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CHAPTER 4: THE FORMATION OF A NATIONAL GOVERNMENTOUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORYbalancing sectional economic interests;for settling arguments as tothe powers, term, and selection ofthe chief executive; and for solvingproblems involving the tenure ofjudges and the kind of courts to beestablished.Laboring through a hot Philadelphiasummer, the convention finallyachieved a draft incorporating ina brief document the organizationof the most complex governmentyet devised, one that would be supremewithin a clearly defined andlimited sphere. It would have fullpower to levy taxes, borrow money,establish uniform duties and excisetaxes, coin money, regulate interstatecommerce, fix weights andmeasures, grant patents and copyrights,set up post offices, and buildpost roads. It also was authorized toraise and maintain an army andnavy, manage Native American affairs,conduct foreign policy, andwage war. It could pass laws fornaturalizing foreigners and controllingpublic lands; it could admit newstates on a basis of absolute equalitywith the old. The power to pass allnecessary and proper laws for executingthese clearly defined powersrendered the federal governmentable to meet the needs of later generationsand of a greatly expandedbody politic.The principle of separation ofpowers had already been given a fairtrial in most state constitutions andhad proved sound. Accordingly, theconvention set up a governmentalsystem with separate legislative,executive, and judiciary branches,each checked by the others. Thuscongressional enactments were notto become law until approved bythe president. And the presidentwas to submit the most importantof his appointments and all his treatiesto the Senate for confirmation.The president, in turn, could be impeachedand removed by Congress.The judiciary was to hear all casesarising under federal laws and theConstitution; in effect, the courtswere empowered to interpret boththe fundamental and the statutelaw. But members of the judiciary,appointed by the president and confirmedby the Senate, could also beimpeached by Congress.To protect the Constitution fromhasty alteration, Article V stipulatedthat amendments to the Constitutionbe proposed either by twothirdsof both houses of Congress orby two-thirds of the states, meetingin convention. The proposals were tobe ratified by one of two methods:either by the legislatures of threefourthsof the states, or by conventionin three-fourths of the states,with the Congress proposing themethod to be used.Finally, the convention facedthe most important problem of all:How should the powers given tothe new government be enforced?Under the Articles of Confederation,the national government hadpossessed — on paper — significantpowers, which, in practice, hadcome to naught, for the states paidno attention to them. What was tosave the new government from thesame fate?At the outset, most delegates furnisheda single answer — the use offorce. But it was quickly seen that theapplication of force upon the stateswould destroy the Union. The decisionwas that the government shouldnot act upon the states but upon thepeople within the states, and shouldlegislate for and upon all the individualresidents of the country. Asthe keystone of the Constitution, theconvention adopted two brief buthighly significant statements:Congress shall have power ...to make all Laws which shall benecessary and proper for carryinginto Execution the ... Powersvested by this Constitution in theGovernment of the United States.... (Article I, Section 7)This Constitution, and theLaws of the United States whichshall be made in Pursuancethereof; and all Treaties made, orwhich shall be made, under theAuthority of the United States,shall be the supreme Law of theLand; and the Judges in everyState shall be bound thereby,any Thing in the Constitution orLaws of any State to the Contrarynotwithstanding. (Article VI)Thus the laws of the United Statesbecame enforceable in its own nationalcourts, through its own judgesand marshals, as well as in the statecourts through the state judges andstate law officers.Debate continues to this dayabout the motives of those whowrote the Constitution. In 1913 historianCharles Beard, in An EconomicInterpretation of the Constitution,argued that the Founding Fathersrepresented emerging commercial-capitalistinterests that neededa strong national government. Healso believed many may have beenmotivated by personal holdings oflarge amounts of depreciated governmentsecurities. However, JamesMadison, principal drafter of theConstitution, held no bonds andwas a Virginia planter. Conversely,some opponents of the Constitutionowned large amounts of bondsand securities. Economic interestsinfluenced the course of the debate,but so did state, sectional, and ideologicalinterests. Equally importantwas the idealism of the framers.Products of the Enlightenment, theFounding Fathers designed a governmentthat they believed wouldpromote individual liberty andpublic virtue. The ideals embodiedin the U.S. Constitution remain anessential element of the Americannational identity.RATIFICATION ANDTHE BILL OF RIGHTSOn September 17, 1787, after 16weeks of deliberation, the finishedConstitution was signed by 39 ofthe 42 delegates present. Franklin,pointing to the half-sun painted inbrilliant gold on the back of Washington’schair, said:7475