you may visit the company website.
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ByRichard Moran
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Remembering back to 1776 we often forget that the designers of our Declaration of Independence, and Constitution in 1788, were wealthy landowners and unhappy because England was impacting their personal freedoms. They had no intention of freeing the slaves, although many northern states would have liked to include that. They empowered male landowners with the right to vote ? a small minority at best during colonial times; and of course women could only own property if her husband died and there was no male heir. Furthermore, a father could leave property to his daughter if he had no male children or brothers. In this case ownership would be transferred to the daughter?s husband once she married. A classic example of this situation was George and Martha Washington ? Mt Vernon came from her family. Women could also receive property by a court of law. A penalty for adultery leading to divorce was to give the offender?s property to the wife. As you might expect, women had no voting rights, even if they did own property.
White men, other than property owners, did not receive the vote until 1840; and women not until the 19th amendment was passed; finally being ratified by Tennessee on August 18, 1920, fulfilling the necessary 3/4 of the states. Black men received the right to vote on February 3, 1870 but realistically many could not until the 1960?s Civil Rights Acts. They were also protected from the ?poll tax?, instituted by some states to prevent the poor from voting, when the 24th Amendment was ratified on January 23, 1964. A telling fact is that North Carolina did not ratify this amendment until May 3, 1989 ? 25 years later. Theoretically black women had the right to vote at the same time as the black men.
All the above illustrate that, at least to our founding fathers, ?all men? where not created equal. It has been proposed they only meant the statement to include landowners since in America, as well as England this was considered the ruling class, and therefore, bearing the intelligence to govern others. Today many of our ruling politicians are there because of accumulating vast fortunes or notoriety from being in the public eye. No tests or minimum intelligence is necessary for public service nor is any previous experience required. They can only become unemployed if they can no longer convince the voters to re-elect them to office ? by any (theoretically) legal means.
The basic premise of the Constitution, formed to replace the ineffective Articles of Confederation, was to strengthen the Federal Government. Most of the battles waged among the delegates centered on the status of slavery, and more directly the matter of states? rights. The original Articles of Confederation gave the federal government no power to regulate trade ? interstate or imports ? and had no way to raise money except by the whim of the states. If a state refused to pay nothing could be done. A frightening reminder of how powerless the national government was Shays?s Rebellion, in which farmers refused to pay taxes and took up arms to protect their right not to pay those taxes. Several states even imposed their own duties to protect an individual states? commerce. At the time of their approval the Articles of Confederation were all that could be accepted because of the strong states? right?s sentiments of many of the thirteen states.
The Constitutional Convention addressed these problems and three branches of government were established to quell the states objecting to the additional power given to the federal government.
However, even with these innovations many checks were put in place as most people realize. Several procedures, while not the completely democratic, or totally advantageous, were also instituted. Firstly, while we had a two house legislature only the House of Representatives was elected by the people (again white landowners). The Senators were appointed by the various State Legislators. This continued until the 17th Amendment was ratified by ¾ of the states on April 8, 1912. Utah completely rejected the idea, and the amendment was never ratified by Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, Rhode Island and Florida ? Basically the ?ole south?. Surprisingly, Delaware only ratified the amendment on June 25, 2010- almost 100 years later. While these states did not agree they were nevertheless bound by the amendment and after 1912 senators were elected by the people. Today it is still the state?s governor who will appoint a new senator if the post is left open in any way such as death or when the president taps a sitting senator for a post. That is one of the primary reasons why each party feels pressure to have their candidate in the state houses of the country. This is also why appointments of ambassadors, cabinet positions and judgeships remain very political. Up to Civil War times the president also appointed smaller jobs such as postmasters and revenue agents.
The senate was given several exclusive powers ? the senate ratifies all treaties, approves cabinet positions, federal judge appointments, general grade military officers, and ambassadors. They are also the house that would hold any impeachment trial if the president was charged with a crime. Very telling powers given by our forefathers to keep the federal government in check.
When the president does not agree with any law passed by the legislative branch, he can veto it. This can still be passed with a 2/3 majority of both houses ? not an easy thing to accomplish. With the makeup of the Congress after January 2011 the Republicans will have 241 seats in the House ? i.e. 52.1% ? nowhere enough to override a veto. Of course the senate is still held by a Democratic slim majority ? 53/47. All in all, this further illustrates the checks and balances ? or stagnation ? that is built into our government.
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison have been recognized as the main formers of our constitution. It is very telling that the constitution is loosely modeled on the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions which were a classic statement of states? rights. They read in part:
?Resolved, that the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government; but that by compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States and of amendments thereto, they constituted a general government for special purposes, delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force: That to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party?.each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress?
These also became the basic ?platform? of the original Democratic-Republican Party with both Jefferson and Madison as founding members. Remember the states in 1789 were not at all of one-mind when it came to powers of the federal government. In fact, the constitution?s ratification came only after the first ten amendments commonly known as the Bill of Rights were attached to the original document. Most of these first ten amendments were specifically added to satisfy particular states and delegates who would not support the Constitution without them. Again, the ratification was long and drawn out, and only with the publication of the 85 articles written by a Madison/Hamilton/Jay collaboration, commonly known as the Federalist Papers, was public opinion swayed. With Rhode Island?s ratification on May 13, 1790 the Constitution became effective. Interestingly, Rhode Island only agreed by a 34/32 majority.
Remember the constitution does not specify, nor was there, a two-party system in America for many years. Originally candidate with the largest number of Electoral College votes was elected President and the next most was Vice-President. That was how Jefferson was elected with Adams as his Vice-President ? two men with very different political views. Not until Andrew Jackson in the 1830?s was the Whig Party founded. The Whig Party, with its other members Daniel Webster, William Henry Harrison, and Henry Clay became strong when both Harrison and Zachary Taylor were elected president ? both interestingly dying in office. The Whigs supported the supremacy of Congress over the Presidency and were the party that favored import duties to protect our businesses. Abraham Lincoln was also a Whig until just before the Civil War At that time the slavery issue destroyed the party and the Republican Party was founded. Lincoln joined and was elected president.
While it must be conceded that slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War, the actual root problem was the south?s deep belief in their respective states? rights to have their choice as to whether slavery would be legal within their boundaries. A modern day (post-prohibition) parallel would be states have the right to control alcohol. Some states in fact delegate this down to the community which is why there are several ?dry? counties in states such as Texas. States can also charge a sales tax on items purchased within their state. Such things are common states? rights today. Also realize that while we had a small federal army and navy during the Civil War the majority of the regiments were supplied by the states with each state appointing the regimental colonel. This was the path that led Ulysses S Grant to the Civil War, commanding an Ohio brigade.
States can only raise a police force which has no jurisdiction outside the state borders. This is why bank robbers in the 1920?s merely had to cross over into another state and they then could not be arrested. This was addressed by federal banking laws which made bank robbing a federal crime that was enforced by the FBI.
The state banks were also able to issue their own currency and continued to do so until the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. After 1893 and 1907 financial panics, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was passed. This further strengthened the power of the Federal Government, although, even to today the Federal Reserve is an independent entity and not ?officially? controlled by any elected public official. The President does appoint the Federal Reserve governors but many of the governor?s terms last beyond their appointed presidents. This act created the Federal Reserve System as the nation?s central bank to regulate the flow of money and credit for economic stability and growth. The system was authorized to issue Federal Reserve Notes/Certificates, now the only U.S. currency produced and 99 percent of all currency in circulation. Before this hundreds of banks issued currency backed by the strength of that particular bank and many times not accepted anywhere but at the specific bank.
Franklin Roosevelt probably did the most to limit state powers and increase those of the Federal Government. His broad reaching programs allegedly instituted to help the country climb out a recession actually attempted to transfer more authority to the Federal authorities and specifically the Executive Branch. He tried to pad the Supreme Court in 1937 because they had ruled against him on many issues. He issued more executive orders (3,746) than all the other presidents combined in history addressing such issues as prohibiting the hoarding of gold, the Works Progress Administration, The Federal Real Estate Board, Internment of Japanese Americans ? even those born in America, and completely reorganizing the Executive Office of the President. You might think this was because of WWII but 3,200 were issued before the America joined the war. Most were far reaching and of course usurped the powers of Congress.
Today the president has more power than ever before ? since the Korean War sending troops to far parts of the world has been approved by the president ? not Congress, these have been considered police actions and wars which would have to be declared by Congress. Their only check is not to fund the troops; but once they are in a far-off country not too many members of Congress want to be known as not supporting our troops.
Perhaps with the new makeup of Congress we can get back to some of the stagnation the Constitution was designed to accomplish. With a Democratic majority Congress and President, our country is now in the deepest recession since the 1930?s. The government is bigger than ever and still growing. The Transportation Security Administration has ballooned to 57,000 employees and a budget of $8 Billion. This agency alone has 3,500 administrators making over $105,000 each year. And recent events have shown how inept they can be instituting new procedures.
While we no longer have a king taxing our tea, we have more government and the largest proportional debt in history since we fought World War II. Both Hamilton and Jefferson surely are looking back and wondering what they did wrong.
Rich Moran is a consultant specializing in Marketing services. For more free information on marketing your business or website visit The Langohr Foundation Blog. For information on the Consulting Services of The Langohr Foundation, LLC you may visit the company website.
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Vernon Real Estate | From States Rights To Federal Power ? A Primer On Political Stagnation By Design
Remembering back to 1776 we often forget that the designers of our Declaration of Independence, and Constitution in 1788, were wealthy landowners and unhappy because England was impacting their personal freedoms. They had no intention of freeing the slaves, although many northern states would have liked to include that. They empowered male landowners with the right to vote ? a small minority at best during colonial times; and of course women could only own property if her husband died and there was no male heir. Furthermore, a father could leave property to his daughter if he had no male children or brothers. In this case ownership would be transferred to the daughter?s husband once she married. A classic example of this situation was George and Martha Washington ? Mt Vernon came from her family. Women could also receive property by a court of law. A penalty for adultery leading to divorce was to give the offender?s property to the wife. As you might expect, women had no voting rights, even if they did own property.
White men, other than property owners, did not receive the vote until 1840; and women not until the 19th amendment was passed; finally being ratified by Tennessee on August 18, 1920, fulfilling the necessary 3/4 of the states. Black men received the right to vote on February 3, 1870 but realistically many could not until the 1960?s Civil Rights Acts. They were also protected from the ?poll tax?, instituted by some states to prevent the poor from voting, when the 24th Amendment was ratified on January 23, 1964. A telling fact is that North Carolina did not ratify this amendment until May 3, 1989 ? 25 years later. Theoretically black women had the right to vote at the same time as the black men.
All the above illustrate that, at least to our founding fathers, ?all men? where not created equal. It has been proposed they only meant the statement to include landowners since in America, as well as England this was considered the ruling class, and therefore, bearing the intelligence to govern others. Today many of our ruling politicians are there because of accumulating vast fortunes or notoriety from being in the public eye. No tests or minimum intelligence is necessary for public service nor is any previous experience required. They can only become unemployed if they can no longer convince the voters to re-elect them to office ? by any (theoretically) legal means.
The basic premise of the Constitution, formed to replace the ineffective Articles of Confederation, was to strengthen the Federal Government. Most of the battles waged among the delegates centered on the status of slavery, and more directly the matter of states? rights. The original Articles of Confederation gave the federal government no power to regulate trade ? interstate or imports ? and had no way to raise money except by the whim of the states. If a state refused to pay nothing could be done. A frightening reminder of how powerless the national government was Shays?s Rebellion, in which farmers refused to pay taxes and took up arms to protect their right not to pay those taxes. Several states even imposed their own duties to protect an individual states? commerce. At the time of their approval the Articles of Confederation were all that could be accepted because of the strong states? right?s sentiments of many of the thirteen states.
The Constitutional Convention addressed these problems and three branches of government were established to quell the states objecting to the additional power given to the federal government.
However, even with these innovations many checks were put in place as most people realize. Several procedures, while not the completely democratic, or totally advantageous, were also instituted. Firstly, while we had a two house legislature only the House of Representatives was elected by the people (again white landowners). The Senators were appointed by the various State Legislators. This continued until the 17th Amendment was ratified by ¾ of the states on April 8, 1912. Utah completely rejected the idea, and the amendment was never ratified by Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, Rhode Island and Florida ? Basically the ?ole south?. Surprisingly, Delaware only ratified the amendment on June 25, 2010- almost 100 years later. While these states did not agree they were nevertheless bound by the amendment and after 1912 senators were elected by the people. Today it is still the state?s governor who will appoint a new senator if the post is left open in any way such as death or when the president taps a sitting senator for a post. That is one of the primary reasons why each party feels pressure to have their candidate in the state houses of the country. This is also why appointments of ambassadors, cabinet positions and judgeships remain very political. Up to Civil War times the president also appointed smaller jobs such as postmasters and revenue agents.
The senate was given several exclusive powers ? the senate ratifies all treaties, approves cabinet positions, federal judge appointments, general grade military officers, and ambassadors. They are also the house that would hold any impeachment trial if the president was charged with a crime. Very telling powers given by our forefathers to keep the federal government in check.
When the president does not agree with any law passed by the legislative branch, he can veto it. This can still be passed with a 2/3 majority of both houses ? not an easy thing to accomplish. With the makeup of the Congress after January 2011 the Republicans will have 241 seats in the House ? i.e. 52.1% ? nowhere enough to override a veto. Of course the senate is still held by a Democratic slim majority ? 53/47. All in all, this further illustrates the checks and balances ? or stagnation ? that is built into our government.
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison have been recognized as the main formers of our constitution. It is very telling that the constitution is loosely modeled on the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions which were a classic statement of states? rights. They read in part:
?Resolved, that the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government; but that by compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States and of amendments thereto, they constituted a general government for special purposes, delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force: That to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party?.each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress?
These also became the basic ?platform? of the original Democratic-Republican Party with both Jefferson and Madison as founding members. Remember the states in 1789 were not at all of one-mind when it came to powers of the federal government. In fact, the constitution?s ratification came only after the first ten amendments commonly known as the Bill of Rights were attached to the original document. Most of these first ten amendments were specifically added to satisfy particular states and delegates who would not support the Constitution without them. Again, the ratification was long and drawn out, and only with the publication of the 85 articles written by a Madison/Hamilton/Jay collaboration, commonly known as the Federalist Papers, was public opinion swayed. With Rhode Island?s ratification on May 13, 1790 the Constitution became effective. Interestingly, Rhode Island only agreed by a 34/32 majority.
Remember the constitution does not specify, nor was there, a two-party system in America for many years. Originally candidate with the largest number of Electoral College votes was elected President and the next most was Vice-President. That was how Jefferson was elected with Adams as his Vice-President ? two men with very different political views. Not until Andrew Jackson in the 1830?s was the Whig Party founded. The Whig Party, with its other members Daniel Webster, William Henry Harrison, and Henry Clay became strong when both Harrison and Zachary Taylor were elected president ? both interestingly dying in office. The Whigs supported the supremacy of Congress over the Presidency and were the party that favored import duties to protect our businesses. Abraham Lincoln was also a Whig until just before the Civil War At that time the slavery issue destroyed the party and the Republican Party was founded. Lincoln joined and was elected president.
While it must be conceded that slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War, the actual root problem was the south?s deep belief in their respective states? rights to have their choice as to whether slavery would be legal within their boundaries. A modern day (post-prohibition) parallel would be states have the right to control alcohol. Some states in fact delegate this down to the community which is why there are several ?dry? counties in states such as Texas. States can also charge a sales tax on items purchased within their state. Such things are common states? rights today. Also realize that while we had a small federal army and navy during the Civil War the majority of the regiments were supplied by the states with each state appointing the regimental colonel. This was the path that led Ulysses S Grant to the Civil War, commanding an Ohio brigade.
States can only raise a police force which has no jurisdiction outside the state borders. This is why bank robbers in the 1920?s merely had to cross over into another state and they then could not be arrested. This was addressed by federal banking laws which made bank robbing a federal crime that was enforced by the FBI.
The state banks were also able to issue their own currency and continued to do so until the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. After 1893 and 1907 financial panics, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was passed. This further strengthened the power of the Federal Government, although, even to today the Federal Reserve is an independent entity and not ?officially? controlled by any elected public official. The President does appoint the Federal Reserve governors but many of the governor?s terms last beyond their appointed presidents. This act created the Federal Reserve System as the nation?s central bank to regulate the flow of money and credit for economic stability and growth. The system was authorized to issue Federal Reserve Notes/Certificates, now the only U.S. currency produced and 99 percent of all currency in circulation. Before this hundreds of banks issued currency backed by the strength of that particular bank and many times not accepted anywhere but at the specific bank.
Franklin Roosevelt probably did the most to limit state powers and increase those of the Federal Government. His broad reaching programs allegedly instituted to help the country climb out a recession actually attempted to transfer more authority to the Federal authorities and specifically the Executive Branch. He tried to pad the Supreme Court in 1937 because they had ruled against him on many issues. He issued more executive orders (3,746) than all the other presidents combined in history addressing such issues as prohibiting the hoarding of gold, the Works Progress Administration, The Federal Real Estate Board, Internment of Japanese Americans ? even those born in America, and completely reorganizing the Executive Office of the President. You might think this was because of WWII but 3,200 were issued before the America joined the war. Most were far reaching and of course usurped the powers of Congress.
Today the president has more power than ever before ? since the Korean War sending troops to far parts of the world has been approved by the president ? not Congress, these have been considered police actions and wars which would have to be declared by Congress. Their only check is not to fund the troops; but once they are in a far-off country not too many members of Congress want to be known as not supporting our troops.
Perhaps with the new makeup of Congress we can get back to some of the stagnation the Constitution was designed to accomplish. With a Democratic majority Congress and President, our country is now in the deepest recession since the 1930?s. The government is bigger than ever and still growing. The Transportation Security Administration has ballooned to 57,000 employees and a budget of $8 Billion. This agency alone has 3,500 administrators making over $105,000 each year. And recent events have shown how inept they can be instituting new procedures.
While we no longer have a king taxing our tea, we have more government and the largest proportional debt in history since we fought World War II. Both Hamilton and Jefferson surely are looking back and wondering what they did wrong.
Rich Moran is a consultant specializing in Marketing services. For more free information on marketing your business or website visit The Langohr Foundation Blog. For information on the Consulting Services of The Langohr Foundation, LLC you may visit the company website.
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ByRichard Moran
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Remembering back to 1776 we often forget that the designers of our Declaration of Independence, and Constitution in 1788, were wealthy landowners and unhappy because England was impacting their personal freedoms. They had no intention of freeing the slaves, although many northern states would have liked to include that. They empowered male landowners with the right to vote ? a small minority at best during colonial times; and of course women could only own property if her husband died and there was no male heir. Furthermore, a father could leave property to his daughter if he had no male children or brothers. In this case ownership would be transferred to the daughter?s husband once she married. A classic example of this situation was George and Martha Washington ? Mt Vernon came from her family. Women could also receive property by a court of law. A penalty for adultery leading to divorce was to give the offender?s property to the wife. As you might expect, women had no voting rights, even if they did own property.
White men, other than property owners, did not receive the vote until 1840; and women not until the 19th amendment was passed; finally being ratified by Tennessee on August 18, 1920, fulfilling the necessary 3/4 of the states. Black men received the right to vote on February 3, 1870 but realistically many could not until the 1960?s Civil Rights Acts. They were also protected from the ?poll tax?, instituted by some states to prevent the poor from voting, when the 24th Amendment was ratified on January 23, 1964. A telling fact is that North Carolina did not ratify this amendment until May 3, 1989 ? 25 years later. Theoretically black women had the right to vote at the same time as the black men.
All the above illustrate that, at least to our founding fathers, ?all men? where not created equal. It has been proposed they only meant the statement to include landowners since in America, as well as England this was considered the ruling class, and therefore, bearing the intelligence to govern others. Today many of our ruling politicians are there because of accumulating vast fortunes or notoriety from being in the public eye. No tests or minimum intelligence is necessary for public service nor is any previous experience required. They can only become unemployed if they can no longer convince the voters to re-elect them to office ? by any (theoretically) legal means.
The basic premise of the Constitution, formed to replace the ineffective Articles of Confederation, was to strengthen the Federal Government. Most of the
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