Roger Davidson Summary

A Letter to the President of Congress, in Convention, September 17, 1787 stating that they now have the honor to submit to the consideration of the United States in Congress assembled, that Constitution which appeared to them the most adviseable. The power of making war, peace and treaties, but the impropriety of delegating such extensive trust to one body of men is obvious.

76) With this in mind the framers carefully and purposefully crafted a Constitution that divided federal powers between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. This division of power gave each branch the ability and authority to control the others through a specific system of checks and balances. One check on Congress was the design of a bicameral system where Congress was divided into the House of Representatives and the Senate. Members of the House of Representatives would be elected by majority popular vote making them the direct representative of their constituencies. Members of the Senate would be elected by state legislatures making them direct representatives of the states, and proponents of the state’s rights and sovereignty. Joseph Story (1833) suggests that one main reason for the mode of appointing the Senate was to introduce a powerful check upon rash legislation, and prevent the national governments encroachment on the powers of the states (p.183). However, in passing the 17th Amendment the mode of electing the Senate as a means of partitioning federal and state power collapsed leaving the states unprotected from abuses of the central government.

The Constitution gave sole authority to declare war, as well as raise and support an Army and Navy, to the legislative branch. Furthermore, Congress was granted the power of the purse. Modeled after the British Parliament’s control over the King through the control of money, the framers of the constitution created a separation of powers supported by the philosophy of Locke and Montesquieu, oversight through funding. The frames intent for these powers would enable Congress to balance the authority of the President, the Commander in Chief, and submit him to Congressional approval for the use of force.

Moe and Howell point out that the Founders of the Constitution had agreed on an incomplete contract that does not explicitly state what decisions should be made under all current and future contingencies, but builds a governing structure consisting of the president, Congress, and the courts. It also shares powers among them, specifies procedures for public decision-making, and offers a framework of rules that allows leaders to make public decisions as well as handle any contingencies that may come up. The authors then explain that the three branches would fight with each other

Congressional authorization is the ability to empower and allocate funds, which supports Congress with an effective tool for omission and authority of intelligence activities. Congress is expected to have more power than the President and the Supreme Court. Its powers are also known to be Constitutional as well as evolutionary (ushistory). After the Senate as well as the House of Representatives approves a bill or proposed law, it then becomes an actual law. These two houses also share other powers, that involve coin money, the power to declare war, establishing rules of naturalization as well as immigration, raise an army and a navy, regulate commerce, and set up the federal courts along with their jurisdictions (ushistory). Although Presidents can have authority to act without Congressional authorization when necessary for the nations security, it would be better if they did seek Congressional authorization before acting or making any important decision regarding the nations security, in order to preserve Constitutional checks and balances, as well as make the right decisions and protect the President politically.

The Articles have brought the United States to the point of humiliation. The vast majority of the people believe the state of the nation is in turmoil. A list of issues has been compiled such as large accumulation of debt, territories possessed by foreign powers, lack of a military, lack of money, decrease in property value, no credit available, lack of commerce, and over all lack of respect as a nation. Hamilton’s first and most important complaint is how the “principle of legislation in a collective manner creates multiple authorities” (Hamilton 2009, 15); therefore, the laws under the national government become merely suggestions to the states, and any changes that should be necessary have to come with the approval of all 13 states, essentially limiting any change. Secondly, congress has no army, and cannot enforce taxation laws over individuals. In Federalist 23, Hamilton argues for what powers the national government should have in order to provide for the nations defense, preserve peace, and regulate commerce, but in order to accomplish these, the government should be able to, with limitless goals, raise an army and a navy, and “the person charged with attaining the end, ought to possess the

He saw the inability of Congress to enforce decisions that were plainly in its area, the inability of the Confederation to achieve unanimous agreement on amendments favored by the majority of states and attempts by several of the individual republics to secure by separate legislation ends that called imperatively for common action (Robertson). He asked could uniformity be actually secured within that relatively small but just as important place where nearly everyone agreed that uniformity was needed. His answer was no. Although new grants of power were required in order to perfect the definition of decisions that belonged to the government’s hands, the most complete authority would still prove insignificant unless the general government was actually obeyed. Constitutional reform, to be effective, would require two further changes: the people, from whom all authority derived, would have to ratify the work of the Convention; and the general government would have to be empowered with a right to veto all state laws. The sovereign people were the only ones who could remake the state as well as the federal constitutions, commanding the cooperation of the local governments where general interests were involved. The local legislation, formerly from the power of the Britain, might make it possible for the confederation government to guard its limited preserve against encroachments by the states. As well as to restrain the states from discomforting and taking advantage of each other and even from oppressing the minority within themselves by paper money which favor the interest of the majority. Thus, James Madison carefully distinguished this defensive power from the positive responsibilities the central government would have, and he insisted that he favored it because it struck him as the minimal connection of the “local sovereignties consistent with a lasting union” (Robertson). He had long ago concluded that the union would

Not a lot of time went by after the Articles of Confederation were applied before people started to describe the powers of the Congress as ‘wholly inadequate’. Even before they were enforced, Alexander Hamilton had

Beginning with the Articles of Confederation, our nascent country began its path to self-governance. No longer “property” of the British Empire, the task at hand was how to effectively govern these newly formed states. Apparently a fan of symmetry, the

There were significant differences between the governance system under the articles of confederation and the new constitution. The weaknesses of the later caused bad experiences and the clamor for a new constitution. For instance, under the articles of confederation, congress had no power over interstate or foreign commerce (Constitution Society, n.d). States made their decisions that were not always in the best interest of the whole nation. In addition, all federal laws were enforced by the states because congress did not have the capacity to implement them. The outcome is that some laws were ignored or misinterpreted (Ablavsky, 2014). This paper compares and contrasts the form of governance under the Articles of Confederation

The constant theme throughout Relic is that the ineffectiveness of the American governing system originates with the Constitution itself. From Howell and Moe’s perspective, the Constitution has failed to evolve with the expansions and the needs of the country, with the biggest issue resting with the Legislative Branch (Howell and Moe xii). As a result of the Framers' fear of an overly authoritative executive, Congress was imbued with the most power.

Socratic 2.In Article 1 section 8 it says Congress also is in charge of creating money, maintaining the military, declaring war on other countries,and [commerce clause:] regulating commerce between states and with other countries. As you can see it

Congress is a vital component of our government. It has a great amount of authority over foreign affairs, a bicameral legislature which seeks to balance power, as well as having power over economic matters under Article I Section 8 of the Constitution (The Logic of American Politics, 219). The failures of the Articles of Confederation called for a stronger government demanded by the people of America. The Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches were created thus Congress was formed. These powers of Congress have much control under the branches of government, being able to deal with affairs outside of the country as well as having the Senate and House of Representatives. The structure of Congress

Throughout the history of this nation, the Constitution, from the formation to the execution thereof, has set forth the precedent for the demonstration of excessive federal power that is clearly illustrated by history and modern America. Sufficient documentation to back up this premise includes primary documents such as James Madison’s Federalist No. 10, the Constitution of the United States, and other historical pieces. Ample consideration should be given to the paramount decisions of America’s elected officials in critical moments as well in the very construction of the American system of government that favors federalism.

Every Friday night for the last six months, Roger and Gordon had their weekly date night. They had agreed all those months ago that they needed at least one day a week to themselves, to be a couple and not have to worry about anything else. For Gordon, that meant no talking about his music, for Roger, it meant no answering work emails every ten seconds. The two had made compromises, laying the ground rules early to prevent squabbling. They had agreed that they needed some disconnect, a time for just them, where they wouldn't argue about work or life or being a responsible adult. They could just be Gordon and Roger, and it was simple as that.