The sixth amendment guarantees a speedy public trial by jury. It specifies that the accused shall be fully informed of the accusation, shall be confronted with the witnesses against him or her, shall have the power to subpoena witnesses for his or her defense, and shall have, access to legal counsel.
The seventh amendment guarantees jury trials in civil cases, and the eighth prohibits excessive bail, unreasonable fines, and “cruel and unusual punishments.”
The ninth and tenth amendments are special: The ninth explicitly provides that the enumeration of rights in the Constitution does not deny others retained by the people. The tenth expresses the “doctrine of reserved powers”: all powers not delegated to the United States are reserved to the states or the people.
Distilled within the Bill of Rights is what most people would consider the very essence of all that is most valuable in the idea of the United States of America.
Secretary Hamilton
Among the most influential members of Washington’s cabinet was Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. He not only developed a strong financial program for the infant nation but also used finance to unify the United States and to elevate federal authority over that of the states. He proposed a plan whereby the federal government would assume all debts incurred by the several states during the Revolution and pay them at par value rather than at the reduced rates some states had already negotiated on their own. Hamilton reasoned that this policy would demonstrate the nation’s financial responsibility and ultimately improve its standing among other nations and its ability to conduct commerce. Even more important, the plan would demonstrate to the world that the federal government, not the individual states, was the responsible contracting party in all international commerce and foreign affairs. Despite great resistance from the Southern states, Hamilton’s plan was enacted by Congress.
Equally controversial was Hamilton’s proposal to create the Bank of the United States. Fearing that this plan would concentrate far too much-power in the central government, Thomas Jefferson led the opposition against the proposal within Washington’s cabinet. He argued that the bank was unconstitutional, because the tenth amendment granted to the states and the people rights and powers not explicitly given to the United States. If this provision was breached by the creation of the bank, what other powers would the federal government usurp?
Jefferson’s view of the Constitution became known as “strict construction.” Hamilton, in contrast, supported the constitutional view that became known as “loose construction,” arguing in support of it the doctrine of “implied powers.” Hamilton declared that the framers of the Constitution could not possibly have anticipated all eventualities and contingencies; therefore, it is impossible to list all the powers the federal government may assume. In the case of the Bank of the United States, Hamilton held, the Constitution does grant the federal government the power to tax, and taxation implies the creation of a place to keep the revenue collected—namely, a bank.
The disagreement between Jefferson and Hamilton formed the foundation of the American two-party political system, with either party more or less defined and distinguished by its view of the nature of the federal government. Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican party believed in a restrained central government that allowed a great measure of power to individuals and states; Hamilton’s Federalist party stood for a relatively powerful and active central government, which claimed for itself the lion’s share of authority. The dynamic, shifting balance between these two poles of opinion has defined the lively American political scene ever since the days of the first president. Over the years, the running dialogue has sometimes erupted into ugly argument and even terrible violence—as in the Civil War. Yet the two-party system has also insured a government and society that is never stagnant and always open to change and challenge.
The Least You Need to Know
The key to the Constitution is a strong central government that is itself governed by a system of checks and balances.
In addition to the nation’s first president, George Washington, the defining personalities of the early republic were Thomas Jefferson (who favored the forces of liberal democracy) and Alexander Hamilton (who favored a powerful central government).
Word for the Day
The eagle on the Great Seal of the United States of America holds in its beak a ribbon on which the Latin motto e pluribus unum is inscribed. The words mean “from many, one” and express the formidable nature of the task that faced the founding fathers: to forge a single nation from several states and many individuals. The motto was chosen by a committee appointed by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, and was officially adopted on June 20, 1782. The phrase is a quotation from “Moretum” by the Roman poet Vergil (70-19 B.C.) but was borrowed more immediately from Gentleman’s Magazine, a popular British periodical on whose cover the phrase had appeared for many years.
Main Event
In August 1786, armed mobs of beleaguered farmers began forcing the closure of courts in Massachusetts’s frontier counties. A charismatic Revolutionary War veteran, Daniel Shays (ca. 1747-1825), emerged as the leader of what came to be called Shays’s Rebellion. It was not until January 25, 1787, that a state militia force was able to disperse rebels in Springfield.
Word for the Day
Bicameral literally means “two-chambered” and refers to a type of legislature consisting of two groups of representatives. In the case of the British Parliament, the two houses are the House of Lords and the House of Commons; in the case of the U.S. Congress, they are the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Word for the Day
The framers of the Constitution wanted to avoid election of the president directly by the people. As ultimately provided in the Constitution, each state has as many electors as it has senators and representatives combined. Together, the electors constitute the Electoral College. Originally, the electors were voted into office by the state legislatures. This evolved into election by the people. (Today, we may believe that, every fourth November, we are voting for a president, but actually, we are voting for electors pledged to cast their votes for a particular candidate.)
Stats
Of the 85 Federalist essays, most scholars agree that Hamilton wrote 52, Madison 28, and Jay 5.